“What I Like About the Emirates and Saudi Arabia is That Women There like To Be Able to Dress Up – Even When They Don’t Have To”: Dame Joan Collins on 80s Fashion and Her Love of Regional Women’s Style
Styled in all-Arab designers for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s September 2024 issue, the award-winning actress and author reminisces about one of fashion’s most fabulous decades and how she admires the way regional women dress
During an exclusive interview with Harper’s Bazaar Arabia for the September 2024 issue, award-winning actress and author Joan Collins – widely known for playing Alexis Carrington in the hit TV series Dynasty, shares how she cherished living through the ’80s – and how it was “definitely” the best decade to live through.
During an exclusive interview with Harper’s Bazaar Arabia for the September 2024 issue, award-winning actress and author Joan Collins – widely known for playing Alexis Carrington in the hit TV series Dynasty, shares how she cherished living through the ’80s – and how it was “definitely” the best decade to live through.
Speaking with Bazaar Arabia’s Olivia Phillips, the cinematic legend shared just how much she loved the Gekkoesque decadence of the era; a decade that she answers was “definitely” the best to live through.
“I just loved the clothes that everyone was wearing in the ‘80s. Everybody just wanted to look good, not only in Dynasty, but also in Charlie’s Angels,” she says. “I think everybody was so well-dressed in all of those shows and that filtered down to women [in real life].” It’s little wonder they were inspired. Dynasty’s famed costume designer, the great Nolan Miller, had an alleged budget for clothes that was $30,000 per episode. $100,000 today. That’s a lot of shoulder pads.
“If you look at women in newsreels back then, they’re all very well-dressed, they all have very good hair… and they seem to care, you know? They were more individual.” She pauses, “I don’t mean to mock women today. I mean, it’s a different life. Life is much tougher now, I think, but we all have to contend with it. So yes, I loved the clothes in the ‘80s but I also loved everything about it. Although my personal life was terrible, because I went through two divorces and a very serious accident with my youngest daughter. But I had become very, very successful and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy all the dressing up.” she expresses.
Joan shares memories from her childhood with her sister, which naturally sparked her love for design, fashion and creativity. “They both had a dressmaker, so I used to design things for them around the time of the New Look, and they would often have them made.” She reveals.
Joan also shared how she admires the way women from the region dress. “What I like about the Emirates and Saudi Arabia is that women there like to be able to dress up, even when they don’t have to. I have friends from there who love to be beautifully dressed. I respect that,” she tells me. “Sometimes I get mocked for it. Percy and I will get into an elevator somewhere and we’ll be wearing blazers, shirts and chinos, and I’ll be wearing a straw hat and people get in, look us up and down and say [disparagingly], ‘Ooh, you’re so dressed up.’” Who would dare mock Dame Joan Collins, is what I want to know. “Well, they don’t necessarily know it’s me…” she laughs.
Read the full cover story here from Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s September 2024 issue.
Editor-in-Chief: Olivia Phillips. Photographer: Ellen von Unwerth. Art Director: Paul Solomons. Stylist: Sascha Lilic. Hair & Make-Up: Alyn Waterman. Senior Producer: Steff Hawker. Local Producer: Filipine Guyonnaud. Dresser: Chrissy Maddison.1st Assistant: Frederic Trohler. 2nd Assistant: Octave Monteiro De Oliveira. Digital Technician: Ovidiu Oltean. Styling Assistant: Celeste Pettorelli. Male Model: Pascal L. Seamstress: Myriam Savarese. Photographer’s Agent: 2B Management. Personal Stylist to Dame Joan Collins: Rene Horsch. Special thanks to Alex Silver and Le Beauvallon, Bay of Saint-Tropez
