Quick Facts
Full Name: The Honourable Daphne Suzanne Diana Joan Guinness
Birthday: November 9, 1967
Birthplace: Hampstead, London, England
Height: 5ft 3in
Children: Nicolas Stavros Niarchos [1989], Lex Spyros Niarchos [1991], and Ines Sophia Niarchos [1995]

Full Biography

Daphne Suzanne Diana Joan Guinness was born November 9th 1967 to Suzanne Linsey, a beautiful French artist and muse and brewery heir Jonathan Guinness. Daphne grew up in homes in England and Ireland, and summers were spent in an artists’ colony in Spain, where Salvador Dali was a neighbour.

Daphne’s love of style and dressing up began at a young age; she loved rummaging through her mother’s clothes stored in the attic and was acutely aware of her simple elegance and love of well-cut suits. Daphne describes her grandmother (Diana Mitford) as “…incredibly chic – tall and thin, in clothes which had a uniformity to them.” Daphne was clearly influenced by the women who surrounded her. Her Aunt Mariga was “Quite extraordinary looking. A very great talent, extraordinarily creative… There were quite a number of women in my life who were like that, so to me it was quite normal.”

Daphne’s teenage years, when not at boarding school, were spent hanging out in Kensington Market, seeking out leather clothes, anything adorned with skulls, items by Azzedine Alaia and occasionally creating her own outfits (“I made a dress once out of binbags. I thought it looked a bit like Barbarella.”)

At the age of nineteen – dressed in a wedding dress by Marc Bohan of Dior – Daphne married Spyros Niarchos, son of a Greek shipping tycoon. During their marriage she bore him two sons, Nicolas and Alexis; and a daughter, Ines. “It was fifteen years of having children and being quite conservative.” These years have been described as a ‘gilded cage’ period – surrounded by bodyguards and frequently travelling by yachts and private jets to different homes around the world. Daphne spent much time reading, drawing, singing and dreaming ‘out of sight’.

Daphne resumed her maiden name after divorcing Spyros in 1999, and since then she has emerged, triumphant and glorious, into the Daphne Guinness we know and love today. As well as being known for her true love of haute couture (wearing and collecting), she tirelessly supports new designers, and her own creative talents know no bounds. She is a designer, actress, and naturally gifted opera singer.

Daphne is also a passionate supporter of a number of charities and worthy causes. Most recently she auctioned a substantial part of her private couture collection in aid of The Isabella Blow Foundation, raising an astonishing £476,800. The foundation was set up by Daphne after her close friend Isabella tragically took her own life in 2007. The Foundation aims to support aspiring art and fashion students and to facilitate further research into depression and mental health, illnesses which plagued Isabella.

Daphne is a true artist with a razor-sharp eye for detail and one of the most distinctive personal styles in the world; always evolving but always immediately recognisable. Intelligent, graceful and beautiful, she is loved and respected by her peers within the industry.

Written by: Katy