Age before beauty
Oh look. There’s Judi Dench on the cover of British Vogue at 85. With an abundance of glorious wrinkles and that mischievous pixie glint in her eye. She’s the oldest ‘cover girl’ they’ve ever featured, with interviewer Giles Hattersley describing her as a ‘cultural tea cosy to be popped soothingly over the nation’s beleaguered identity in time of crisis’.
There’s certainly something reassuring about seeing this remarkable face on a magazine that has worshipped at the altar of youth culture for so long. Could this signal a change? Are we ready for a female face beyond Botox, airbrushing and bleach white teeth on the newsstands? Or more to the point, on our screens? There’s absolutely nothing sexual about this cover, no parted, pouting lips, no legs akimbo, no cleavage, no orgasmic doe-eyed dim wittery — basically none of what we’ve become accustomed to on the cover of our glossies. Maybe all this time for reflection has brought about a review of how we treat those who’ve clocked up more mileage, experience and respect than those pneumatic, shiny, young things and their gyrating ‘sex sells’ mantra.
There was something off about cocooning, wasn’t there? My parents felt like criminals sneaking off at 7am to go for a walk even though no-one was around. ‘Nonsense’ I told them on WhatsApp. “You’re doing nothing wrong. Your immune system needs daily exercise”.
Of course I’m not an expert so how dare I have an opinion. Oh pur-leeease. Let’s engage our intelligence. Shutting out our elders like that was lousy. There’s got to be a better way if another virus turns up down the road. Are we going to order them to disappear again?
Dame Judi told Vogue during the lockdown, ‘I am very aware of people who may not have a garden and are not as fortunate to be able to sit outside in the sunshine.’
Lockdown guilt. I had a touch of it myself, we were having such a nice time of it, out in the countryside, no-one to rat us out for enjoying ourselves, kids running about freely, being as loud as they like, as is natural. My friend in Dublin dared to have a glass of wine in her garden while talking to her neighbours who were also imbibing. They had spent the day homeschooling, for goodness sake. Someone called the cops. The garda said they were doing nothing wrong.
We’ll all have our lockdown stories, some worse than others. We can review what was necessary, what was not and how better we could face a pandemic next time. We could ask our elders their opinion for one thing. Infantilising the over 70s like that was just plain weird. Here’s hoping Dame Judi on the cover of British Vogue is a signal we’re evolving to ‘respect our elders’ and break free of the cycle of youth culture. More than ever before, we need the wisdom and perspective of those with the advantage of years.
Cocooning? Shutting out our elders like that was lousy