“Because we’ve had to survive so many things, there’s this special bond that connects us,” says actress Zoë Saldana (center), 33 of her sisters Cisely (left), 32, a producer, and Mariel (right), 34, a nurse. “We were raised in Queens, New York, until my father passed away when I was 9. Our mom, being a single parent, didn’t want us to grow up in a dangerous place, so she moved us to the Dominican Republic, where we stayed with my grandparents. Our mom would live with us there for one year and then spend one year in New York so she could make money to send back home for us. It’s inconceivable for us to be separated. We have to be around each other 24/7.” And she’s not speaking metaphorically: When Zoë moved to L.A. from New York five years ago to pursue her film career (Avatar, Star Trek), her sisters quickly followed her. These days, they live within nine miles of each other. “I’ll text my mom once a day,” says Zoë. “But my sisters? Every 30 minutes we’re on BlackBerry Messenger.”
Julianne Moore and her sister Valerie Wells
Lanvin gowns
“In my earliest memory of her,” says the actress Julianne Moore (left), 51, of her sister, Valerie (right), 50, “she’s standing in her crib holding out her arms and I’m pulling her out. We’ve always been best friends.” The children of a military judge and a psychiatric social worker, the sisters and their brother, Peter, attended nine different schools during a childhood spent in Nebraska, Alaska, New York, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Germany. “A lot of our dinner table conversation was about what we were going through emotionally,” recalls Moore, who next tackles the role of Sarah Palin in Game Change, a forthcoming HBO film. Nowadays, Moore lives in Manhattan, and Wells, a real estate executive, in Northern Virginia. “Whenever I see her, I like to go through her purse,” says Moore. “She’s my sister, so she can go through my stuff, and I can go through hers. We’re also an amazing cleaning team. When I was pregnant with my first child [Caleb, 14], I was feeling overwhelmed and, as a baby-shower present, my sister flew to L.A. to help me clean out my garage. She knew she was the one person who could help me get it done.”
Cara and Poppy Delevingne
Cara (left) wears Dolce & Gabbana dress and shoes.
Poppy (right) wears Nina Ricci dress and shoes.
Hats by Philip Treacy Couture.
“I quite enjoyed being the youngest daughter and was horrified when this little creature arrived at the house wrapped up like a potato,” recalls London-based model Poppy Delevingne (right), 24, of her sister and flatmate, Cara (left), 18, whose godmother is Joan Collins. “That grew into this insane fascination: I would dress her up, put makeup on her, and teach her every song and dance. She became my little doll.” Poppy even taught her younger sister how to walk in high heels when Cara started modeling a year ago—she’s the face of Burberry. The daughters of society fixtures Charles Delevingne and Pandora Stevens, the sisters “have been mothers to each other,” says Poppy, noting that Pandora’s struggles with drug addiction taught them “from a very young age how to take care of ourselves.” Their maturity, however, doesn’t preclude a shared “wacky sense of humor and an ability to sleep for days,” says Poppy. “And we’re both boy crazy; we love boys. We also love dressing up, but we’re so unbelievably messy. Sometimes our bedrooms are barricaded shut because there are clothes everywhere.”
“There has always been a little bit of a fight over my mom,” says Delfina Delettrez Fendi (left), 24, a fourth-generation Fendi, of the competition between her and her half sister Leonetta (right), 15, for their mother’s attention. The daughters of Fendi accessories designer Silvia Venturini Fendi, a single parent, the siblings grew up doing their homework in their mother’s atelier in Rome. When, at 19, Delfina had a daughter of her own, her relationship with then 10-year-old Leonetta changed dramatically. “When you become a mother, you’re not so focused on being a daughter,” notes Delfina, a jewelry designer, who created the wigs she and Leonetta are holding here to display her recent collection. “I gave Leonetta my place, in a way. I became more protective of her; there’s not so much jealousy.” It was actually their mother who sparked their now close friendship, which began, fittingly, during Paris fashion week in 2010. “Last year my mother had to go back to Rome early, so she left Leonetta with me for the week. I took her everywhere—we had so much fun.”
Virginie Courtin-Clarins and sister Claire
Outifts by Louis Vuitton
“We have a tendency to do everything together,” says Virginie Courtin-Clarins, (left) 26, of her sister Claire, 24 (right)—granddaughters of the founder of the Clarins skincare company. “She has an apartment in Paris, and so do I, but she’s always at my place, or I’m at hers. Sometimes she calls me and says, ‘Can I sleep over? I miss you.’ ” Their parents divorced when Virginie was 6 and Claire 4, and the shuttling between homes “is a big reason, I think, why we got so close,” says Virginie. “Also, Claire is my little sister, and sometimes I consider her a bit like my baby. When I don’t know where she is, I worry about her.” Though complementary, the pair, says Virginie, are utterly different in their outlook—and not just because Virginie is an entrepreneur about to start her own beauty company and Claire is a designer who loves to draw. “Claire has a very specific style,” she says. “Sometimes when I go in a store with her and see something that’s maybe too flashy or a bit weird, I just know she will like it.”
Courtesy of W Magazine
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