Elle UK May2020

Photography: Ian Harrison.

ELLE.COM/UK May 2020

I was 14 -years-old the first time I saw Claudia Schiffer.Herface

peered down at me from a poster on my brother’s bedroomwall:

a towering juggernaut of blonde hair, Bambi legs andyouth.

Schiffer was 23 when that photograph was taken,andwas,

she now admits, painfully aware her career would beoverbythe

time she hit 3O. Because that’s how things were backthen:youth

was the secret sauce of aspiration; ageing the

ingredient that soured the broth.

Culturally, we have always had a peculiar

relationship with ageing, despite ‘old’ being

the destination we are all heading for. For many

years, ‘old’ has been absent from our screens, our

billboards and our conversations. Think about it:

when was the last you asked an old person for

their view on something? Now think about the

number of times you’ve asked someone younger for theirs...

The problem is, we have become used to hidingawaytheold.

We have let them slink into the corners of life. Whenwe’reyoung,

all old people look the same – hunched, grey, age-spottedlikea

fly agaric toadstool. As such, we lump them into oneamorphous

mass: the aged. And it is our greatest failing.

Over the past few years however, the world has slowlyrealised

its mistake. And none more so than the world of fashion.IrisApfel

nolongerstandsaloneasanexampleofhowwonderfulgetting

oldercanlookandfeel.Overthepastfewyears.JoanDidion,

CharlotteRampling,VanessaRedgraveandAliMacGrawhave

allfrontedmajorfashioncampaignswellintotheireighthandninth

decades,makingusalllustaftertheclothesontheirbacksinthe

process,nomatterwhatourage.Onthecatwalks,meanwhile,

modelswhosefacesandbodiesweartheglorious

patinasofage– KarenElson,EvaHerzigova,Carolyn

Murphy–areonceagainleadingthecharge;

experienceandalifewell-livedbestowingeach

onewithanextradashofswagger.

Becausehere’sthe thing:the conversation

aroundgettingolderusedtobesodull,sodreary,

soinhospitablewithitscreakingtalkofwrinklesand

weightgainandailmentsthatwringallthepleasure

outoflife.Nooneevertalkedaboutthegoodstuff:thejuicywisdom

yougather,theeasyattitudeyoudevelop,thewayyourimagination

expandsand,thebestbitofall,beingfreedfromthetyrannyofvanity.

Olderisn’tonlywiser,it’smoreinteresting,too– whichinitsown

waymakesit justasspectacularasyouth.Don’tbelieveme?Then

lookattheimageofClaudiaSchiffer,all 49 yearsofage,peering

backatyoufromthisfrontcover:blondehair,Bambileggedand

brimmingwithageandexperience.

Top, £250, REMAIN BIRGER

CHRISTENSEN

Goldbra 1,750,

TIFFANY&CO.

Skirt,£69,

ARKET

Hat,£480,

MAISON MICHEL

GIF T OF AGEING

Th e unexp e cted

23

“ THE PROBLEM

IS, WE HAVE

BECOME USED

TO HIDING

AWAY THE OLD ”

MANOLOBLAHNIK

Sandals, £675,

MANOLOBLAHNIK

t£

ON MY R ADAR

WHAT’S CAUGHT MY EYE (and h eart)

THIS MONTH...