Rubinstein is good with numbers from childhood. First she maintains her father’s accounts when he trades in petroleum and eggs. When she comes to run her own firm, she passionately tracks the company’s stocks on the stock exchange. She comes out of the great financial crisis richer by nearly $6 million. In her official documents, Rubinstein subtracts several years from her age and adds her high heels to her height (147 cm). Her one problem is calculating calories: with age, her figure becomes rounder. This can hardly be seen in photographs of her: she orders that they be airbrushed.
For a millionaire, Rubinstein is thrifty. In her tax returns, she claims her high-fashion dresses as working clothes and she gets tax refunds both in New York and Paris. She sends her secretary to buy her discounted stockings. She organises energy-saving courses for her employees. For lunch, she buys take-away fried chicken and eats it at work, so as to save time.
She always says that there are no ugly women, only lazy ones. She is happiest when working and is amazed that there might be something more important. She hires from within her own family: Arden calls this the ‘Polish mafia’.
She surrounds herself with luxury. Fights with her husband regularly end in gifts of pearls, but ultimately they end in divorce. In her 26-room flat, she collects African sculpture, Victorian chairs, Chinese tables and Turkish lamps. On her walls hang works by Renoir, Picasso, Chagall and Matisse.
She has 27 portraits of herself. The one in which she is bound to a rock by a rope of emeralds is painted by Salvador Dali. He also designs her corporate logo – HR – and a cosmetics compact. He also refurbishes her dining room.
The 66-year-old queen of beauty marries a prince of Georgia, a man some 23 years her junior. After his death, she throws herself back into work. At 95 years of age, she suffers a stroke in her office. She dies a day later the world’s wealthiest woman: Her empire is worth $100 million. Today, the firm belongs to the cosmetics company L’Oréal.
Translated by Yale Reisner