Shortly after tweeting that the wonderful response to NARS signing Charlotte Rampling should encourage the competition to snag Helen Mirren, I saw the announcement that Jessica Lange is going to be the face of the new advertising for Marc Jacobs Beauty:
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| WWD, February 27th |
I know that some people don't approve because it's obvious that Ms. Lange had some unfortunate work done. A friend claimed that by choosing Jessica Lange for this campaign Marc Jacobs is essentially celebrating taxidermied faces from the Joan Rivers school of beauty, which only and plays on women's insecurities. While I do get where she's coming from, I still think that if we want to see the end of age discrimination and the marginalization of women past child-bearing years, we need to widen the range of what we think of as a face for a beauty ad, and I'm thankful to Marc Jacobs for doing his part.
I'm very glad to see Marc Jacobs and NARS choosing women "of a certain age" as their models. At the age of 59, I am as interested in makeup, fashion and perfume as I was in my 20s (which is to say, very, very much) but I'm finding it harder and harder to relate to 20-year-olds in ads and commercials.
ReplyDeleteHeartily agreed upon, Montrealaise. I was thinking this just the other day. I am of "a certain age" as well.
DeleteI agree also. (I'm 54.) And I also agree that someone should sign Helen Mirren up. She's amazing.
DeleteShe always has been such an unusual beauty, though. I still like her. It was not long ago that I saw Frances again; she was so good in that film. It made me look up several others that has starred in.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen "Blue Sky"? I think she won an Oscar for her role. She was amazing.
DeleteI will have to see that. Thank you.
DeleteI am 45 yrs old and enjoy makeup. I'm glad to see these companies care about women over 20. I do hope that we will see more companies choosing women of all ages and skin tones. Thank you for posting these press releases.
ReplyDeleteJessica got the MJ gig after Meryl turned it down.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see how different Ms Lange's face looks in the photo above compared with the pictures you shared of Ms Rampling the other day. I'll take the untreated (or at least, not obviously treated) face of Ms Rampling any day over the mess Ms Lange has made of herself in trying to preserve some semblance of her earlier visage. Aging with dignity is so hard to do--at least for me. The more I see of faces like Rampling's or Mirren's or Streep's--women with amazing genetic gifts, true--the better I feel.
ReplyDeleteVery pleased to see he's done this. Definite move in the right direction. Helen Mirren would have been a brilliant choice, but, even with less than fortunate work, Jessica Lange still projects great vitality and is an interesting woman with tremendous talent (am a big fan of her work as a photographer).
ReplyDeleteAnna
Oops, I wasn't quite finished, it seems: I'm particularly sorry to see JL chasing a different/younger face because one of the things I've admired about her over the years is that she seemed to reject the notion that she was just a pretty face and instead sought out challenging roles that highlighted her talent, not her appearance. Because of that, I'd have thought she'd be at peace with her face as she aged, since she didn't seem to rely on it for her career.
ReplyDeleteOK, done now. ;)
I am 45 years old, but I'm sorry, this is no great role model for ageing. There must have been a celebrity somewhere who still looked like themselves, only older. It's touch, I know: It's quite funny these days when I see celebs my age, with whome I "grew up", suddenly no longer looking like themselves. They don't look any younger either, is the tragedy: they just stop looking human.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, as a *former* marc jacobs fan, I can only say that this is the kind of choice he would make these days.
Here's another 45 year-old's opinion: Ms. Lange has apparently managed to thrive in her viper pit of an industry. Kudos to her for sticking it out. So while I can't promise to remain consistent in this as I get older, for today (at least) I will not be jumping on the "omg, what has she done to herself now?" bandwagon. As my mother always says (in a charming Cuban colloquialism), it's never a good idea to spit directly upwards. I mean, you never know what might end up on your face ten years from now, you know?
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