AGE before beauty is not a maxim you can often apply to the world of fashion – so it’s refreshing to see Marie Helvin prove that ageing can be very beautiful indeed.
The supermodel, 71, looks sensational in a new campaign for British lingerie brand Bluebella, in provocative outfits that prudes will no doubt deem decidedly non age-appropriate.
But why shouldn’t a woman in her eighth decade embrace her sexy side and celebrate her body? Especially when that body has been through so much — in Marie’s case, a mastectomy in 2022 as treatment for breast cancer.
The defiant star, a 12-time Vogue cover girl, said: “I’m not ready to retire yet. Who says a woman can’t model lingerie in her 70s? I refuse to be defined and discriminated against because of my age.
“It makes me so angry that women are ignored and become invisible after 60. Marketing execs and brands are fixated on women in their 20s and 30s, and ignore women past that age. This has got to stop.”
She’s got a point. Scroll through the lingerie catalogue of any high street shop and you will be confronted with the taut abs and perky breasts of fresh-faced models.
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Meanwhile, celebs such as Rihanna, 35, Kim Kardashian, 43, and even Maura Higgins, 33, are making multimillions from stripping down to their smalls.
Anyone would think getting older is something to be ashamed of rather than a privilege to be embraced.
Even good old M&S, where one in three British women buy their bras, most famously models its undies on the incredibly youthful Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, 36 — who bears little resemblance to their average customer.
The brand launched a bold campaign last year featuring plus-size Nicola Griffin, 63, sadly now nowhere to be seen.
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Speaking of negative comments online, Nicola said: “They feel, I presume, that only younger women with six-packs and glowing skin have a right to be semi-naked.
“Everyone else like me with a normal ageing body should be out of sight and, presumably, out of mind.”
So all hail the likes of Marie and Nicola, refusing to shuffle off quietly into a world of elasticated waists and boring bras.
See also Kim Cattrall, 67, who oozed sex appeal as she modelled shapewear for Skims, and Lauren Hutton who, at 73, outshone younger stars in 2017 stripping off for Calvin Klein.
They prove what most older women already know — there’s nothing sexier than the confidence you get with age and a life well lived.
