Christie Brinkley at 64: ‘Women My Age Cannot Allow the Numbers to Define Them’

By Elizabeth Taylor

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Christie Brinkley may be turning 65 next year, but don’t you dare try to tell her what she should — or shouldn’t — wear.

“I think women my age cannot allow the numbers to define them. We need to constantly redefine the number,” Brinkley told Variety on Tuesday at the Footwear News Achievement Awards in New York City. “So having an opportunity like tonight to wear knee-high boots and short shorts is wonderful. You know what, I am not going to allow anyone to tell me what to do.”

Brinkley and her daughters Sailor Brinkley-Cook and Alexa Ray Joel were honored at the event, dubbed “The Shoe Oscars,” as style influencers of the year.

“It is so cool to be honored with my sister and my mom. It is so multi-generational. We have such different styles and we appreciate each other,” said Sailor Brinkley-Cook, 20. “I have the athletic running-around style. And my mom is the classic, gorgeous, and timeless American beauty. And my sister is feminine and gothic. It is just great to compare it all.”

The night was full of appreciation as Anna Wintour, Diane Von Furstenberg, Stuart Weitzman, Martha Stewart, Victor Cruz, and La La Anthony presented awards.

The Vogue editor-in-chief took time to recognize designer of the year Tabitha Simmons with a touching story about the start of her career in New York City.

“Tabitha, an adventurous and super stylish editor even then, would dance all night at various Manhattan hubs,” Wintour recalled. “She danced in a pair of ragged, white Victorian ice skates. She wore them like a pair of comfortable and practical biker boots. She only gave up on them when the blades fell off. No surprise Tabitha became an extraordinary shoe designer.”

The evening flowed with poignant acceptance speeches as guests watched the stage presentations over wine and cheese plates.

Other award winners included Rebecca Minkoff (social impact award), Allbirds (brand of the year), the FILA Disruptor 2 (shoe of the year), Authentic Brands Group (company of the year), Amina Muaddi (launch of the year), Bruce Nordstrom (lifetime achievement award), FFANY Shoes on Sale (icon award for philanthropy), Chloe Gosselin (Vivian Infantino Emerging Talent Award), Mike Amiri (Vivian Infantino Emerging Talent Award), Diane Sullivan (person of the year), Kerby Jean-Raymond (collaboration of the year), and Marc Fisher, Peter Harris, and Pierre Hardy, all of whom were inducted into the  Achievement Awards Hall of Fame.