Diana Rigg in the early Seventies (in her mid-thirties)
They were all beautiful in their twenties, and they remain beautiful to this day, but I have come to the conclusion that many of my favourite women looked their very, very best in their thirties and early forties. Which may or may not be somewhat biased by my own entering of my thirties. Ok, so I entered them three years ago but still… I think it is an important thing to notice, when all around are becoming consumed by vanity and their faces destroyed by undesirable injectables.
The puppy fat has fallen away, the features now more defined and enhanced by laughter lines and emerging cheekbones. They look relaxed; as if the pressure of ‘looking good’, which so restrains a teen or twenty-something, has lifted with the knowledge that none of it really matters a great deal. Maybe they’ve had a baby, maybe they don’t want to, maybe they’re still waiting for the right moment (Diana Rigg was 39 when she had Rachael). They know any man worth his salt won’t mind seeing them without make-up, and that he doesn’t really care about the size of their breasts or backsides. They know how swiftly life is passing, how much has been missed already, and how relatively little retains its importance ten or twenty years later. They don’t try to make up for their age by ignoring it or trying to behave like teenagers, they simply embrace the things which are worth embracing. They still make mistakes, but can handle them with good grace.
I realise I am making the cardinal mistake of putting words into people’s mouths and making sweeping generalisations, but I wanted to express how looking at these women makes me feel. And how it reminds me of why it is ok for me to have changed, to have matured and to have grown into my appearance. We all have moments when we wish we still had all that youth on our side, but a few quick glances at things I wrote, men I dated or photographs of myself ten years ago – soon remind me that I didn’t know anything, had very poor taste in men and was quite chubby in the face. All things I am glad to have [hopefully] grown out of.
So whether you are here (there) already, or have it yet to come, I hope you can remember these incredible women and weep for the stupidity of the likes of Lindsey Lohan, Lara Flynn Boyle or Carla Bruni. Plus, don’t forget to check back in with me in ten years time and see if I’ve started saying that ‘actually they looked better in their fifties…’.
Apologies for vague dating of some pictures, the tumblr effect means that very few are dated for me and I’ve had to do a certain amount of guesswork… Also, certain people I think looked lovely in their thirties have gone on to have pretty lousy work done to their faces and have, consequently, not been featured here. That’ll teach ’em!
Jane Birkin, 1982 (aged 36)
Brigitte Bardot in 1972, aged 38
Jean Shrimpton in the mid Seventies, in her early thirties
Charlotte Rampling in 1984 (aged 38)
Jacqueline Bisset in 1977 (aged 33)
Veruschka in 1972 (aged 33)
Françoise Hardy in the early Eighties (in her late thirties)
Grace Coddington in 1974 (aged 33)
Brigitte Bardot in the late Sixties (in her mid thirties)
Jacqueline Bisset in 1984 (aged 40)
Diana Rigg c.1974 (aged 36)
Charlotte Rampling in 1977 (aged 31)
Twiggy in 1983 (aged 34)
Françoise Hardy in the late Seventies (in her mid thirties)
Jean Shrimpton in 1979 (aged 37)
And in case you needed any more evidence, please see Duran Duran’s now infamous supermodel-stuffed video for Girl Panic!. Personally I believe they all look far, far better than they did in their modelling heyday.
Much as I love big hair, sometimes it needs to be contained in an upwards direction. The Sixties saw some of the biggest, sleekest and most extravagant styles which took heavy inspiration from Victorian and Edwardian originals but with that new, more expressive modern sexuality.
It’s one of my biggest annoyances that women only really wear their hair in interesting up-dos for their wedding days. You should probably wear a hairstyle which is quintessentially ‘you’, not a style which you think you ought to wear. (My mum wore her hair down for her wedding, which would have been fairly unusual in the early Seventies, and I think she looks amazing for it. And very ‘her’, at the time.) If you are going to wear it up for your wedding, why not try wearing it up on an evening out? It doesn’t have to look WAG-sleek, think more along the Bardot-lines…
Of course many of these looks are so sleek and precisely pinned that you would definitely need assistance, but quite a few are not. And the best way to learn, is to practice. The most basic tips I could give would be to curl your hair first (straight hair is more slippery and curls give more volume and grip – and you need plenty of that!!!) and, until you’re more savvy, let the curls do most of the work for you. Keep it relatively messy until you’re used to how you like it pinned, placement on the head and where you need volume or loose hair. Then you can build up to more precise and extravagant works of art.
And keep looking at photos!!
Just try not to get a crick in your neck when you’ve done a good job. It’s for other people to admire…
And my own feeble and basic attempt from a long time ago. It was so solid I drunkenly accidentally fell asleep and awoke the next morning to find it entirely in tact.
No, I haven’t distilled some Essence of Veruschka. It’s another in the series of adverts she did for Tonik by Dormeuil. One day I hope to complete the set.
She’s starting to grow on me; I think it’s jawline empathy or something. Sexy guy; very well dressed, as well. I think there was a series of these, and I will scan more if I find them again.
From The Sunday Times Magazine, February 21st 1971
I must admit, I’ve never really understood the whole Veruschka ‘thing’. I mean, clearly she’s never encountered the ugly stick in her life but I find her looks to be a bit….well……blahhhhhh. I like unusual, quirky looking people and she is frequently described as ‘amazonian’ and exotic but I simply cannot understand or see this.
Anyway, I slightly changed my mind when I saw this gorgeous spread in The Telegraph Magazine (something of a Seventies boutique bible at times) from 1972. Touted as “The price of looking like Veruschka is less than you think” and showing her in inexpensive British Boutique clothes, she actually looks quite cute for once…..and I really love the background of Woburn Abbey.
The front cover in a Jeff Banks smock is my joint favourite with the window shot of her in Bus Stop cheesecloth. But they’re all pretty fabulous……enjoy!!
From top: Blue Bus Stop cheesecloth dress; Issey Miyake pedal pushers; Anthony Price for Che Guevara top and pedal pushers; Biba print dress