There are rumors about Bianca Jagger, and then there is the truth. Having been in the public eye for most of her life, the activist and former actress won’t waste time in an interview settling the difference between the two. “When you try to correct public perception, or say something different than how other people perceive you…” she starts to say, before trailing off. She doesn’t finish the sentence, but the unsaid is clear. You can make your own assumptions, but she knows who she is and what she cares about along with what she prefers not to discuss anymore.
Appearing over Zoom with an elegant, rounded bouffant and a light wash of red lipstick, Jagger’s etched cheekbones and regality are why her face and style have dominated mood boards for decades. It also makes her a natural pick to be the voice of a new digital project for YSL Beauty’s Libre fragrance, “LIBRE FLOWERS & FLAMES.”
It’s the first time that Jagger has ever worked with a beauty brand, but as a human rights advocate, the meaning behind Libre (“freedom” in French) holds special significance. Below, Jagger talks to ELLE.com about the truth behind a rumored beauty secret, redefining beauty standards, and having the “courage to age.”
I once read that a beauty secret of yours is to do your makeup, and then sit in the bath. Is that true?
Well, that is a fantasy of Andy Warhol. He was a very close friend, and we talked about many things. He was very curious about women and our secrets, or what he thought we were like, so he thought that was true. The truth is that sometimes, when I’m in a hurry, I do my makeup before I have a bath—but it’s not because I think that the bath will enhance my makeup.
As you know, the steam of the bath could make you a bit sweaty, and that wouldn’t be so great for makeup. That is one of those fantasies. It’s wonderful. It was Andy’s fantasy. Why not?
In some of your famous photos, you’ve worn red lipstick. Is it a signature?
Well, I love red lipstick, as you can see. I don’t often wear makeup. I certainly don’t wear any makeup at home. In fact, I always make a joke about the way I look when I’m at home. I don’t really comb my hair. I did my hair today for you, and I put on some makeup to do this interview, but in general, I don’t. I do love red lipstick, and there is a lipstick that sadly has been discontinued by Makeup For Ever. I couldn’t imagine putting on makeup, if I didn’t finish by putting that on.
Do you have a nighttime ritual?
I wish I would go to bed earlier. I have either a bath in the morning or at night. I do a lot of work for the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation on social media. I am on X [formerly known as Twitter], Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, and I take them all very seriously. In order not to make a fool of myself, I have to read a lot of newspapers, and I have to watch a lot of news. I read and I post messages in English, French, and Spanish. It takes a lot of work, because I do it myself. I do social media at night, because I work all day. It can sometimes be distressing because of the images that I have to see.
The few times that I go out, I’ll go see a film, play, or go to the opera. I love opera, contrary to what many people may think of the kind of music that I like. I see friends, but I am not such a sociable person, really. Whatever it is that I do at night, the one thing that I should do is sleep, and go to sleep early.
What is your first scent memory?
My mom, and she was a very important influence in my life. My mother loved the rainforest. She loved wild flowers. I would walk through the rainforest with her, and she would teach me the names of orchids. She loved them throughout her life.
My mother also had a friend who brought to her very renowned perfumes from Paris, like Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue and Mitsouko. Apart from the scent of orchids, those were some of the first perfumes I smelled. These scents are really important to me in my life.
Every day, I make myself an aromatherapy oil that I mix myself and use in my bath and [on my] body. That is really important to me. I am a Taurus, and we love scents. I am also a vegetarian, and apparently we have an acute sense of smell, and I don’t smoke. This contributes to how I feel happy, having the fragrances that inspire me around me.
Do you think power and beauty are connected?
In preparation for today, I wanted to find a quote about beauty that I liked. Picasso said: “Beauty? To me, it is a word without sense, because I do not know where its meaning comes from nor where it leads to.”
There are days I have thought that I was beautiful, but a lot of days I think, “No, my God, I look terrible.” It has to do with what we [as women] feel, how confident we feel about ourselves, about who we are. When we are empowered—when we have been able to overcome obstacles and the limitations that we have to face as women—that is when we feel most beautiful.
But beauty is a very abstract concept, and it is more of an enigma, really. If I could say one thing to young women or to women in general, it’s that we shouldn’t allow the media or corporations to tell us what we are supposed to do.
You can see that I haven’t had any cosmetic surgery in my life. Don’t think that I didn’t sometimes wonder, “Did I do the right thing? Should I have done cosmetic surgery? Would I feel better?” In the end, I decided, no, I want to have the courage to age without having cosmetic surgery. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s a more profound concept. Beauty also has to do with how healthy we are, and the [ability] to live a healthy and happy life.
How did your views on beauty affect your decision to say yes to this project?
I was attracted to the concept, because the fragrance is called Libre, which translates to freedom. Freedom is a concept that I have struggled for throughout my life. It is something really important to me. I thought, “How wonderful that there is a fragrance using that name.” YSL Beauty also makes me feel closer to someone [Yves Saint Laurent], whom I loved and admired. I have not endorsed any company throughout my life. I have been free from endorsing products, and this is the first time that I have done it.
What was it like to be in front of the camera for this campaign?
I’ve been photographed by many great photographers, but I am always very nervous about being photographed. I’m always concerned about how well I look, the fact that I am not 25 anymore, that I don’t have cosmetic surgery, and that what you see is what you get. That has always been nerve-racking.
The project was designed to celebrate resilient women. Do you see yourself as one?
I do see myself as one. But in my mind, the quintessential example of a resilient woman was my mother, because of her independence and determination to achieve her goals. My parents divorced when I was 10 years old, and my mother found herself single without a profession and with three young children to care for. She was prepared to sacrifice her life to give us a better opportunity than she ever had, as my mother was orphaned. Life was difficult for a divorced woman in Nicaragua in the 1950s, and it was her resilience that carried her forward.
Witnessing the discrimination that she endured as a divorced woman inspired me to campaign for women’s rights. If we look back, my mother was a pioneer who believed in women’s emancipation at a time when we were regarded as second-class citizens. She was my earliest inspiration, and it was because of her that I decided I would never accept being treated as a second-rate citizen—either because of my gender or my status.
As a woman, we are expected to excel in all aspects of our life, and that is not something that is expected of men. Women have long been overlooked and undervalued and viewed as an appendix to a man. The social denigration and violence inflicted upon us continues. We need to continue to be aware and to stand up to that, so that we can achieve gender equality.
Are there any misleading public perceptions about you that you want to correct?
Not really. When I more openly became a human rights defender and set up a foundation, there was a lot that I needed to prove, so that [people] knew this was not a passing fantasy of mine, but my mission in life. I think that I have passed that stage. My body of work has shown that I am a committed human rights defender, and that my work is really my raison d’être. What is important in my life is human rights, democracy, justice, the protection of the environment, my family, my daughter, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, and future generations.
I don’t think that I need to be defending or struggling [against] perception. I just hope that people follow me and see the campaigns that I embark upon. I hope that they will think they are useful, and that young woman will look at me and think, If she was able to make it, so can I.
You’ve been well-known as a beauty and fashion icon. Did your human rights work cause some initial confusion or prompt questions from people?
One of my great loves in life is human rights, but also art and fashion. In my social media, I try to not be so hardcore, even though in the world that we live today, it’s difficult not to be hardcore about rights. I also think it’s important to show that I am not just a hardcore human rights defender. I am someone who loves fashion—and not just fashion, but style. People like Yves Saint Laurent are a great influence and inspiration in my life. I am a complex individual, I’m not black and white, and everything is not just only about being a human rights defender.
I’m a woman. I’m a human. Yes, I love beauty, I love freedom, and I love style. I would be a liar if I said to you that I don’t, and style doesn’t mean fashion, by the way. Style is something else. There is so much that I learned from Yves Saint Laurent, who did everything to liberate women. For example, he sent women in trouser suits down the runway. Anyone that knows me knows how much I wear trouser suits, and it is liberating for women to be able to work with trousers. I am a lot more complex than people may think, and I don’t want to be put into a little box [that defines] who I am.
If style is not just fashion, then what is it?
Style is a lasting concept. It’s not a [particular type of] fashion or when a designer dictates the length of the skirt you should wear, or how your hair is supposed to look. It is to know who you are and know what fits you, what’s good, and what’s beautiful.
The clothes that I wear are not very different [from] the clothes I wore in 1970. In fact, I shave many of my clothes from that time. Fortunately, my weight hasn’t changed that much, and I can wear many of those old clothes. A beautiful suit by Yves Saint Laurent will be beautiful in the ’70s and ’60s, today, and tomorrow, and in 20 years. That’s what style is, and that is the embodiment of style for me.
A lot of my Latine friends have told me that they see you as an icon, especially in terms of Latine representation.
I am someone who was born in Nicaragua, and that is really important to me. But I feel that I am a citizen of the world. I am a woman, regardless of where I was born.
Is there such a thing as a beauty secret?
Know who you are.
YSL Beauty Libre Flowers and Flames
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Kathleen Hou is ELLE’s Beauty Director. Previously, she held the same title at New York Magazine’s The Cut. She’s appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Vogue India, Forbes, and Allure. She was also a co-founder of Donate Beauty, a grassroots beauty donation project started during the COVID-19 crisis, which donated over 500,000 products to over 30,000 healthcare workers across 500-plus hospitals.
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