'Winky! He's the love of my life,' Rodin says of her silver poodle. 'He's sweet, charming and smart: he always looks at me like he's going to say something. He's a good shopper, too.'
He'd have to be to keep up with Rodin. Her 40-year career has covered boutique ownership, design, styling, modelling and, in a move that surprises even the woman herself, beauty entrepreneurship.'I never had a plan,' she says, tiny yet kinetic in a navy J.Crew jumper, Levi's, and her favourite vintage belt with studs that spell out "Welcome To Yellowstone".
Born on Long Island, Rodin has spent her life in New York, barring a few years in Italy in her 20s CI followed a boyfriend there and just stayed'). She returned to the US to pursue fashion photography. 'But I wasn't very good,' she says. So she opened a boutique, then worked at US Harper's Bazaar before becoming a freelance stylist, with clients including Madonna and Gisele. For recent jobs with J.Crew and the Olsens' label The Row, she moved in front of the camera, modelling for projects that advanced the case for age diversity in fashion. "It got lots of attention, which was wonderful" she says of her lookbook for The Row.
"I loved being a part of it" Rodin has called the same Chelsea building home for 35 years, and has lived in her current apartment for 20. It is a snow globe ofseashells, sequins and glittering detritus from decades in fashion. Bell jars are filled with Egyptian artefacts, tabletops are covered in gold costume jewellery and charms.
Rodin's style signatures are bold eyewear, flats (I never wear heels), delicate heart necklaces - and jeans, jeans, jeans. Denim is the starting point for most of her outfits (she so loves the fabric, she's getting an indigo tuxedo made). Everyday looks start with vintage Levi's and a jumper - currently in rotation is a cornflower blue cable knit from & Other Stories with scores of cashmere sweaters from J.Crew. 'I like anything that looks good - it doesn't have to be expensive/she says. 'It's not about who designed it, it's about if it's great.'
Oh, and when feasible, she always buys doubles. She bought two pai rs of her favourite Zara boots, 'Because I always think I'm going to destroy them and need another pair. I mean, I'm not going to buy two Celine coats, but these shoes were inexpensive, so I figure, why not? "I wear pretty much the same clothes all the time" she adds, yet her ensembles never look anything short of original. In 2007, Rodin launched Rodin Olio Lusso, a skincare range based on her personal formula for face oil. Last year, Estee Lauder acquired the brand - Rodin treated herself to the aforementioned Celine coat (black wool, double-breasted, white-buttoned, perfect) to celebrate.
Age seems irrelevant to Rodin. She didn't notice that she had wrinkles until she was 60. 'And I never dyed my hair. It never occurred to me.' She hasn't altered her approach to clothes, either. 'Many women get scared at a certain age, and don't dress the way they did when they were 20.1 just do what I like to do and have held on to it,' she says. Long may she continue.