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Many years before she found worldwide fame as an American starring in a very British film, 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, Andie MacDowell was a New York-based model living in Paris. Having signed with Elite Models not long after leaving school, she found success walking the runways before she ever appeared on screen.
This history with the City of Light goes a long way to explaining why MacDowell, 67, appears to be in her “happy place” when chatting to Sunday Life from the glamour of Paris Fashion Week. For the video call, she is seated in a sparse interview room, but MacDowell looks as comfortable as a local sipping a noisette at a sunny corner cafe. It’s her fourth time walking the L’Oréal Paris Le Défilé – the “Walk Your Worth” event that includes many of its global ambassadors such as Helen Mirren, Eva Longoria and, this year, Australian soccer star Mary Fowler.
“It’s always a great pleasure to have beautiful hair and make-up, and it’s not every day you are surrounded by such powerful, strong women walking their worth and getting to wear beautiful clothes,” she says. “It’s a wonderful opportunity of sisterhood, power and strength, and just nice to be a part of that.”
Andie MacDowell walks in the L’Oréal Paris Le Défilé last month.Credit: Getty Images
Through the laptop screen, MacDowell’s silver hair is falling in soft curls, framing a face as magnetic now as it was when she starred opposite Hugh Grant over 30 years ago. The secret to her natural glow? “I love [L’Oréal Paris] Age Perfect. I love to moisturise. They have some new products that are really beautiful like Lumi, what’s it called … Lumi Glo … Lumi Glotion!” she says, clarifying the name.
“It gives your skin a really healthy glow. They also do a highlighter stick in the same product, which is something I’ve actually been using on the TV show I’m working on [The Way Home] because it gives a sort of light, fresh look to your skin.”
An ambassador for L’Oréal Paris since 1986, MacDowell’s also a fan of their eye make-up. “Panorama Mascara – all the make-up artists love to use it,” she notes. “It’s got a really nice flow to it. It’s not clunky, and it’s really easy to use.”
With Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral.Credit:
Before walking the Le Défilé runway, MacDowell was just as happy to pound the Paris pavement. “I get a lot of walking in while I’m here,” she says. “I’m staying up near the Arc de Triomphe, and the first day I did a nice long walk through the Tuileries Garden.
“Then yesterday I went to the Rodin Museum garden – I did over 15,000 steps!” she exclaims. “And then walked up to the Eiffel Tower.”
But she confesses she feels some pressure to look glamorous in Paris. “I have to tell you, I was a little worried because I packed super, super light to come here. I’ve been working on a TV show in Canada, and I’m tired because I’ve been working, and I felt this enormous pressure to show up in Paris looking high-fashion and elegant.
“I’m pleased to say there are a lot of blue jeans on the street. Most of the people are in blue jeans! I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I was so worried about this for nothing,’ because most everybody I saw just looked normal. Of course, I’m sure if I’d gone into the Marais during the middle of the day, or walked down some high-fashion street, I probably would have seen more of that.”
One of MacDowell’s favourite spots in Paris is the Tuileries Garden.Credit: iStock
A regular traveller to Europe, MacDowell has her favourite spots. She talks about Paris with affection and intimate knowledge, as one would talk about an old friend. “I love bringing people here because I lived here in my 20s,” she says. “It’s a very walkable city. It’s so easy to do the museums in the Tuileries area, and I mentioned Rodin’s garden, which is not far away either. And then it’s so easy to go up the most beautiful shopping street, Saint-Honore. Paris is a really easy city to get around.”
Beyond France, MacDowell is drawn to the Czech Republic. “I worked in Prague a couple of times, and it’s much smaller, but architecturally it’s a really beautiful city,” she says. “And I love Italy and Spain. I would like to do some of the hiking in Spain – that’s on my bucket list. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there and done that.”
She recently missed a chance to walk part of a famous pilgrimage. “My sister invited me to do the [Camino de Santiago] in Spain, but I’d just finished a TV show and I was tired,” MacDowell recounts. “I regret not going with her, though I have to say she probably did it in a way that’s much harder than I wanted to do. She did the backpack. I want someone to carry my stuff and deliver it to my hotel. I’m not going to carry a backpack!”
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Asked for her preferred Italian city, MacDowell reveals she has a soft spot for the countryside. “I almost moved to Italy at one point in my life. I love Tuscany, and I haven’t done the Amalfi Coast properly. I need to do that.”
For someone with a busy schedule, how would she recommend maximising a short trip to a European city? “Well, it’s easy for me in Paris because I’ve already done it all, and I’ve done it on repeat,” she says. “I know how to get to the Mona Lisa first. I know how to walk into the Louvre and get straight to it, and then we can take a quick gander at other places and move on. I prefer to spend more time in the Musée d’Orsay and then the Musée de l’Orangerie.”
She adds, “You could do all the museums in a day if you had to. Not recommended at all, but I bet you could do it. But you’d be tired!”
And is there a European country or region she hasn’t visited yet that’s high on her wish list? “I’d like to spend more time in Spain. And, you know, maybe a biking trip? You always hear about these wonderful biking trips in France. I’d love to do that. I’ve got a multitude of things I want to do.
“I also want to do the Viking tour of Iceland – I looked at that,” she says. “It actually goes all the way around Iceland, so I’d love to do an interior trip first. That’s also on my bucket list.”
But for now, amid the fashion and the fanfare, she’s simply happy to be back soaking up the best of Paris.
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