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Helen Mirren's wild weekend – and the lessons we can all learn

Helen Mirren during the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda show in Venice - Getty
Helen Mirren during the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda show in Venice - Getty

After 19 months of anxiety, cancelled parties and the grim litany of Covid statistics, we all need to cut loose and live like nobody lateral flows, if only for a weekend. A full-on, post-pandemic jewel-encrusted few days is what Dr Fabulous would order for those of us yet to rejoin the party. And now we have the perfect inspiration: Dame Helen Mirren.

She's been in Venice, attending a series of Dolce & Gabbana fashion shows. And among the starriest of guests – J-Lo, a Kardashian – Mirren has shone the brightest. Her Instagram and the world’s press have captured the Dame of Delights in a series of glorious gowns and chandelier earrings before a backdrop of handsome gondoliers and Venetian palazzos. In every image, her sheer joie de vivre shines through. She is the living embodiment of the 2021 T-shirt slogan: vaxxed, waxed and relaxed. Helen is having the time of her life at 76 and she wants the world to know it.

The rest of us, either rusting from our week in North Norfolk or struggling with passenger locator forms and Day 2 testing requirements, can learn from her blueprint of how to get the most out of the shortest burst of freedom. While many of us are understandably still cautious, Helen gives an easy how-to guide for the roaring 20s to come. Here’s how we can all Be More Mirren.

1. Dance like everybody is watching

From waltzing with Vin Diesel to slithering with rapper Megan Thee Stallion, she proved she can do both ballroom and thumping dance floor. While cutting her shapes, she showed none of the awkward self-consciousness, shoe-gazing and lip-biting to which Brits are prone, nor did she throw the sort of dance moves favoured by Michael Gove. Dame Helen looks like she’s loving every minute and still in total control of her faculties as she stares into Vin’s eyes.

We might not all have a Hollywood action star to hand, but there are lessons here. It’s the perfect combination of post-pandemic joyful dance and, importantly, dignity.

2. Embrace the weather

My brother once spent a very wet week in Antigua and was repeatedly told to cheer up as “it’s not rain, it’s liquid sunshine!” Helen Mirren is the only person from our damp island who agrees with this philosophy, describing on Instagram the magic of the Dolce & Gabbana womenswear show when it started to rain. One lucky enough to be in attendance said she was the last person standing as everyone else darted for cover, applauding the models in her bejewelled Dolce bustier. Later, at the after-party, she sat in a rainy booth with hair pulled into a damp ponytail, tucking into caviar sandwiches with gusto.

As our mildewed summer segues into an abysmal autumn and wind-lashed winter, we all need to find the beauty in a weather front of low pressure moving in. Start working on your Instagram caption now.

3. Rock silver hair

The Dame shows us how to wear silver hair with panache
The Dame shows us how to wear silver hair with panache

Is it Marilyn blonde or old-lady silver? Who cares when the effect is the same, illuminating Helen’s face by creating a halo of luminosity as if she’s permanently carrying one of those LED ring lights that influencers use to make themselves glow on YouTube. Starved of hairdressers over the lockdowns, many of my friends have been growing out the grey, looking with fascinated horror at the shades that are emerging. Some have been blessed with a natural silvery hue, but most end up somewhere between Mole’s Breath and Plummett Grey on the Farrow & Ball colour wheel.

But even if we don’t have her silver locks, the Dame shows us how to wear it well. When she arrived in a vaporetto for the Alta Moda show on the Piazza San Marco, it was piled high, lifting her face. She has said that she wore make-up every day in lockdown and Sarah, one of my newly grey friends, swears that a true red lipstick becomes essential once you go over to the undyed side. Add to that some enormous jewels (real in her case, costume for the rest of us) and she illustrates how to go grey with confidence.

4. Reveal as much or as little as you want

Helen Mirren at the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda show - GC Images
Helen Mirren at the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda show - GC Images

Helen clearly didn’t get the memo about covering up your décolletage after a certain age. Her ballgown featured sheer sleeves and a gold corset that showcased the magnificent Mirren embonpoint. Later, she wore a long silver sequinned dress with a deep V-neck that made her move like mercury.

She is of course more blessed than most mortals. As the comedian Tina Fey once said when looking at a photo of her body in a bikini: “What, is she a wizard or something?” But we can all take a leaf out of the Mirren manual by dressing for ourselves – and like we haven’t partied since 2019. Which we haven’t.

5. Pack for your weekend as if going away for a month

Helen packed more clothes and good times into her Venetian break than most do in a year. She was so delighted with her long black chiffon dress that she filmed herself twirling in it like a seven-year-old in a Disney Princess costume on their birthday. You can’t twirl in the athleisure and tracksuit bottoms we’ve been wearing for the past 19 months. Twirl-ability is the hallmark of good dressing up.

Having so many outfits made it seem as if she were out for longer than a couple of days, sharpening the memory of each occasion. Treat yourself like a dress-up paper dolly with proper outfits – one for sightseeing, another for cocktails, a third for dinner. Distinguish the moments from one another after almost two years of a blur of the same clothes for sleeping, working and working out.

6. Smile (whether you want to or not)

A beaming Mirren – her enjoyment is contagious - INSTARimages.com
A beaming Mirren – her enjoyment is contagious - INSTARimages.com

It’s almost impossible not to enjoy Helen’s enjoyment of her own trip. She grins as she holds an almost drained glass, laughs as the rain lashes the catwalk and beams as she shows off her ballgown. Everyone in her orbit, from her silver fox husband, director Taylor Hackford, to the designer Domenico Dolce, is caught up in her joy. Who knows if that uncomfortable looking gold bustier is cutting into her or whether her feet are cold from the rain, Helen knows that if you smile neither you nor anyone with you will care. Just make sure you book that post-pandemic hygienist appointment first, won’t you?