We see so few truly old faces in the mediawinning plus, especially old women’s faces.
But occasionally, they are celebrated. In October 2023, at the age of 88, Dame Maggie Smith — who died on Sept. 27 — starred in an arresting ad campaign for the luxury brand Loewe, photographed by Juergen Teller. The images they made together are some of the last glimpses we’ll ever have of Ms. Smith.
The power of these photos derives partly from their now elegiac quality. But greater power lies in what the photos have to say about life and death, fashion and time, even the planet itself.
There’s been a slight uptick of older women appearing in fashion shoots lately. Isabelle Huppert, 70, sometimes represents Balenciaga; Ali MacGraw modeled Chanel watches at 80; Maye Musk (mother of Elon) covered Sports Illustrated’s 2022 swimsuit issue at 74; and Martha Stewart did likewise last year, at 81.
Those photos were “glamour shots.” The women — known at least in part for their beauty — appeared with hair and makeup done, lit in soft-focus, angling their bodies artfully, pouting, flirting, or doing that slightly angry “model stare.” The pictures invite us to marvel at how youthful the women “still look.”
In this way, the images suggest that advanced age is to be celebrated only when overcome, subdued, or somehow reversed, shoehorned into conventions created for the very young.
ImageMartha Stewart in 2023.Credit...Nathan Congleton/NBC, via Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.
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