Elle’s cancer comments caused a stir. What she said about ageing needs scrutiny too

Sixty-year-old iconic model of the singular name, Elle, has caused a media stir with the account that she gave in the October issue of the even older and more iconic magazine for women, The Australian Women’s Weekly, of her approach to managing her cancer.

In that same edition, however, she incidentally raises another very interesting issue, by mentioning her approach to life. And this is also worthy of comment and debate, since she’s described it as one “of authenticity”, while the beautiful cover photo and equally beautiful images inside have her looking like a totally smooth-faced 25-year-old.

Elle Macpherson has attracted controversy with a series of interviews and pronouncements.Credit: Nine

So, then, in terms of reconciling her age with her portraits, it’s interesting to look at the definition of authenticity, and right there the Merriam-Webster Dictionary places us on the horns of a dilemma. Definition No.1 has its meaning as “not false or imitation: real, actual”, while Definition No.2 means being “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character”.

So, case closed, you might say. Elle is, clearly and simply, the embodiment of Definition No.2.

But, perhaps by coincidence, two other articles plus an ad in that same edition of the AWW show that “ageing authentically” is a bit more complicated than that. The first of those articles is actually sub-headed “Ageing authentically”, and – on that basis – describes the rising wave or “greynaissance” of older models sought because they look their age, and the age of the target market.

And segueing to the back cover, there – most probably not by coincidence – is a L’Oréal ad that just about had me falling off my chair in surprise: the first cosmetics ad that I’ve seen using older and old models both looking their age and sending a positive message about that while – with grey hair and scattering of wrinkles – promoting a face cream: 79-year-old Helen Mirren and 66-year-old Andie McDowell. The ad featured the welcome message: “WE LOOK GREAT”, and a line through the text below, “FOR OUR AGE”.

Going back to that article, its message is also – almost entirely – about being positive about looking your age, as you age. The “almost” is buried in a paragraph about women in and around their 50s “navigating” their appearance and “not ready to embrace the white hair of old age”.

If, however, we do a quick flick back a few pages to the second article that I mentioned, we find a white-haired, 58-year-old woman who is clearly happy to do just that, while elegantly dressed in and around her new home: “our thoroughly modern new Governor-General”, Samantha Mostyn.

The linking of hair colour and authenticity in ageing is, in fact, such a complex and symbolic question that it occupied five pages in a book that I wrote about ageing a couple of years ago.

For some, a motivating factor for dyeing one’s hair was the realistic fear of discrimination in the workplace, and – potentially – in other arenas of social life.

But in terms of the aforementioned Definition No.2 for authenticity, the bottom line in what it means to adapt well to ageing hair might be that for someone who chooses to colour it, that choice is made as a positive assertion of one’s self, and not out of fear of what grey signifies, in terms of loss of youth. Another’s choice not to colour it, can also be seen as a positive assertion of one’s self, but perhaps, in addition, it might also be a public declaration of a relaxed attitude to ageing and possibly, even an endorsement.

When it comes to ageing skin, however, golden-haired Elle may – authentically – be having a bet each way. While the studio portraits of her are exquisitely picture-perfect and glowingly youthful, she also appears in the ageing authentically article, among several images of older models. And here, we find her looking cheerfully relaxed in her 60-year-old face which has the sorts of lines on it that are totally age-appropriate. Bottom line? Ageing authentically is personal, and possibly – sometimes – also situational.

Dr Anne Ring is a health sociologist, freelance writer, and author of Engaging with Ageing: What matters as we grow older

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