Elle UK – September 2019

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ELLEBeauty

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Jennywas 28 yearsoldthefirsttimeshehadBotox.Shelay,

headback,inanunfamiliarroomwhilethebotulinumtoxin

wasinjectedbetweenthetinylinesthatranliketraintracks

betweenhereyebrows.Shewasn’tsureshelookedyounger

exactly,butit leftherwithabrowassmoothasgossamer

andinspiredaclutchofcomplimentsfromfriendsand

colleagues.Whenotherlittlerivuletsstartedtomaketheir

wayacrossthelandscapeofherface,shereclinedinher

doctor’schairandsubmittedthesignsofagetotheneedle

prickofBotoxoncemore.Andsoit wenton...againandagain

andagain.‘BythetimeI was38,I washavingBotoxfivetimes

ayear,acrossmywholeupperface,’shesays.‘Oneday

I lookedinthemirrorandrealisedthatmyfacehadtwoages.‘

AndsoJenny,likemanyotherwomen,didwhatshe

neverthoughtshewould:sheturnedherbackonthemedical

procedures that had been a part of her life for over 14 years.

Where once ice-skating-rink smoothness and big, juicy

features were the aesthetic goal, now true beauty comes in

the form of a face that wears the patina of age with elegance

and pride. ‘Finally, at 42, I want to look natural,’ she says.

Wrinkles are the new vogue. That’s certainly the case if

one looks across the fashion tundra, where real, aged faces

• all delicate lines and skin peppered with sun spots – peer
  back at us. This season’s catwalks were filled not with faces
  flushed and plumped by the bellows of youth, but those gently
  weathered and artfully moulded by decades of experience.
  Fortysomething supermodels of yesteryear Amber Valletta,
  Shalom Harlow and Stella Tennant and 5O-year-old Helena
  Christensen all now front major fashion campaigns, while
  a bare-faced Lauren Hutton has never looked as beautiful
  as she did walking the Valentino autumn/winter 2O19
  Couture runway in Paris. A 54 -year-old Keanu Reeves made
  the world gasp in lascivious unison when he emerged

WORDS by JENNIFER GEORGE

THE VOGUE for INFL ATED, L INE - FREE,

TUMESCENT- L IPPED FACES is OVER.

N O W, the V ERY WOME N who PAID TO LOOK

IDENTICALLY AGEL ESS are PAYING TO RECL AIM

the INDIV IDUAL FACES they L EF T BE HIND...

Th e RISE

OF the

BESP OKE

FACE

PHOTOGR APH by BETH STERNBAUM