Appearance-conscious industries appear to be getting the message that everyday women are beautiful, says Kerre Woodham.
Yet another women's magazine has caved in to public pressure and is using "real" women in its fashion pages.
Following on from the gorgeous Robyn Malcolm appearing in the pages of Next magazine, without the assistance of airbrushing, and Sarah Murdoch baring all in terms of lines and wrinkles on the cover of the Australian Women's Weekly, the German magazine, Brigitte, has used everyday women in its fashion pages. Everyday gorgeous, of course.
You're not going to see overweight mingers oozing out of new-season bathing suits, but neither are you going to see size-zero models with protruding bones.
It is demand from the public that's driving this and that is hardly surprising. When you see computer-enhanced freaks in the magazines, it's difficult to see how the products they're advertising can relate to you.
One of the best things about the movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was seeing sexy, middle-aged-woman characters being played by sexy, middle-aged-woman actors.
Those crazy Swedes - always pushing the sexuality boundaries.
It seems Hollywood's getting the message, though.
It's Complicated, a film starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin - actors with a combined age of 175 - is raking in the dosh thanks to a lucrative market of baby boomers who want to see themselves up on the big screen.
And even though Meryl looks like she's being assisted by a very friendly lighting man, at least she's a woman of a certain age headlining a box office film.
There will always be a place for beautiful women and men on our screens and in magazines. But the decision-makers finally seem to be getting the message that one size definitely does not fit all.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
