Aging, But Make It Fashion

[View on the web]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Features [Why Salads and CEOs Are Photographed the Exact Same Way]( [trendy couch]( Pick up a magazine or fall down Instagram’s rabbit hole and you’re likely to come across at least one photograph lit up by an unnaturally bright flash — a flash that floods the space, evenly illuminating every detail in vivid color. When it catches someone unaware, laughing or cheering or yelling, you can see clear into their mouth, all the way to the pink inside of their cheek. Under this light, which is ruthless but not unflattering, you can count the grains of quinoa in a [Sweetgreen Chicken Pesto Parm bowl](. You appreciate every buttery gradient on the toasted exterior of a [Waffle House sandwich](. The subjects of the photograph may be [young Fortnite players](, [royal wedding superfans](, or [political protesters](; no matter who they are, their teeth look whiter, and their skin glows as though post-facial, even more so when amplified by the luminosity of a computer or phone screen. The key elements of this ubiquitous photography style are a direct flash, high color saturation, and a blunt-force sense of hyperreality. It’s used by both consumer brands and journalistic institutions, from Bon Appétit to the New York Times. “That look we refer to as the ‘heightened look.’ That pop of flash helps to elevate what would normally be a fairly banal situation,” says Jody Quon, the photography director of New York magazine. “The colors become more saturated; there’s a little bit more lit drama to the image. I wouldn’t say it’s cinematic, but it is, slightly, in a more crude way.” Product photography with a stark, direct flash has become a signature for Coming Soon, a mostly vintage furniture store in New York that opened in 2013. It transforms a [pale pink velvet sofa](, irreverently set on a concrete floor, into a gleaming pearl of an object. A [glass side table]( looks as crystalline as the ocean in the Bahamas. Owners [Helena Barquet and Fabiana Faria]( say they initially gravitated toward this look because it creates a mood that’s playful and not at all precious. “We always hoped that the store would be a fun experience for people to come into,” they explain over the phone, “and that type of photography at that moment seemed to be the match.” [Read the rest of the story here>>]( Ad from our sponsor Features [Aging, but Make It Fashion]( [Lauren Hutton fashion show]( All hail her grace Lauren Hutton, First of Her Name, Queen of ’70s Insouciance, Lady of Flowing Palazzo Pants, and Insignia of Women of a Certain Age. Born in 1943, Hutton has been modeling for almost 50 years, and these days she’s kind of a poster girl for … something. Body positivity in the septuagenarian set? Fashion diversity? Aging with grace and a low BMI? A canny grab at aging women’s disposable income? Who can say? It’s aging, but make it fashion. Hutton is beautiful, and her face has lines upon lines, wrinkles spreading from her smile like crepuscular rays from the sun. Though she is visibly older, her looks still stun, and in the past few years, she has been featured in major campaigns (Alexander Wang in 2015, Tod’s in 2016, and H&M in 2017), become the oldest cover girl for Vogue (Vogue Italia October 2017), worked as an underwear model (Calvin Klein fall 2017), and closed a major runway show arm in arm with Bella Hadid (Bottega Veneta spring 2017). Hutton may be the longest-working, most iconic fashion Old, but she’s not alone. Alongside her is 66-year-old [Isabella Rossellini]( regaining her place as Lancôme’s face after a 25-year-absence; then-68-year-old [Charlotte Rampling]( as the façade for Nars in 2014; [Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda](, then both in their 70s, walking for L’Oréal last year; [Maye Musk]( getting featured in Harper’s Bazaar at 70; Saint Laurent showcasing 70-something [Joni Mitchell]( in its 2015 campaign; and 85-year-old Carmen Dell’Orefice closing Guo Pei’s 2017 show to a blissed-out chorus of “YAS [KWEEN](” from the Youngs. It’s a lot of gray hair and wrinkled skin in the name of fashion. You could get breathless over these women, all old, and all magnificent. (And all, it must be noted, blindingly white.) Hutton, though, laid the foundation and unfurled the red carpet that these other Olds tread on, for in 1988, at the ancient age of 43, she appeared in a campaign for Barney’s New York. A year later, she was photographed by Steven Meisel for the Gap’s “Real People” campaign. In 1993, she, along with Patti Hansen, then an unthinkable 37, walked for Calvin Klein during Fashion Week in April. In 1996, Revlon hired Hutton to be the face of its “Results” skin care line (called “Resilience” in Europe), a revival that came after a 20-year absence from the company. As a model, Hutton has always been bigger than herself. Models by profession act as giant silver screens for our own projections — who we want to be, how we want to look, what we want for ourselves, and, yes, whom we imagine others (or ourselves) fucking. When a company chooses a model, it’s banking on our collective ideation, making a complex computation based on an esoteric algorithm of image, marketability, press, and buzz. It’s not just about who looks “good” in your clothes or your makeup; it’s also about a calculated guess at the narratives your would-be customers will literally buy. Someone like Hutton tells a clearly glamorous, extremely American story; she is shorthand for an independent life lived well. [Read the rest of the story here>>]( Did a friend forward you this email? [Sign up for the Racked email newsletter](. [More good stuff to read today](#) - [Why It's So Hard to Find Plus-Size Vintage]( - [How Nike's Kaepernick Ad Explains Branding in the Post-Trump Era]( - [The Girdle-Inspired History of the Very First Spacesuits]( Ad from our sponsor From the Archives A selection from the editors at Racked [lady in a bra on a bed]( [The Impossible Question of Public School Uniforms]( One-fifth of American students wear them. But do they level the playing field or just further marginalize poor kids? [Read More]( [woman in a straw hat that says "greetings from"]( [An Incredibly Exhaustive History of Celebrities at Fashion Week]( From the front row to the final bow. 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