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Kardashian matriarch, Kris Jenner, is the new face of MAC cosmetics. To some this feels apt, given that Kris herself has a new face.
At 69 years old, the legendary momager has been open about her recent second facelift, telling Vogue Arabia: ‘If you feel comfortable in your skin and you want to age gracefully – meaning you don’t want to do anything – then don’t do anything. But for me, this is ageing gracefully. It’s my version.’
You’ve got to give it to her, the frankness is refreshing, and Kris looks spectacular in the first image out of the new ‘I Only Wear Mac’ campaign.
Shot in black and white with a smokey eye and a matte lip, Kris’ flawless skin is blemished only by a watermark, reading: ‘For internal use only’.
The photo, posted by Kris to Instagram in a PR stunt dressed up as a ‘leak’, was later deleted, but not before the MAC press office sent it to journalists’ inboxes.
The playful move was confirmed to be a teaser for a larger campaign to come. In an interview with Elle magazine, released hours later, Kris said she was ‘so excited’ to ‘finally’ get to work with MAC. Adding: ‘I love the campaign.’
It would make Kris one of the oldest models in the brand’s history, shortly behind Martha Stewart, 83, who posed for the brand in Janurary, having previosuly admitted she’s a fan of ‘a little Botox’.
Fans online were quick to post their support for Kris’ teaser image, with people commenting ‘Love the mistake’ and ‘WAIT IS THIS KRIS X MAC’.
But others have questioned whether it’s really empowering, if the older women booked to front beauty campaigns look half their actual age.
‘We used to revere older women for being wise,’ Jane Evans, a writer and activist who strives to raise the profile of women over 50, tells Metro. ‘We weren’t looking at them for their beauty…I worry we’re killing the image of the wise woman, of the aunty, of the leader.’
As a feminist, Jane says she’s supportive of Kris’ decision to alter her face. However, this is not a choice that everybody has access to.
‘She just looks richer than me, that’s all,’ says Jane, who’s the founder of the community platform The 7th Tribe and the Uninvisibility project.
‘We’ve really got to give women the message that being happy in yourself is the most important thing. If that requires work, great, but if it becomes an addiction or is affecting you financially is that really good for you? Is it really going to make you happy in the long run?’
Dr Finn Mackay, founder of the London Feminist Network, adds that the prominence of facelifts in the media creates ‘financial and bodily pressure’, which disproportionately impacts women.
‘The expectations for femininity in this culture are punishing, and women who don’t play the game have always been excluded and made to pay a price,’ Dr Finn tells Metro.
‘Ageing is treated as an ugly freakish property, rather than a fact of life. [Women] are expected to literally change their faces in order to comply.’
She believes the ‘capitalist beauty industry is catching up with men as a consumer group,’ but any body image pressure men face is ‘not at the level that women face and have dealt with for decades.’
Dr Finn points out that ultimately, most surgeries are a ‘no-win situation,’ because women are often mocked or critiqued for having work done. Cruelly, their expensive and extensive efforts to stay young result in them being placed back into the same type of looks-based scrutiny that they were trying to avoid.
Kris, worth an estimated $200 million, does not appear to see surgery as a burden or a pressure, telling Vogue Arabia that she saw her facelift as a way of investing in herself.
‘I decided to do this facelift because I want to be the best version of myself, and that makes me happy,’ she said. ‘Just because you get older, it doesn’t mean you should give up on yourself.’
She also told the outlet that she sees her openness about her surgeries, from her facelift to her hip replacement, as ‘inspirational to people who aren’t feeling so great about themselves.’
That’s all well and good, but Jane simply wishes we saw a greater variety of women over the age of 50 in high profile advertising campaigns.
‘We’ve always been celebrating natural beauty, why can’t we celebrate it over 50?’ she asks.
‘I love my wrinkles…Beauty is a spectrum. We’re all beautiful for different reasons. We have to keep the door open for us to be able to experience our own sense of beauty.
‘I always tell people, I don’t give a sh*t about my wrinkles you’re the one who’s got to look at it.’
Dr Finn echoes these sentiments, saying: ‘Growing old is a privilege and stroke of luck in a society that has had its social care infrastructure ripped out of it by successive governments. It’s a radical act to grow tougher and wiser, don’t hide it, it’s a badge of honour.’
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