The activity that Jane Fonda, the 87-year-old Oscar winner, activist and aerobics queen, is most associated with these days is probably environmental protest (well, that, the Grace and Frankie series and the Book Club film franchise). She did, after all, move to Washington, DC, in 2019 specifically to draw attention to the climate crisis, getting arrested pretty much every Friday while staging sit-ins at the Capitol. Then she swore off buying new clothes, even for the red carpet.
All of which makes her an unlikely choice to front a new luxury trainers campaign. But for Silvio Campara, the CEO of Golden Goose, the brand known for its prescuffed sneakers with the sparkly star on the side, she was his only choice. As to why she agreed to do it ... well, that’s a whole other story.
Q: Were you surprised when Golden Goose got in touch?
A: I don’t do a lot of campaigns because I’m not friendly with a lot of brands. But my manager said: “This is a cool company. They have responsible practices.” And I said, “Well, you know, I like their sneakers.”
Q: So you were already wearing the sneakers?
A: Two and a half years ago, I was making Book Club: The Next Chapter in Rome, and I would walk every day and look into stores, and there were so many cute sneakers with sequins and sparkles. That’s when I found them. I like the combo of sneakers with glitter and a very structured suit. I think that’s cool.
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Q: How many sneakers do you have?
A: Quite a lot because I don’t throw them away. I don’t want them to end up in the ocean. I have many, many dozens of all kinds of sneakers, starting with the old coloured Reebok high-tops.
Q: Presumably those were from your workout days?
A: I started really getting into sneakers in my 40s, when I started running. Until the 1980s, when we started the workout, what I did for exercise was ballet. But back then, I wore sneakers only for working out and running. Now that I’m 87, I don’t wear heels any more because they throw my pelvis and my hips out of whack. So low heels or almost flat shoes have become my thing – and sneakers that have sparkles on them.
Q: That’s the way you wear them in the campaign?
A: Yeah, they offered me a dozen or more different outfits, and I picked the suit. When I think about the stuff I used to wear on the red carpet. ... I did my own make-up, I did my own hair. I mean, I paid no attention. And then I retired and got old, and when I came back at 65, I started paying more attention. Everyone else was paying more attention, and I wanted to look good.
Q: Do you still do your workout?
A: I work out with a trainer, partly because I love her but also because then you can’t say, “I’m going to stay in bed”. You have to get up if you’re paying somebody. Also, she only works with people over 50, and she’s very careful. You can get hurt more than you can when you’re young. I work out upper body, lower body, every other day, and then I do a lot of the same moves I used to do, with one big difference: I move slowly. It’s a mantra for being older.
Q: How do you feel about ageing?
A: I don’t feel like an old person. I’m much younger than I was when I was in my 20s, in all the ways that matter. So it never occurred to me with this campaign, “Oh, God, isn’t this great. They’re using an old woman”. But now that I think about it, it is cool. I like that.
Q: Do you think of yourself as a role model for other women?
A: Yes, but it doesn’t manifest in clothes. It manifests in remaining active, keeping fit, standing up for what you believe politically, having good posture, staying curious. Women pay attention. I know because they write me.
Q: Who do you look up to?
A: I met Brittney Griner yesterday. I was star-struck, to tell you the truth. Oh, she’s tall. And she’s beautiful. I like women’s sports. I love women’s soccer. I like women’s basketball. And I like baseball. But I don’t follow it as regularly as I did when I was married to somebody who owned the team.
Q: You swore off new clothes in 2019. Are you sticking to that?
A: I basically don’t go shopping. Occasionally I will order something online if I’m on a trip and going into forests and need quick-drying trousers and shirts – that kind of thing. But I don’t like to shop. I feel uncomfortable.
Q: Why?
A: I would say 90 per cent I’ve made peace with my body, but there’s still that 10 per cent. It’s hard to stand in the fitting room and put clothes on and not like the way you look. – This article originally appeared in the New York Times
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