Ageless Beauty: Estee Lauder, Marc Jacobs and NARS hire older women as their models
updated the 7 October 2015 à 00:03
More beauty brands are celebrating graceful ageing by hiring older females to star in their campaigns.
The modeling industry today is primarily, if not completely, brimming with fresh-faced models – the younger the better. Whether the models are used in fashion campaigns, runways or beauty campaigns, the subtext is always clear. That a younger model will possess the ideal shape or complexion of what consumers should aspire to.
However, all pillars of the concept began shattering when Jessica Lange, 64, was announced as face of Marc Jacobs beauty. Though older females have already been fronting fashion campaigns – Linda Rodin for The Row, Catherine Deneuve for Louis Vuitton or Leslie Wiener for Vivienne Westwood – the realm of beauty was without a similar personality.
Before Jessica Lange’s announcement, Stephanie Seymour, 45, was hired to star in Estee Lauder’s Fall campaign. And most recently, NARS followed suit with the announcement that English actress, Charlotte Rampling, 68, is to be their new face.
This flurry of older women being embraced and celebrated in campaigns across both fashion and beauty is a bold step in the right direction. By exemplifying that growing older and the physical signs that comes with shouldn’t be lambasted, beauty pursuits become far more tangible. Essentially, the move neatly aligns itself to familiar adages: ‘style transcends time (age)’ or ‘true beauty knows no age’.
Yet, we can’t help but feel a little skeptical to the hurrah surrounding the move. Seeing a well-seasoned and gracefully aged older woman on a campaign promoting beauty almost intuitively raises eyebrows and stirs conversation. So it could ultimately be a marketing ploy to ensure their brand name remains on everyone’s lips, all with the help of a visually shocking campaign.
Skepticism aside, for now, we hope the intention is pure and lies in promoting more feasible and realistic desires of beauty. We definitely do not mind seeing more of these beauties dominating our billboards!
Tarandip Kaur
