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GRAZIA INTERVIEW
DAME HELEN MIRREN is on a mission to change the way we think about ageing. ‘I’m getting rather bored of it,’ she says of the archaic dialogue still raging around women – shock, horror – getting older. And her fatigue is being felten masse. Take the fact that it’s 2023 and yet conversation around November’s National Ser vice of Remembrance was dominated by how ‘old’ the Princess of Wales looked. How are we still here?
A new survey by L’Oréal Paris (Mirren has been a global ambassador for the beauty giant since 2014) found that 70% of women are told they ‘look good for their age’ from as young as 25. Mirren is at the helm of the brand’s ambitious campaign to change the narrative, to promote the idea that women should be complimented for looking good full stop.
‘I really hope this will transform the industry in general,’ says Mirren, who becomes visibly riled when she recalls being in her early forties and seeing a moisturiser advertised by a 15-year-old. ‘I knew that by the time that model was 22, she’d be deemed too old to advertise those products.’
Today, almost four decades later (Mirren turned 78 in July), change is afoot and the fashion world is catching on too. Dame Maggie Smith, 88, hit billboards this year as the star of Loewe’s spring 2024 pre-collection campaign and, last month, Charlotte Rampling, 77, fronted Massimo Dutti’s new women’s line. ‘I hope it’s not just tokenism,’ muses Mirren, ‘that it’s not just this moment in time that we move on from, but rather something that becomes entrenched.’ She is quick to note that industry moves like this don’t come out of nowhere. ‘I suspect it’s no small coincidence that the Boomer generation is now older and has money to spend. We’re seeing mature women at the top of their game flourishing financially and economically – big brands recognise this.’
Does the phrase ‘ageing gracefully’ bother her? ‘I don’t mind it actually,’ she says, ‘as long as it’s not seen as a limiting factor, that it doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to dye your hair or wear stilettos.’ The joy Mirren derives from both beauty and fashion is palpable. Today she’s a 5ft 4in vision in a floral Queens of Archive dress (the Katherine style), red boots (stilettos, of course) and a fuchsia headband. As for make-up, she’s always experimenting. ‘I’m an actress, I love to transform myself,’ she says. ‘I could sit in front of my mirror for hours trying out new looks.’ She’s surprised that more men don’t wear make-up. ‘I often look at a man and think, you could do with a bit of
