Bianca Jagger: 'Make masks mandatory at all times once you leave the house'

The image below shows me in 1978, photographed in the hallway of the Savoy Hotel, as I recall. I am wearing an Yves Saint Laurent jacket and trousers, with a necktie, a pocket square and boots.

I dressed in men's clothes as a political statement - as a form of protest. I thought men ruled the world and I was subverting the system. It wasn't until much later that I realised I was also emulating my father, who wore white linen suits and a panama hat. I also admired Marlene Dietrich, who wore a tuxedo in 1930's Morocco, and Katharine Hepburn, who dressed in men's clothes all her life.

My biggest inspiration was my mother. I devoted my life to defending women and children's rights as a tribute to her. When I was 10, my parents divorced and my privileged life in Nicaragua turned upside down overnight. My mother, Dora, was a pioneer in Nicaragua's conservative society. She believed in women's emancipation at a time when most women devoted themselves to homemaking and were regarded as second-class citizens, and she also believed that education was the best legacy a parent could give a child.

She taught me to live by my convictions. I won't let anyone dictate to me what I should think, do, or wear. Yves Saint Laurent played a role in the liberation of women - empowering them through clothing that he borrowed from men's designs. He sent trousers down the runway in the 1960s. This was a radical change for women, who could now wear comfortable designs that also looked elegant.

In 1969 I bought my first piece from his Rive Gauche boutique, La Saharienne safari jacket, which was both comfortable and feminine. My second piece was a double-breasted blue blazer with bordeaux piping, which I kept for years. I am wearing it below at the Bardney pop festival in 1972 along with a Moroccan cape and a walking stick. I'm standing with my dear friend the film producer Carolyn Pfeiffer.

I met Yves for the first time at his office at rue Spontini with Mick [Jagger], as I wanted him to design my wedding outfit. I had a clear idea of what I wanted, a long, narrow skirt and a jacket. He made a beautiful suit and a wide-brimmed hat with a veil. We decided that instead of carrying a bouquet, I should wear a corsage on my wrist to go with the outfit.

Maria Grazia Chiuri, the creative director of Dior, has so much in common with Yves. She is not trying to make women prisoners of fashion. She has thought about what would liberate women - flat shoes and boots at a time when almost every designer was making women wear absurd eight-inch heels - and how to make our lives easy while also beautiful and inspired.

The moment she came out with the we should all be feminists T-shirt for her first show, in September 2016, I became a fan. I admire her courage, to be the first woman designer at la maison Dior and dare to come out with such a bold message to the world. She has also given female artists such as Judy Chicago a platform to express themselves. I am so flattered that she has said that these outfits of mine inspired pieces from her autumn/winter 2020 collection.

I have been shielding at home for over seven months since lockdown, and during this time I have been wearing leggings and very simple pieces. I don’t like tight clothes. I often wonder who created the bra. Was it a kind of punishment? Maria Grazia Chiuri also liberated us from this torture and created bras with no wire, like a sports bras, which give women freedom.

For me, the most important thing is style, not fashion, and Maria Grazia Chiuri has shown that it is possible to be elegant and a woman of substance. 

I am inspired by the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: 'Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.’

Meanwhile, since lockdown The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF) has been campaigning for people to wear masks. The BJHRF is working on a #Masks4Life campaign, urging the UK government to make wearing a mask mandatory at all times once you leave the house, in addition to developing a video with the help of artists, to make masks that young people would like to wear. We need to remove the stigma attached to wearing masks. Because when we wear a mask we can save lives. 

In order to do this, I am asking prominent figures from the art world to feature in a video to promote the campaign; wearing a mask, saying a short message and creating a work of art on a mask. So far I have contacted Simon de Pury, the renowned auctioneer - who is helping me reach out to artists. Onboard so far are gallerists such as Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Bettina Korek from the Serpentine Gallery, Thaddaeus Ropac from the Ropac Galerie, Nicholas Logsdail and Gregg Hilty from the Lisson Gallery along with prominent artists such as; Antony Gormley, Ross Bleckner, Jason Martin, Marc Quinn, Ryan Gander along with outstanding architects such as Norman Foster and David Chipperfield as well as people of influence such as Elena Foster from Ivory Press.

The Coronavirus pandemic has made us reflect upon what is important in our lives. The time has come to address the climate crisis, and what we must do to avoid catastrophic climate change. We must ask ourselves, what world do we want to leave to our children, grandchildren and future generations?

I would like to encourage everyone to wear a mask. Our lives depend on it. Think about all of the NHS staff and the sacrifice they make when they put on PPE every day. Wearing a mask is nothing compared to their sacrifice. And it’s nothing compared to the potentially fatal consequence of Covid-19.

As told to Eilidh Hargreaves

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