Is getting old the new trend?

Wrinkles, white hair, sagging skin and other flaws. It almost seems as if there is no worse prospect for a woman than to grow old. Especially when it comes to actresses, singers and anyone else who is in the public eye. For this reason, in recent years many film and singing stars have preferred to retire to private life and adopt a more quiet lifestyle (and clothing). Not without criticism, as they are often accused of being slovenly, of letting themselves go and giving up.

Celebrities who don't want to grow old

Those who do not give up, on the other hand, try to outwit time with a thousand tricks. From spotlights in the studios of TV to plastic surgery via Photoshop to slimming belts - even that seems to be frowned upon. One example above all: Madonna is attacked for both her excessive plastic surgery and her age-inappropriate outfits. Why has not she decided to accept her age? Why does she dress like a little girl? That's what people keep asking in the comments. Are we so sure that if the pop star had become a cute little granny in a tweed skirt and silver chignon overnight, she would have been magically freed from controversy and debate at her expense?

Celebrities who accept the passing of the years

The only accepted way of ageing seems to be the exception. Celebrities, as soon as they cross the threshold of 50, have to become witches, able to stop the hands of the clock, otherwise they will be pilloried by the media. And when it comes to actresses who have made ageing well their trademark, like Jane Fonda and, more recently, Demi Moore, they are showered with compliments: they all have to do with defeating time, with eliminating age, with eternal youth. Slowly, however, it seems as if someone wants to overturn this perverse mechanism that has so much to do with the absolute and impossible standards imposed on women. Among all these women, Jennifer Garner stands out. She's still on the right track (rumour has it she'll be in the next Deadpool movie, 20 years after the first) and does not give up her job, but neither does she give up her peace, her housework and her family. She is proud of her summer garden full of fruit trees and shows off her cooking skills on TikTok. On her Instagram profile, you'll find more videos of her wearing glasses and no make-up than photos from a red carpet. It's an almost peasant lifestyle that we might expect from someone older than her, or that we would not reconcile with a career like hers. And the fault lies with us.

Pamela Anderson seems to find herself in a similar situation. Victim of a ruthless public opinion that dismantled her and her family in the 1990s, going so far as to blame her for the videos that were stolen from her and circulated on the internet without her consent, she took refuge for years in the figure of the dumb and buxom blonde who was the only one at the time who enabled her to continue her career. Now, also thanks to the documentary dedicated to her on Netflix entitled 'Pamela, a love story', she seems to have found some peace and shows herself as we have never seen her before: in her vegetable garden, under the sun.

Old age is a trend on TikTok

Speaking of which, a new trend has taken hold at TikTok. It's a filter that splits the screen in half. At the bottom we see our face captured by the smartphone's internal camera as it is, at the top the older version. It is very realistic and perfectly reproduces facial flaws, white hair and deep wrinkles. While some users cringed (Kylie Jenner included), others offered a new perspective. They spoke of the possibility of growing old and becoming the person at the top of the screen as a privilege that not everyone gets, or rejoiced in all the traditionally 'older' activities they can do if they are lucky enough to get there, and the thoughtless advice they can give to their grandchildren or other young people. Some users even explained that they were looking forward to being considered old, to being able to live their womanhood without feeling the stares of men and without any expectation of sensuality. What a liberation!

For the acceptance of ageing

It is not a matter of replacing one kind of age with another, but rather of coming to terms with the passage of time and its physical effects on faces and bodies that may no longer be scrutinised so closely in search of something to challenge them. To be open to the possibility that is real and for which we observe examples every day, to live this (inevitable) phase of life with serenity and to see it as one wishes. Unfettered on stage or in the countryside with friends and children, without worrying about what the world wants to impose on us and without considering lucky stars who are genetically predisposed to a certain kind of gentle ageing or who have simply had the opportunity to intervene from the outside as 'ideals' of old age. Growing up (and old) is cool, and even cooler is freeing yourself from the shackles of what you must and must not do once you turn 50 or 60. Especially in celebrity culture, but also in daily life.