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Stephanie Seymour - Cosmo Cover Girl January 1997


A FASHIONABLE MARRIAGE

She's twenty-eight; the man she married is forty-nine - not the most conventional match ever made. "But," says Stephanie Seymour of her husband, socialite Peter Brant, "I've never thought about the age difference, not for one moment - I'm just madly in love." The attraction is understandable. Brant, a serious polo player, cuts a dashing figure on a horse - a fact that hasn't escaped Seymour's notice. "The sport can be dangerous." says Stephanie, "but he's so good out there, I just get caught up rooting for him." So, does the way a man rides a horse reveal any deeper truths about him? "Absolutely," says Stephanie. "Is he aggressive, running the horse ragged with no regard? Or does he respect the animal?"

The couple, who've been together four years, wed in July 1995. They spend much of their time on the social circuit, leaving their Connecticut estate for benefits in Manhattan and summers in the Hamptons, where they own a second home. But the chichi life isn't all that occupies them. "We love our time together," says Seymour, "even if it's sneaking off for an afternoon of antiquing and museums." And of course, there's always shopping; "My husband loves clothes - he grew up flying to Paris with his mother to see the collections. So he knows as much or more about fashion than most fashion editors. Some men hate shopping, but my husband gets mad if I go without him!"

HER THREE SONS

Talk about a red-hot mama: This past August, Stephanie gave birth to her third boy, baby Harry (Dylan, her eldest, is six; Peter, second, is two and half). Asked whether she had been hoping for a girl the third time around, Stephanie demures. "I thought it would be wonderful to have three boys, to have all that camaraderie."

As for the rivalry sparked by a newborn, there's been nothing but brotherly love. "Petey loves to hold the baby, and Dylan's like a little mama, 'Let me feed him, let me change him.' My advice to mothers is to pay even more attention to the older ones. If Peter tells me to put the baby down, I say, 'Okay, Petey, he is taking up too much of my time.' And when the presents for Harry come and they end up in the other boys' toy boxes, I let it go. It's not like Harry cares."

Though she has two nannies to help out with play dates and school pickups, Stephanie is no dilettante mom. "You only have one chance," she says, Still, her longtime relationship with Victoria's Secret is still going strong - which means she can earn big bucks and tend the babies. Jokes Stephanie, "Who knew modeling would be such a good career for a mother?"

STEPHANIE SEYMOUR - UNZIPPED

We know her as the girl with a Barbie-doll bod, but Stephanie Seymour has a confession; She can't always find clothes that fit. "I have a woman's shape, with hips. And clothes today aren't always tailored for curvy bodies." So, what's a model to do? In Stephanie's case, start hunting vintage haute couture, designed at a time when hips weren't meant to be minimized.

Her frenzy for old finds was sparked by her husband, an avid art collector. And though she's shelled out mucho dinero for a classic Balenciaga, she's also enjoyed some great steals: for instance, the pile of hot-again Halstons she found at a Palm Beach thrift shop and snatched up for ten of fifteen dollars apiece. So, how does her secondhand chic go over with the benefit crowd? "Most people can't even tell," she says. "There's something eternal about beautifully made couture."