Young is good, youth is great, but it’s not everything. It’s not in the nature of life’s structure, it’s biology, chemistry and physics to be frozen, and apparently that’s what everyone’s after nowadays, at least on the surface, and with such missed goals it’s no wonder we miss beauty in its original essence, that is vibrant, moving and forever fresh, and start believing in a story where certain stereotypes have been fed to us as beautiful. But what is beauty, what is beautiful? and is youth truly only measured with age? This questions are pivotal, basic, original and they call for a search that provide honest answers as their finality.
Being fascinated by beautiful landscapes, objects and beings, I craved art and beautiful expressions of life in its multitude forms and ways of being. I studied fashion and lived each day in the pursuit of graceful happenings, and despite it all, my experience and eye that traveled the world in search of this natural legacy of the spectrum of beauty, can not agree less with the notion, that beauty is youth. Youth is beautiful indeed, but beauty is such absolute that can not be confined in this small of a container, in such a short time frame or limited expression. It is a fact of life that beauty knows no age and that each age has its beauty.
They say the beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but how do you behold beauty if you are being brain washed on a daily basis concerning what’s considered beautiful and ugly, cos let’s face it, beauty is quite meaningless without its opposite. It is the lack of, that gives value to the rare, making it exceptional and extraordinary. It is a phenomenon how despite such obvious truths, individuality is gladly traded for belonging and acceptance, and the majority end up filling their lips trying to look like Angelina Jolie, praise plastic, fillers, botox and the like in hope of staying forever young, suffer the pain of plastic surgery only to look different, slimmer, fitter, sexier and younger. I’m not against it, I do support and encourage all personal decisions coming from a deeper need for change, and applaud it if indeed it makes you feel good, better, happy, but my personal experience is that the particular mindset that believes you are prettier after correction is the reason behind that glow in your eyes and energy field around you. Unfortunately having the chance of living in some of the most beauty conscious, youth mourning places in the world such as Miami Beach, L.A. and the like , I got a closer look into this obsession with plastic and was not impressed at all from the outcomes of these endeavors which most of the time betrayed their expected result and made the one trying to look younger much older in the process. Chanel knew what she was saying when she said ” Nothing makes a woman look so old as trying desperately to look young”. My opinion exactly and totally confirmed in a place that has more plastic surgeons than sales man.
Bottom line like most things in life and fashion concerned, it’s all just a matter of taste, and one is free to express it by choice. I for instance have always been fascinated by natural way of being and natural beauty, and must be honest when I say this, it is very rare to see a man made, fixed body or face that looks natural, almost always it is evident it is not, so because of my personal, nature inclined taste I seek and treasure little secrets of nature and since recently try cultivating good habits and action plans that help nurture and look after the way I am and the particular way I Iook, growing into my future with health and grace and beauty that doesn’t have to take all of my time. It rather requires a dedication to caring for yourself as if you were rare and precious, which you are, and regarding all life around you as equally so, which it is. Rejuvenating your body and revitalizing your spirit trough daily rituals in harmony with the cycles of nature, that doesn’t mean we’ll ever be able to stop aging or conquer death, but it gives dignity and soberness in aging gracefully. Besides wrinkles mean you laughed, grey hair means you cared and scares mean you lived, erasing those is erasing your very self. Own yourself, your life, your choices whether good or bad, right or wrong they are a part of you and the beauty that you are today. Life is movement, if your fist was always opened or closed, it would be paralyzed, that is why we must keep on moving, changing, transforming, growing, evolving into the exuberant butterflies we were always meant to become.
Catherine Deneueve for Louis Vuitton / Carmen Dell’Orefice the World’s oldest working model
Look at women like Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve, Meryl Streep and Brooke Shields who have not succumbed to vanity and have proudly shunned plastic surgery. Julia Roberts looks very young for her age, but she puts it down to healthy living rather than surgery. “Your face tells a story and it should not be about your drive to the doctor’s office” – said she. Kate Moss doesn’t seem to mind an odd fine line here and there, being the epitome of effortless chic, it goes against her style and you certainly know by now style goes way beyond youth and even beauty. Rachel Weisz reportedly stated ” People who look too perfect don’t look sexy or particularly beautiful.” Actress Jodie Foster fosters a rather cool attitude also saying ” I don’t have anything against it for other people. Whatever they want to do is fine by me, as for myself I’d rather have somebody go, “Wow, that girl has a bad nose’ than ‘ Wow, that girl has a bad nose job’, I’d rather have a comment about who I am than about something that identifies me as being ashamed of who I am.” Barbra Streisand, Julianne Moore, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer, Iris Apfel and Brigitte Macron among others, such grand personas and natural beauties are as relaxed and chill with letting time do its thing and looking great for it. Enjoying the ride as it traverses trough childhood, young age, middle age and old age they defy natures laws that apply only to the physical body that is our treasure house, and guarding the real treasure underneath with gratitude, care and gracefulness that points to the relevant factor of youth being a state of mind and being.
The screen legend Sophia Loren posed for the cover of the famous Pirelli calendar for 2007 as she was approaching the age of 72
No matter your story, your age, your complexion, skin type, hair color, height, weight or social status always keep your eyes on your treasure, the hidden spark of life, that hides beneath the walls of your temple house, where you may worship it for its bounty, abundance and generosity, because my darlings where your treasure is that is where your heart will be. Don’t lose it, it’s your only capital tax free.
