Daphne Guinness Graces FIT with her Fabulousness

Daphne Guinness, the Queen Bee of avant-garde, graced FIT with her fabulousness Thursday, Nov. 3.

The stunning artist posed playfully for photographs with young budding-fashionistas and signed autographs for revelers (some on pieces on scrap paper), reports Women's Wear Daily.

Like Marie Antoinette of the Hell's Angels, Guinness wore 10-inch Alexander McQueen heels, a Parisian coif, and stacks of metal rings and ribbons around her fingers and wrists.

As for the shoes, she said, I wouldn't wear them if they weren't comfortable. They're easy.

Guinness was there for The Museum at FIT's Fashion Icons and Insiders Symposium. Director Valerie Steel sat down with the icon to discuss the MFIT exhibition of Guinness' wardrobe titled in her namesake.

She parted with the collection in the name of charity. But she was more than content to give up her beloved threads. In order for something to mean something you have to let things go. I figured it wouldn't mean anything if I just gave ole tatty things.

The exhibition of Guinness' personal collection includes dazzling pieces from designers like Azzedine Alai¨a, Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel Haute Couture, and Valentino.

Of course, Guinness was demure as ever during the interview, shifting the focus off herself and onto art, history, and the artisans who craft her clothes, writes WWD.

For someone so esteemed in the fashion world, Daphne Guinness is quite self-effacing. I'm always myself. But I'm not very good in crowds, she told WWD. I don't really think of myself. I don't like to look at myself in the mirror, which is why my eye makeup is always crooked.

The maven did discuss some of her favorite things like wearing clothes backwards, eyeing The Walker Collection for the detailing of shotguns and spears, and favoring coquettish looks because of her love of literature.

A photograph was shown to the crowd of Guinness at 19-years-old on her wedding day in 1987. She married Spyros Niarchos, the son of Greek shipping billionaire, Stavros Niarchos. The two divorced in 1999.

Back then, her hair was shoulder-length and quite simple; especially compared to the dramatic platinum and black mane she has now.

It was the Eighties, so it didn't matter, she said. From 1989 to 2000, I was focusing in on my children. I hadn't realized the world had changed a lot. AIDS had happened for starters and so many people in the arts died or were affected. The art of fashion was lost. Now the look is commercial. There are a lot of people who do a lot of things to be outrageous with fashion, hair or makeup. It became a very different landscape but things are looking up.

After her interview, she spoke with WWD about her current and future projects.

I've started making quite a number of new things that go in a completely different direction. I also have to finish my novel, she said. Writing is a funny thing. It's not like you're working on a schedule. It comes in fits and starts. It will be ready when it's ready. I've just got to get it right so that it will be as good as it can be, she told Rosemary Feitelberg.

Is there an autobiography in her midst?

Well, it's not about beetles. It will be about what I've observed or imagined. Frankly, I'm not Winston Churchill or another public figure. I don't think anyone would be particularly interested in my observations.

Ms. Guinness, we beg to differ.