Carly Simon: romance, pain, anticipation—if it's a human impulse, then Carly Simon has sung about it. Now the singer who has provided the soundtrack to a thousand breakups reveals how it all came together

Interview, July, 2004 by Michael Kors

MK: That's it? You're kidding. By the way, I love your boots.

CS: These are from the store I have in Martha's Vineyard [Massachusetts] with my partner. It's called Midnight Farm--it's really my partner's store. It's very eclectic.

MK: "Eclectic" is your word!

CS: But I am. You know what I like to think of myself as being? You know when you take the paint off an old canvas and you discover that something's been painted underneath it? That's what I feel like--that part of the old is coming through the new. And the colors are blending, and I'm just here to appreciate them and not disdain them. When I look old or shabby I just say, "I'm not here to do that."

MK: Well, I don't think you're looking anything near old or shabby.

CS: [laughs] I have my days. You know, my mother was a great role model. She had arthritis in her fingers even when she was my age, but she used to look at her hands and say, "Isn't this beautiful? Look at the shape. Don't they look like gnarled tree trunks?" And whether or not she really felt that, that's what she did for us. Sometimes I think about the Italian matrons, the women with the black dresses and the white buns. They don't even try to look younger, whereas in our society, it's the people who don't have Botox injections that get noticed! We are in this period now where we all are trying to be in shape physically and deny ourselves any pleasure. We need role models who are going to break the mold.

MK: And the way the world is, when we're living with fear every day, I think we need some pleasure. After September 11, once I got past the initial shock, I was like, "I'm a fashion designer. The world is upside down, and what I do is so meaningless." Then it dawned on me that the pleasure quotient of what I do--the indulgence that it brings to people, making them smile or feel sexy or outrageous or smart or just feel something--is so important. Everyone wants the escape. Everyone needs it. We've gotta live for today.

CS: And have a drink.

MK: Yeah, exactly. And lie in the sun.

CS: You know, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 I realized I had spent too long arranging my attitude. I had a mastectomy in 1998, and then chemo. And throughout the whole process I felt much worse. So I spent the next year being really depressed, coming to terms with the whole thing. My oncologist said, "Don't speak about it for a while. Get yourself together and decide what you really want to do." Here, I'll show you this. [shows mastectomy scar] Did you see?

MK: Uh-huh. Yeah.

CS: My scar is beautiful. It looks like an arrow. I didn't bother rubbing things into it or having any silicone injections. I just kept it that way because I liked it.

MK: You know, I was at a meeting yesterday for the Council of Fashion Designers of America. It's the 10th anniversary of "Fashion Targets Breast Cancer," and we were talking about what we're doing to commemorate it. Kenneth Cole said, "I want to talk to Carly Simon. I don't know what we can do together, but it would be so meaningful. It's personal for her."