Back on our screens Photo:R Barraez D´Lucca
The subject of older women in film has long been something no one quite knows how to handle. Unless the actor in question is either Helen Mirren, who we know to label as ‘still sexy’ or Judi Dench, ‘unbelievably talented’ we tend to either ignore them or comment on how they look so much younger than their given age. Traditionally a (younger) female led film will get the following plethora of articles:
How the lead character is just like us/remarkably different from us
How the actor playing the lead is just like us/remarkably different from us
What punishing diet and exercise regime the actor embarked on in preparation for the part
And finally, how we can Get the Look.
How the lead character is just like us/remarkably different from us
How the actor playing the lead is just like us/remarkably different from us
What punishing diet and exercise regime the actor embarked on in preparation for the part
And finally, how we can Get the Look.
You might think when it comes to the film The Iron Lady these article angles might be abandoned. Whilst I have yet to read or hear an interview in which Meryl Streep harps on about whether or not her svelte figure is good genes or hard work it seems no woman is above the Get the Look treatment.
Screw any discussion of women in politics, milk snatching or mental disintegration. Does the release of The Iron Lady mean pussy-bows and handbags are back? Which celebrity is going to be first on the perm bandwagon (if the lavender rinse can take hold, so can a helmet perm)? Will women lowering their voices to get ahead professionally cause infertility?
This year we might be seeing more spreads such as this and stories concerning this accessory.
It’s quite telling that, where men have the professional adult uniform of The Suit, women still haven’t got an established professional adult uniform. Think Thatcher, think power suit, so where can female politicians et al go wardrobe-wise? When the film about David Cameron is made you can bet your pussy-bow we won’t be discussing his suit. Or his film.
The last female focused film I can think of that generated such torn fashion articles is Bridget Jones's Diary. The fictional diarist who’s very averageness was her selling point. Columnists were able to happily identify with Bridget Jones’s penchant for size 12 big pants, but what was a fashion editor to do? Dammit, they had to make big pants a feature.
And so, as 2001 became the year we discussed The Big Pant (pretty sure nothing else of importance happened). 2012 will perhaps be known as the year we wrestled with pussy-bows and pearls.
The Iron Lady’s director Phyllida Lloyd and Meryl Streep are both quick to point out this film is not so much a biopic as the reflections of an old lady looking back. Lloyd told Kira Cochrane "But it's really a film about identity and old age, and facing oblivion, and can this old lady let go of the one thing which is now imagined, but that sustains her in her sense of self?” Hence the absence of some incidents during Thatcher’s time in power others might think too significant to ignore.
Just as some fashion journalists were a little concerned over Bridget Jones’s weight they must now be wondering how to address Margaret Thatcher’s aged style. Bridget Jones’s film acted as a boon to the size 12s (to clarify, I’m not touching what is actually plus size/average size here, only the fashion world’s perception) will The Iron Lady benefit the invisible older woman?
Squeamish Kate
Screw any discussion of women in politics, milk snatching or mental disintegration. Does the release of The Iron Lady mean pussy-bows and handbags are back? Which celebrity is going to be first on the perm bandwagon (if the lavender rinse can take hold, so can a helmet perm)? Will women lowering their voices to get ahead professionally cause infertility?
This year we might be seeing more spreads such as this and stories concerning this accessory.
It’s quite telling that, where men have the professional adult uniform of The Suit, women still haven’t got an established professional adult uniform. Think Thatcher, think power suit, so where can female politicians et al go wardrobe-wise? When the film about David Cameron is made you can bet your pussy-bow we won’t be discussing his suit. Or his film.
The last female focused film I can think of that generated such torn fashion articles is Bridget Jones's Diary. The fictional diarist who’s very averageness was her selling point. Columnists were able to happily identify with Bridget Jones’s penchant for size 12 big pants, but what was a fashion editor to do? Dammit, they had to make big pants a feature.
And so, as 2001 became the year we discussed The Big Pant (pretty sure nothing else of importance happened). 2012 will perhaps be known as the year we wrestled with pussy-bows and pearls.
The Iron Lady’s director Phyllida Lloyd and Meryl Streep are both quick to point out this film is not so much a biopic as the reflections of an old lady looking back. Lloyd told Kira Cochrane "But it's really a film about identity and old age, and facing oblivion, and can this old lady let go of the one thing which is now imagined, but that sustains her in her sense of self?” Hence the absence of some incidents during Thatcher’s time in power others might think too significant to ignore.
Just as some fashion journalists were a little concerned over Bridget Jones’s weight they must now be wondering how to address Margaret Thatcher’s aged style. Bridget Jones’s film acted as a boon to the size 12s (to clarify, I’m not touching what is actually plus size/average size here, only the fashion world’s perception) will The Iron Lady benefit the invisible older woman?
Squeamish Kate
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