Charlotte Rampling through the eyes of PhotographerPEPPE TORTORA for ©Grey Magazine
I’m a little confused, Francois Nars, the founder and creative director of the cosmetic brand bearing his name announced that the new face of Nars would be the 68 year, (note making a point of her age) old Charlotte Rampling.
He would be shooting his muse in black and white, portrait style. At last a real woman- I thought- who from various images published recently has had no outside intervention.
One is left to wonder, then, why, when the cosmetic industry claims it would like to have a real conversation with women of our age, they photoshop this beautiful woman wiping out all of her hard won patina leaving a blank canvas. Are we meant to think the product rendered her lineless, pumped, looking like a store shop mannequin. Where is the integrity in that?
According to Australian Vogue “ In a supposed backlash against underage models, many brands are realising the potential in advertising to an older clientele with more mature models. Karen Walker’s 2013 eyewear campaign by Advanced Style photographer Ari Seth Cohen featured women aged between 65 and 92, Louie Vuitton’s spring/summer’14 stars a range of women, including 70 year old Catherine Deneuve, ( and her obvious face work). The Row has used a sexagenarian skincare empress Linda Rodin for its pre-fall 2014 look book.
Charlotte Rampling as seen by Francois Nars in a lipstick advertisement
All well and good, but if you are going to crow about using women of a certain age to sell your product to women of a certain age…then get your hand off it Darryl….and lay off the erase tool in photo shop and show a bit of respect.
In the words of La Rampling herself…”This is how it is. I’m a very attractive woman despite my age – get used to it”.
LINKS
http://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/news/advanced+style+campaign+for+karen+walker,22004
http://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/news/advanced+style+campaign+for+karen+walker,22004
http://www.vogue.com.au/fashion+shows/galleries/the+row+pre+fall+2014+,28219?pos=5#top
http://grey-magazine.com/il-caso-rampling
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Comments 5
I think the advertisers underestimate how comfortable we are with seeing women portrayed as their actual age rather than viewing a constructed image of someone younger.
I love the languorous fag in her right hand – looks like she might have rolled it herself. What a dame! Ms Jeune has the quality suggested by her name – stunning. I love your blog, keep it coming.
There is an indignity in being seventy and having to look like you’re fifty. I see so many people with a lot of work, now men as well as women in NYC who increasingly look like somebody they never were and never should be the “youth recaptured” look of Betty Boop lips and injection-induced “freshness”.
However, if you’re in a workplace that stresses the importance of being young and new, and your job is at stake, it’s tough not to fight. Men dye their hair, and do Botox etc as much as women, to survive in a society where age is spat upon, not revered.
The real conversation about age today is about how much you can keep it at bay, sadly.
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sadly the age issue is a battleground, I think with this campaign I railed at the hypocrisy…its one step forward and two steps back…and the result is an insult not a celebration of age…
I prefer Ms Jeune