Age: 71
We recognize her for...

Her professional accomplishments. Already a celebrated artist, the German native turned her attention to writing in 2004 when she published My Father’s House, a memoir about growing up in wartime Germany, which she says is her greatest achievement.

Her poise. A single phrase accompanies each e-mailed reply from the author: “In your body is a good place to be.” It’s one of her favorite quotes and an apt reminder for the rest of us. To maintain her physique, the Scottsville resident begins her day with a 7am walk, followed by a swim, writing or painting, then an afternoon of Pilates and meditation. And, she says, “all the tumult on the farm knocking at my door.”

Her style. She’s a regular on Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style site, a Sartorialist-style blog dedicated to ladies over 60. With her blue hair and artfully arranged outfits (“Creativity out of necessity,” she calls it), Ost often catches the attention of passersby.

Her sense of style extends beyond her person, too. The artist’s Scottsville estate, which she shares with husband Ludwig Kuttner, is a fantasy land, filled to the brim with her own sculptures and treasures collected over seven decades. Isn’t she fabulous?