How Gloria Vanderbilt Became a Social Media Star in Her 90s

While Millennials are known for their mastery of social media, Gloria Vanderbilt, who died in her New York home at the age of 95, proved age is only a number when it comes to becoming an Instagram star.

The artist, entrepreneur, socialite and fashion icon launched her Instagram account in 2017 at 93 years old. Since then, she’s shared everything from moments with her sons — CNN’s Anderson Cooper and her late son, Carter Cooper — and her late husband, Wyatt Emory Cooper, in addition to her own pieces of artwork and iconic fashion moments. Over the last two years, Vanderbilt delighted her more than 200,000 followers with photos from her modeling days and with her celebrity friends, including Salvador Dalí and Frank Sinatra.

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Read on to see highlights from Vanderbilt’s prolific life, as documented on her Instagram.

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this was the first photo shoot i did with #GordonParks. It was for Life Magazine. The beginning of a life-long friendship. Oh, how I miss him! @gordonparksfoundation

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on May 7, 2017 at 9:38am PDT

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This was the first photo #Horst took of me. It was 1941 and I was an insecure 17 yr old, but when I saw this photo it gave me hope!

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on May 16, 2017 at 10:29am PDT

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Just came across this photo with @andersoncooper and Carter. It was probably taken around 1979. It seems like yesterday.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Mar 30, 2019 at 9:40am PDT

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This is one of many photographs #Scavullo took of me. I remember the day well because Wyatt Cooper and I were soon to leave on our Honeymoon in Paris.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on May 25, 2017 at 3:03pm PDT

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Oh, the divine #FrankSinatra! Taken New Years' Eve 1954. Our love affair didn't last very long, but he came ring-a-ding-dinging into my life at an important time, and we remained friends always – isn't that how it should be?

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jun 5, 2017 at 6:11am PDT

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My father as a child (on the left) with his brother Alfred. Alfred died years later on the #Lusitania. He gave his lifejacket to a woman who did not have one, and went down with the ship.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jun 28, 2017 at 8:27am PDT

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Just came across this photo of me with #salvadordali taken at a party for him and his wife Gala at Delmonico's.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jul 14, 2017 at 1:04pm PDT

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With Anderson and Carter in the house on 67th street. To quote Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "I love you in ways that are infinite and as in eternity have no beginning or end."

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jul 18, 2017 at 11:40am PDT

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Carter Cooper. January 27, 1965 – July 22, 1988 Not a day goes by that I do not think of him. He is close to me because he lives in my mind and heart forever.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jul 22, 2017 at 8:29am PDT

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I was 16 and this was my first shoot for #harpersbazaar. The great George Hoyningen-Huene was the photographer. I was surprised and secretly thrilled afterwards to see the photo in Bergdorf Goodmans window, along with the outfit I was wearing in the shoot.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jul 27, 2017 at 5:00am PDT

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My beloved goddaughter Elizabeth Peabody sent me this photo today. It brings back so many happy memories of time we had together with her father Sam, and her beautiful mother, Judy Peabody, my closest friend.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jul 28, 2017 at 11:46am PDT

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Taken in 1941 for #Harper'sBazaar by #georgehurrell, in my mother's house in Beverly Hills. I was 17 hoping to look grown up, hair coiffed into what was called "A Pompadour." The bracelet was made from seashells I had collected and strung together. I was paralyzed with fear, sitting in the chair, speechless, tongue-tied. The shoot clicked by, neither Hurrell nor I said a word. Years later I met him and his memory of it was so different from mine! He thought I was bored, indifferent. "Oh, No!" I told him, "I was a frightened child desperate to be an adult."

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Aug 3, 2017 at 1:18pm PDT

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Love this photo of Anderson and me in my studio, with my favorite sneakers! @gloriavanderbiltstudio. Photo by #normanjeanroy

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Aug 22, 2017 at 1:06pm PDT

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Just came across this polaroid of me with @andersoncooper. He was 17 and leaving high school early to travel across Southern Africa for several months. I was very nervous, but put on a brave face knowing he could handle himself whatever might come. He was hospitalized in Kenya with malaria and never told me until months later when he got home.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Oct 31, 2017 at 10:19am PDT

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My husband, Wyatt Cooper with our son, Carter. In my heart always.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Dec 12, 2017 at 1:00pm PST

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One of my favorite pictures of Carter and @AndersonCooper taken by their father. I love how protective Carter is of Anderson here.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Dec 12, 2017 at 1:06pm PST

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A drawing I did several years ago: Alone Together In The Unknowable Night. One of my favorites.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jan 31, 2018 at 1:32pm PST

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I recall a note from my Aunt Gertrude, received on a birthday long ago. “Just think, today you are 17 whole years old!” she wrote. Today, I am 94 whole years old! A hell of a lot wiser, but somewhere still 17. What is the answer? What is the secret? Is there one?

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Feb 20, 2018 at 1:03pm PST

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I Love You Truly. New work I just finished. @gloriavanderbiltstudi

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Mar 27, 2018 at 6:31am PDT

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Portrait I did of my great friend, Carol Matthau, hoping to capture some of the mystery of her devilish charm. Tout lasse Tout casse Tout passe Et tous se remplace Translated: Everything tires Everything breaks Everything passes And everything is replaced Think about it …

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jun 1, 2018 at 10:36am PDT

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Thirty years ago today, before my eyes, I lost Carter Cooper. My son. My life. My hope. In the years since, his brother, my beloved Anderson, has been by my side, giving me love and strength. Carter is close and alive within me, as he was from the beginning, and as he always will be.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jul 22, 2018 at 10:47am PDT

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My Angel Watching Over Me. 24” x 18” Pastel On Paper. $3700. To purchase, direct message @gloriavanderbiltstudio.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Aug 10, 2018 at 3:53pm PDT

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This photo was taken in my living room in Southampton by #Scavullo. The dress was made for me by the great ballet theater designer #Karinska. I made the collage hanging on the wall of Queen Elizabeth out of silver paper and lavender gingham fabric. The living room floors were glazed white and the sofa was covered in a beautiful fabric by @FortunyVenezia. The pillows were cotton gingham.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Aug 12, 2018 at 8:26am PDT

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A photo by #Horst for @harpersbazaarus. I was probably about 40 years old, it was before @andersoncooper was born. After a shoot I sometimes felt I had discovered something about myself I hadnt known, or seen, before. In this photo, leaning back on our living room sofa in a #mainbocher dress, I was thinking of nothing at all, except I was in love and happy, and the future stretched before like a field of untouched snow.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Oct 12, 2018 at 9:51am PDT

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Wyatt Cooper and me at the premiere of My Fair Lady in 1964. I was six months pregnant with our son, Carter, and was so in love and happy. The maternity dress was by #mainbocher. Photo by Getty Images

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Oct 23, 2018 at 2:29pm PDT

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One of my favorite photographs of me, the real me, sans makeup, taken by @andersoncooper at 10 Gracie Square.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Dec 16, 2018 at 12:09pm PST

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Two paintings by #AaronShikler in my living room… never be afraid of clutter if it is all part of your history.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Dec 16, 2018 at 1:04pm PST

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From the time I was very young, I used to love to wear men’s ties. It became quite popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Who can forget #AnnieHall and the divine @diane_keaton?

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Dec 17, 2018 at 6:31pm PST

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It seems but a blink of the eye ago. Walking with Wyatt Cooper along Park Avenue near our house on 67th street. Me in a coat by #Adolfo.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jan 9, 2019 at 8:47pm PST

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Reading a poem of mine on the radio sometime in the 1950’s.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Jan 9, 2019 at 8:44pm PST

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A friend sent me this photo the other day. I’d never seen it before. It is me with my Airedale in France, where i lived with my mother, and grandmother Morgan, and my nanny, whom I called Dodo. Plans were already afoot to get me back to America, I’d hear whispers between Dodo and my grandmother, but I did not know what it meant, and all that lay ahead.

A post shared by Gloria Vanderbilt (@gloriavanderbilt) on Apr 1, 2019 at 6:08am PDT

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