Helen Mirren Discusses Her Vision for a Lasting Beauty Legacy with a Touch of Swagger

Helen Mirren.
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At the recent L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth 2025 event in Los Angeles, Helen Mirren, the renowned Oscar-winning actress, shared her thoughts on leaving a legacy in beauty. At 80, she candidly expressed her discomfort with the term “beauty,” favoring the concept of “swagger” instead.

“I don’t like the word beauty. I’ve always preferred the word swagger. So my legacy would be: ‘She had good swagger,'” Mirren stated during a conversation with PEOPLE.

Helen Mirren at the Stella McCartney fashion show in Paris on Sept. 30, 2025.

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Mirren, a global ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, emphasized the importance of footwear on the red carpet, referencing her own experiences.

“I’ve learned over the years, your shoes have to be bearable,” she explained. “They don’t necessarily have to be comfortable. And in fact, comfortable sometimes is a bit boring, and you want cool shoes. But they have to be bearable because if you’re in unbearable pain, that is going to reflect on your face and your posture.”

Helen Mirren walks the runway during the L’Oréal Paris show in Paris on Sept. 29, 2025.

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She also remarked on her evolving attitude toward fashion, acknowledging her need for comfort, especially as she has matured in her career.

“I’ve come to a point where I just want [my red carpet outfit] to be comfortable as well,” she noted. “Beauty knows no pain. I have been there more than once, you know, sucking up the pain for my vanity. But again, it reflects on your face if you’re comfortable.”

Mirren views the red carpet as a performance, one that provides a fleeting moment of significance. “It is like going onstage, really, and I treat it as such,” she said. “It’s a sort of wonderful, fun, silly performance. It’s not going to last forever. It has huge meaning for a second or two, and then the meaning is gone, and we’re onto something else.”

In a previous interview, the actress reflected on aging, embracing the milestone of turning 80 as “beautiful.”

“I find everything about it [fabulous],” she shared. “F— it, I’m alive and I’m working and I can drink a glass of wine and I can wear makeup and I can listen to music and I can watch a beautiful sunset and I can go to the theater and I can watch a movie and I can binge Netflix and I can live life.”

“It’s a beautiful thing,” she concluded.