How dare they dictate what we should aspire to?

I was outraged to open the pages of the Daily Telegraph newspaper this morning to see the image of a very glamorous looking lady posing next to the headline meet the 80-year-old supermodel. 

Great to keep your poise, looks, health and charm to such a grand age, but do not try to fool us that this photo is actually reality.  Technology has been working overtime to portray Carmen Dell’Orefice as a perfect example of how to manage the years.  You just need to look at the perfectly smooth hands, then compare them to real photos of her, with the normal raised veins and colouring to be expected as time marches along and where did she borrow that neck from?  

Photo: fashion.telegraph.co.uk

The fact is that she is a beautiful woman and looks tremendous for her age.  There are many other photos which have shown how stunning she is, but acknowledged the signs of ageing are there and we can admire how well she has defended them.  The first photo has just smoothed over and filled in at least thirty years of her life, this picture shows a vibrant lady with a story to tell.

It is not only the youth who suffer terrible self-doubts about their image due to the over use of photo shop techniques and similar, it affects the other end of the age scale too and can only be damaging in trying to make it appear that beauty can only be found in perfection. 

I’m the first one to agree that everyone should make the very best of what they have, for their own self-esteem.  I think it is about time there was more of a campaign to embrace the character of people and admire how individuals want to face the world, not churn out images which editors and the likes think we should admire.  How dare they dictate what we should aspire to?