Earlier this month we were fortunate enough to travel to the Kentucky Derby with the event’s official timekeepers, Longines. And what really captured our attention wasn’t the Derby hats (though those were amazing), the star-studded red carpet or even the well-bred horses circling the track—it was Longines’ newest Ambassador of Elegance, Mikaela Shiffrin. The 20-year-old Olympic skier had just signed on with the Swiss watch brand late last year and she’s already holding her own with fellow ambassadors like Kate Winslet and Simon Baker.
It’s pretty clear when you meet Shiffrin, why the Swiss watchmaker chose her as an elegance ambassador. She well-spoken, polite, refined and has a positive body image that most women her age have yet to achieve. Traveling to the Kentucky Derby with Longines was one of her first big events with the brand since signing on with them late last year, but despite the people, attention and hectic schedule (which was undoubtedly busier than ours) she held her own. When I was 20 years old I was just trying to make it to my morning classes on time.
Of course, all of her grace and class comes from years of discipline and training to be one of the leading ladies in alpine skiing. At the age of 3 she learned to ski and since then she’s done almost nothing else. Every school she attended had an extended ski program and by high school she was winning awards on the pro circuit. Today she has 12 World Cup wins, two world titles and an Olympic gold medal under her belt. And she isn’t even old enough to drink yet.
Since Shiffrin she wasn’t old enough to partake in the Kentucky Derby’s famous mint juleps—which are an absolute must if you ever find yourself at Churchill Downs next season—she participated in other racing traditions—like hats. You never would have known it was her first Derby with the topper she was sporting around the Turf Club. “The hats were from [my mom’s] old high school best friend who went to the Kentucky Derby last year, and she had these hats made in New Orleans that were beautiful, and she shipped them to us. It just so happens that they matched my outfit perfectly, so I was really excited about that,” she told us. “[It’s] a fun little story; it makes them a little bit more personal."
But despite being dressed to the nines, Shiffrin admits she wasn’t the most fashion-savvy woman at the event. Guest judging the Kentucky Derby Fashion Show with Alicia Quarles of E! News and Monte Durham of Say Yes to the Dress, she explained to JustLuxe that she had to concede to the expert’s opinions on most pairings. “Monte and Alicia were so nice—not making me feel like I didn't know anything that I was talking about,” she laughed. “There were a couple of outfits that were a little bit out there, but really creative...I thought they pulled it off really well, so I had to give them style points for that.”
Shiffrin may not be on top of the latest trends like her fellow judges, but she still loves fashion—part of the reason she was excited to join the Longines family. “It is a very interesting combination because when you think about ski racing, you're not thinking about luxury, comfort, style and beauty—those aren't of the words that come to mind,” she explained. “It's kind of fun to try and find a balance between the feminine side of being an athletic woman, and then also the powerful side of the sport that I'm actually good at—it's not like I’m a ballerina or a figure skater, you know. I'm doing a sport kind of ruled by the men.” But she sees her partnership as a way to break out of that athletic stereotype. “I am a woman, and I do enjoy wearing jewelry, doing my hair, wearing some make up, getting dressed up and putting on heels.” We love that she so happily embodies the strong, rounded woman who seems to want to do it all.
Most of the time though, Shiffrin admits to wearing casual clothes, things that allow her a little movement, even when she isn’t on the slopes. Jeans, sneakers, sweaters and blazers are all a part of her regular repertoire. “Normally I'll wear jeans because they are very functional, but sometimes jeggings, honestly—because they’re so comfortable!” she laughed. “I like to wear high heels because they do make me look taller, and with a skier's body, I have kind of—you know, wide legs, and if I'm not wearing heels, I just look like a tree stump!”
But whether she’s in heels or sneakers, she stresses that women in sports should be allowed to feel as feminine and beautiful as they are—something she hopes her partnership with Longines will help her convey to young fans. “I feel like there are so many girls out there who could be really strong, really good ski racers, you know, the best in the world, but they really don't want to do it because it's kind of a man's sport,” she explained. “And I want to get the message out there that you don't have to be a man to be a ski racer. You can be a woman, you can be strong, you can be very feminine. You have to be tough, that's for sure, but I think the most beautiful, strongest women in the world are tough, but they’re also—they are not afraid to show that they are girls.”
And Shiffrin is not afraid to show that she’s a girl. “I am proud of who I am. I am proud of my body, that I'm fit—it's my job to be fit. It's my job to win races, and here I am standing here still looking gorgeous,” she said. Of course, there are plenty of women who don’t feel the need to toss on a dress or heels to express their femininity, but she hopes that there will never be a fear for women to express themselves—however they chose to do so. “I think it's just all personal choice, very individual, and I just happen to be one of the girls who likes to be kind of girly every now and then. But not always possible when it’s skiing down the mountain, so it's really nice to go to the Derby and put on a dress, and wear my watch, and be like, ‘Yeah, I'm into bling, for sure!’”
Being into “bling” is basically a prerequisite to be an ambassador for a luxury watch brand, and luckily for Shiffrin, that’s not an issue. She remembers receiving her first watch when she was eight years old and didn’t take it off even after it broke because she was so in love with it. So when she heard from her manager that she was going to be the new ambassador for Longines, she was over the moon. “This fall, just before the first race of the season, we were in Austria, and we got the news that we sealed the deal. I signed the contract, and I was just—I can't tell you how excited I was to sign it,” she explained. We can only imagine the brand was just as excited to have her. As the new Ambassador of Elegance, Shiffrin is now in a place to empower young women all over the globe—a position she hopes she can live up to. “I want to work on speaking elegantly, dressing elegantly, holding my shoulders back—I want to try to grow into an elegant woman, I’m kind of on my way there.”
