Princess Ira von Fürstenberg talks about tastes

My personal style signifier They are my oversized polarized glasses. Franco Calò made them by hand in Rome, but they don’t make them anymore and I’m afraid of losing them. For me, style is about wearing the right thing at the right time, which can be difficult. Many people overdress or dress down. It’s hard to find that middle path.

The last thing I bought and I loved it. it was a little Hermes Kelly bag in pink leather: very simple but very pretty. Match with so many colors: black, brown, blue. I think it’s quite versatile, because it’s not so much an evening bag as it is a day bag that you can wear at night.

The place that means a lot to me en Strobl near Bad Ischl in Austria, where my family had a hunting lodge that my father loved. It was built by my grandfather, who was one of Emperor Franz Joseph’s ambassadors in Brussels, Madrid and Saint Petersburg. In the summer the imperial court went to Bad Ischl, so my grandfather built this house to be close to the emperor.

And the best souvenirs I’ve brought home they are hand painted plates from Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire. They encourage me.

The best gift I’ve ever given. They are two paintings by Josef Albers for my son, Hubertus.

And the best gift I’ve ever received. It’s probably an apartment in Rome that a lover gave me. But the funniest gift I ever received was a wedding present when I married Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe in 1955. It was from Fiat, owned by my mother’s family. [the Agnellis]; they gave me a Cinquecento that they had made especially for us. It was red and came gift wrapped with a big bow.

My favorite room in my house. It is my bedroom in my house in Madrid, where I have an apartment in an old monastery in the Latina neighborhood, one of the oldest areas of the city. There I have a Louis XVI rosewood desk that belonged to my grandfather. I especially like the way the gold handles catch the light. I use it to do my correspondence and I keep family photographs, of my mother and father, and of my children Kiko, who died 17 years ago, and Hubertus.

The beauty essentials that I never lack they are red lipsticks Tom FordScarlet Shock, on which I put chanel Rouge Coco lip gloss. And for a quick cream blush, I use sisleyPhyto-Blush Twist in Passion by Phyto-Blush: you can apply it anywhere.

The best book I have read in the last year. are the memoirs of Diane de Beauvau-Craon, sans parting. Like me, she was a great friend of Karl Lagerfeld. She was born a few years after me. She spent part of her childhood at the Château d’Haroué, the 18th-century estate that belonged to her father, Prince Marc de Beauvau-Caron, a connoisseur of the arts. Her maternal grandfather was the Bolivian tin magnate Antenor Patiño, about whom she has all kinds of stories. She spent a lot of time in New York during the ’70s and ’80s: she worked for Halston and partyed with Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe.

The podcast I’m listening to is… Podcast? I don’t even know what that is.

my style icon is Gloria Guinness, who was a great friend. She was one of Truman Capote’s Swans and she was fantastic, very, very beautiful. She could wear anything and look great. I remember how impressed I was when I saw her wearing a white shirt with a black fan. She was divine. She had a beautiful apartment in Paris filled with Louis XVI furniture, and then an amazing rustic-yet-chic house in Acapulco that had concrete floors. She also had a beautiful mansion in Palm Beach between the sea and the lake: the two halves were linked by a tunnel that passed under the road. Her style was unique.

The last music I bought was a duet by Mina and Alberto Lupo, “Parole, Parole”. I adore Italian love songs.

I have a collection of Austrian coffee cups from the 18th century. I have about 50 and they are very pretty, in many colors with gold leaf. They look so colorful if you serve coffee on a tray after dinner.

In my fridge you will always find Coca-Cola Zero and Emmental cheese.

My first movie was a spy thriller parody with Donald Pleasence.

In another life it would have been an actor. He did some acting for a while during the ’60s and ’70s. He was sitting next to Dino De Laurentiis on a plane in 1966, we started talking and he put me under contract. My first movie was called Incomparable, a spy thriller parody with Patrick O’Neal and Donald Pleasence. My father reacted very badly, he was annoyed that I undressed on the screen. I had to explain to him that my acting didn’t have the same power to make people go to the movies as my body. Later I worked in fashion: I was president of valentineIn the fragrance business, I helped Karl Lagerfeld in the early days and he had an antiques shop in London. Now I do little art objectsbut acting was my passion.

What I couldn’t do without It’s Stilnox sleeping pills. I have been using them for 30 years and everyone tells me my mind will go but I love my Stilnox. It’s the one thing I can’t live without.

An indulgence I would never give up It’s pasta with tomatoes. I am a true Italian.

The last item I added to my wardrobe It was a very pale primrose yellow shawl, embroidered with flying beetles, which I found in India. I was staying in Ananda in the Himalayas and on the way back I stopped in Delhi and discovered this lovely little shop, Sanduq.

An object that I would never part with. is a Golconda diamond that belonged to [Napoleon’s consort] Joséphine de Beauharnais, in a ring my father gave me. Bulgari restored it to me about 30 years ago.

The only artist whose work I would collect if I could is David Hockey. I love his use of color. I think it’s light and fresh.

my favorite building It is the Palais-Royal in Paris. It has this quality of being almost like a salon. It’s very pretty and it’s in the center of a big city, the Louvre is next door. I don’t know if the shops work that well, but they’re still lovely, and I love the apartments upstairs.

my grooming guru it’s a makeup guy named Tani. He is Neapolitan. It’s really wonderful, it makes you shine. It’s especially good for photos and if I’m having a special event, like my belated 80th birthday party at the Duke of Alba’s palace in Madrid, it’s a must. The only problem is that he lives in Naples, so you have to bring him, which costs a fortune, but he’s very good.

The artwork that changed everything for me It is a group rather than a particular work: the Impressionists. That period is fabulous, and the paintings are so lively, so happy. They seem brimming with an appetite for life and a capacity for joy.

When I need to feel inspired I am going to Marrakech, India or Nepal. The Himalayas are so beautiful, and I have bought many things carved from jade and lapis lazuli there. They give me ideas for the decorative objects that I make.

The best advice I’ve ever received it was learning to say no. But it’s a lesson I never mastered.