No need to be says Abc news in a recent article, “Forget 20, forget 30. 40 is hot!”
Contrary to popular opinion, women don’t hit an expiration date at 40. Just look at what’s happening for supermodels, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer. Witness, too, the continued rise of actresses, Brooke Shields, Mary-Louise Parker and Debra Messing. And what about Christie Brinkley, who, at 51, renewed her association with Cover Girl and is now the face for its Advanced Radiance cosmetics for older women.
The faces of these icons of beauty may be “Botoxed” in time but their careers sure aren’t. Why, according Albert Lee, a senior editor at US Weekly, and obviously an expert on older women, "Women aren't as afraid to grow older."
Of course they’re not afraid to grow old. They’re not actually doing it. The opinion of Mr. Lee notwithstanding, trends in models and actresses are not barometers of important sociological phenomena. They just tell you where advertisers are banking these days: on the older woman with cash.
I guess they’re finally getting that we command a trillion dollars in spending power, and by the year 2010 will control 60% of the country’s wealth. Not sure what took them so long to figure it out, but now that they have, the inevitable is happening.
In our twenties, we were supposed to aspire to anorexia. Now in our forties, it’s wrinklorexia. If you’re not wrinkle-free, age-free, and fat-free by the time you hit your fifties, look out. You’re heading for the expiration list.
Thankfully there are products for your every aging anxiety, which may turn out to be worse than body image anxiety. Prada and Chanel know this and are marketing directly to you. And why not? What 20-year old could by a $5,000 product?
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Add a Comment6 Comments
I wonder if, for the vast majority of us who look in the mirror and see someone looking back at us that looks "older" than the age we feel, if the quest is really to look like ourselves again, rather than just look younger.
We all know how we look when we feel our best. We are probably fit, and lean, perhaps muscled. Our skin is clear, moist, and maybe glowing a little from good nutrition. Our eyes are bright and clear. Our hair is shiny and trimmed.
Often, as we age, those wrinkles, the extra weight, the gray hair throw us for a loop. Who is that person? I know that I don't want to necessarily look like I did when I was 30, but I want to feel my best, which is linked to looking my best.
So maybe some of all that botox and plastic surgery is about being the best 40something or 50something or 60something or 70something we can be -- the one that most looks like how we feel inside.
October 17, 2008 - 10:10amThis Comment
The reason why we will always look our age to outsiders is because our experience shows in our eyes. Thank goodness, there's no surgery to erase the depth of our lives that shows in our eyes. The most attractive women I've seen carry something in their souls -- probably self-acceptance and self-love -- and that's all they need to be the best they can be. Pamela
October 17, 2008 - 10:20amThis Comment
You're still, as one of the ladies in my running group said to me, "a baby!"
Attitudes tend to change with realities of time and experience. But, I do agree with you that the plastic surgery should be done for the right reasons.
September 15, 2008 - 5:43pmThis Comment
I'm almost 50 and I couldn't agree more with the observation in an earlier post about how no matter what a woman does, she basically looks her age. I'm so sick of the crap they try to sell us right down the idea of how we're not supposed to age. Why does everyone thing plastic surgery is okay? What are the right reasons? Vanity? Insecurity? Frankly, I'm disappointed in myself because I still dye my hair to cover the gray.
October 16, 2008 - 8:05pmThis Comment
have nothing to do with vanity or insecurity, but everything to do with health and well-being. There are unfortunates living in this world with deformities that can be alleviated with plastic surgery, and doctors who even perform these surgeries gratis.
Why be disappointed in yourself for covering the gray? That's a woman's prerogative. My mom did, until she finally let her hair go entirely gray, but colored and cut her hair to help keep it looking even until it all grew out to the same color. Now, she enhances the gray to keep it from looking yellowed, and I think she looks fabulous.
Who says a woman should stop caring about her looks?
October 17, 2008 - 4:17pmThis Comment
There's a recent ad showing a natural-faced Lauren Hutton. Sharon Stone and Michelle Pfeiffer are still drop-dead gorgeous. Ellen Degeneres is still very youthful. Let's not forget the eternal divas Cher or Tina Turner. Ford model Carmen was the first to be the face of the maturing woman aging beautifully and marketing to the maturing market. I don't know if Botox is a common element among them.
My mother will be 80 next year and looks better than some 30-year-olds I know.
There is a little movement going in the fashion industry to use "real" women on the runway and pages of fashion magazines, although it's still a tiny minority. There are new magazines targeting the 50+ woman.
I'm not terribly anxious about aging, just yet, anyway. Today, another woman told me that I look terrific and she couldn't believe I'm pushing 60. I just keep asking my mom when age will finally hit my face, lol!
September 12, 2008 - 4:58pmThis Comment