Debra Rapoport, 74 Sustainability-focused artist and fashion icon, an intergenerational role model who puts fearless style into everything she does, including her recent nude NSFW photo shoot.
As we are speaking, this native New Yorker is currently wearing a hat made of paper towels, and she looks magnificent. An artist, a weaver by nature, she is someone who has the ability to touch material and have it speak to her. To Deborah, anything linear and malleable is potentially wearable.
There are really no limits, none. An Intergenerational Role Model As a globally exhibited artist, she has always had some visibility. When Ari Seth Cohen photographed her a decade ago for Advanced Style, it turbo-charged her visibility as a public person in places like Instagram and the mainstream press.
In a world of few aspirational north stars in our age group, she has become an intergenerational role model. “I have so many younger friends who are interested in understanding aging and growing old. I have more 25 and 35-year-old friends than 75-year-old friends, which makes all this so much fun.” This newfound later-life exposure has led to all manner of collaborations, including modeling jobs for major global brands such as H+M.
She has at 74, opened up whole new creative possibilities for herself. Just before our conversation today, she had finished a 3-hour photoshoot. “As long as it’s fun, I’m willing to do it. If it’s not fun or interesting, I am now at the age when I can say “No thank you.”
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