Daphne Selfe, known as the world\u2019s oldest professional model, has died at 97. Her passing was confirmed on March 21, 2026, with her family sharing that she died peacefully in a care home, ending a life that stayed active and inspiring until the end.<\/p>\n
In a heartfelt tribute, her family wrote, \u201cShe rose peacefully and purposely towards the light, as only the sensational model in her knew how, in the sunshine of a beautiful spring equinox afternoon.\u201d They also reflected on her final appearance: \u201cHer final working day was last June when she graced the Vogue luncheon at Royal Ascot Ladies Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in London in 1928, she began modeling at 21 but stepped away after marriage to raise her family. Her career took a remarkable turn decades later when she returned in her 70s, gaining even greater success than in her youth. She later said, \u201cI had more modeling success since I was 70 than I ever did when I was 20.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her natural look became her signature. Embracing aging helped define her image, as she explained: \u201cI became successful when I embraced my age and went gray\u2026 It made me more striking.\u201d She remained active in fashion, appeared at major events, and supported inclusivity through her academy.<\/p>\n
Outside of work, she valued simple joys and connection, saying, \u201cI\u2019m a great one for socializing\u2026 even if it\u2019s only for a coffee.\u201d She stayed engaged well into her 90s and never planned to retire.<\/p>\n
Her family ended their tribute with a lasting message: \u201cShe will continue to inspire, always and forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Daphne Selfe, known as the world\u2019s oldest professional model, has died at 97. Her passing was confirmed on March 21, 2026, with her family sharing that she… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2676"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2679,"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions\/2679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbdc.it.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}