Older, Wiser, Better

Published in Allure

Want to know how to age not just gracefully, but sexily? The most gorgeous women over 40 share their skin-care, exercise, and lifestyle secrets.

When The Golden Girls first aired in 1985, Rue McClanahan was 51 years old, had a set-and-spray hairdo, and wore flowing getups. This year, 52-year-old Michelle Pfeiffer lit up red carpets with beachy blonde hair and skintight dresses. Yes, in the twenty-first century, 50 is the new 40—or is it the new 35? Perhaps we've forgotten because age has become a nonissue. Today, celebrities stay sexy well beyond their previous expiration date, thanks to vigorous cardio routines, “superfood” diets, sunscreen, lasers, injections—and, of course, good genes. You can't steal their DNA, but their anti-aging tricks are up for grabs.

Cindy Crawford
This supermodel with serious business sense is redefining how good 44 can look.

Modeling can be hard on the skin. How did you take care of yours? “I used to lie out with baby oil and fry, but I had to stop when I started modeling at 18. Sunburned skin was hard to cover with makeup.”

What do you do to stay slim? “My rule is to be 80 percent good 80 percent of the time. I'll make a protein shake or oatmeal for breakfast, so at least I've had a healthy start to the day.”

Have you changed your routine as you've gotten older? “I wouldn't go out now in sweats, or without doing my hair. You just can't get away with it after a certain age. I'm also good about getting my hair colored; rich, lustrous hair looks really youthful. I color it every few weeks to cover grays. That's about how often I get bikini waxes, manicures, and pedicures, too.”

As someone who's famous for her beauty, do you feel pressure not to age? “Yes, but that goes with the territory: People expect you to not age. I don't want the paparazzi taking my picture when I don't look my best. But when I start obsessing about it, I think, If I'm this blessed and I'm worrying, how must everyone else feel? So I need to stop worrying.”

Iman
Iman was discovered as a student in Kenya nearly four decades ago. Today, at 55, she's still jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Has skin care become more important as you've gotten older? “I have always been religious about my skin. When I was nine years old, I was told, ‘Wash your face; put on moisturizer.’”

How do you care for your skin now? “It needs a lot more hydration than it used to. That means moisturizer and drinking a lot of water. I vary it by adding ginger, mint, or watermelon slices. And I cannot live without the SK-II Skin Signature 3D Redefining Mask. When I use it, I look like I've been resting for a week.” Do you wear sunscreen? “I use a daily SPF 15. Patricia Wexler has been my dermatologist for 15 years, and when I go to Africa, she reminds me to wear SPF 50. I used to say, ‘I don't need it.’ But I learned the sun doesn't discriminate.”

What do you think about stars getting plastic surgery? “It's sad, because no one in their right mind thinks these women look good. How can you have a size 0 body and the plump face of a 15-year-old? It's just weird. At 51, I gained five pounds on holiday and decided not to lose it. You know how they say that either your face or your ass goes? I'm letting the ass go. I can put on a great suit to cover my body, but what am I going to do with my face—wear a veil?”

Susan Sarandon
To think that Sarandon, 63, played a sexy older woman in Bull Durham in 1988—please!

What keeps you looking and feeling young? “It's really important to do something that's fun and athletic, and Ping-Pong is that for me. At the heart of looking good, more than anything, is having fun and greeting each day saying yes.”

Have you adjusted your look over time? “I definitely use moisturizer now, and I'm more aware of what happens when I don't go to the gym. I've seen pictures from when I was 17 or 18, when I was wearing those heavy-duty eyelashes and hairpieces. You can't get away with wearing lots of makeup when you're older—it starts to look really hideous. I'd feel like a remake of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”

How do you care for your skin? “I was never that interested in lying out in the sun, so that's helped my skin. I had a really light laser treatment, which I believe in thoroughly. Not the kind that makes you peel or anything, but that helps with sun spots.”

What's your advice to women who want to age gracefully? “You have to start loving yourself pretty early on to make the transition, because if you're finding flaws in your perfect 24-year-old body, you're really going to be a mess when you're 44 or 64. When you're younger, you want to be perfect, but later you learn that perfect isn't really that interesting.”

Diana Krall
Forty-five-year-old jazz singer Krall has spent the past three years, more or less, on a tour bus with her husband, Elvis Costello, and their three-year-old twins—and has managed to look fresh throughout.

What's your beauty routine on the road? “I just finished one tour, and we're about to start another one—six weeks in Bob Dylan's old bus. I had long hair, and it took me about two hours before each show to style it. So I recently had it cut short at Sally Hershberger's salon. Haircuts are a new start, a psychological thing. Now my hair only takes me 30 minutes.”

Do you feel pressure to look young? “I don't feel an age cap because of the nature of what I do. I have lots of role models, like Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams, who keep on being artists. The danger is when you try to look or sound like you're 25. You need to move into your womanhood with beauty.”

How do you stay in shape while traveling? “I'm always concerned about my diet, but my biggest problem is my posture since I'm hunched over the piano all the time. I do yoga stretches, downhill ski, box, and climb rope ladders. I get my greens by juicing kale, beets, and ginger. One time I tried blending frozen peas, and they exploded onto the ceiling—my husband said it was like I Love Lucy. But at the end of the day, a glass of French Rhône wine is the best medicine.”

Andie MacDowell
When MacDowell started modeling in 1978, she was alarmed to hear colleagues talking about how old some models looked when they were just in their 30s. “That's when I made a decision that my perspective was not going to be like that…to dislike what happens as you age,” MacDowell says. Today, at 52, she's a model for L'Oréal Paris.

How do you feel about getting older? “Aging and youth are equally beautiful. I actually like the folds that happen in your eyes. They're a natural part of the process, and they're interesting to me.”

Does that mean you don't do anything to look younger? “Oh, I still use tinted moisturizer with SPF during the day and eye cream at night. It's not that I'm trying to prevent those little wrinkles, but of course I don't want huge crevices in my face. I used to walk out the door with barely any makeup on. Now I use concealer every day around my eyes, and I fill in my eyebrows because they're not as thick as they were when I was younger. Generally, I'm a very natural type of person.”

What does being natural mean to you? “I eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit. I also love coffee, but it's so dehydrating. So when I get up, I'll drink two glasses of water first.”

Mariska Hargitay
It's hard to look good at a crime scene, but 46-year-old Hargitay, the daughter of Jayne Mansfield and Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay, has pulled it off for 11 seasons on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Did growing up with such attractive people affect your ideas about appearance? “I had my own journey of not feeling inferior to my superhero, superstar parents. My dad was always very body-conscious. We weren't allowed to have soda or sugar. Every day before dinner, we would do a half-hour of gymnastics in the den. Being athletic becomes a lifestyle. With my mom, it was hard living up to this legend. I mean, she was so beautiful, so you feel like you can never measure up. There was a time when I was sort of a tomboy and really focused on athletics. Then as I matured, I realized I could be all of who I am—I don't have to turn off part of myself.”

Are you still athletic? “I like to do things that feel like I'm not working out. I go running with friends. I do short exercise videos in my dressing room, and I'm going to install a little ballet barre so I can get the thighs burning. I bought a trampoline for my son that we jump on, and never in my life has my heart rate gone up so fast.”

What makes you feel the most beautiful? “Sleep! I work 15-hour days, and I have a four-year-old. And not wearing makeup. My father never let me wear it, my brothers don't like it, and my husband is like that, too. I was lucky that I had men around me who thought I was the most beautiful with no makeup on.”

Do you eat healthfully? “I just got back from Paris, and believe me, I love pain au chocolat and foie gras as much as the next girl. On my son's birthday, I'll have cake, and the next day I'll have a couple liquid meals to give my system a break.”

Connie Britton
As the coach's wife on Friday Night Lights, it would be easy for Britton to be labeled just another soccer—er, football—mom. Instead, the 43-year-old is the definition of strong and sexy.

What keeps your skin looking fresh? “I've been meditating for 15 years, so I work on it from the inside out. When I'm stressed, I see lines develop in my face; when I meditate, those lines go away. I also really notice a difference when I'm eating raw fruits and vegetables—my skin is clearer, and the lines are less visible. I throw kale, cucumber, celery, apples, and ginger in the juicer for breakfast. But I'm not rigid—I'll go out to dinner and have a big, juicy steak.”

Are you vigilant about sunscreen? “I've been in the sun my whole life—I even have permanent sun damage on my nose from when I was a teenager and just fried. I'm really trying to get better about it. I found a sunscreen that I love, Clarins Soothing Cream Sunscreen SPF 20, which is really moisturizing.”

Kim Cattrall
Fifty-four-year-old Cattrall may be synonymous with Samantha—but the confidence (and the body) are all hers.

Is it unnerving to do nude scenes? “Well, I decided not to do nudity after 50, even for Samantha. But I grew up in a European family, so toplessness wasn't weird to me. It's not like I walked around naked or anything, but I wasn't ashamed.”

Do you have a philosophy about aging? “Aging is going to happen—and that's only if you're lucky enough to live that long. I hate when they say, ‘You look great for your age.’ It's such an insult. I want ‘You look good,’ period. I'm defiant. I want to say, ‘This is what aging looks like! This is what happens!’ I read the blogs; I know they called us [the stars of Sex and the City 2] hags and said, ‘What are you doing trying to be sexy at this age?’ But the more women who think like that, the more it hurts us all.”

Those Crazy Egyptians
The ancient Egyptians made endless contributions to civilization (the pyramids, fractions, a Bangles song). They were also pioneers in skin care and cosmetics—no small feat in a sweltering desert before the advent of SPF. Here's how Cleopatra and her ilk stayed young and beautiful.

MOISTURIZER Egyptians used castor oil, palm oil, or animal fat “to protect skin from the hot, dry climate,” says Duane W. Roller, author of Cleopatra: A Biography (Oxford University Press).

EYE PROTECTION Kohl powder, made from ground minerals, deflected the sun's rays. It also made eyes water, which kept flies away, says Roller.

BLUSH Egyptian women painted their cheeks with a red powder made from ground-up iron-oxide minerals such as hematite and ochre, Roller says.

SOFTENING SKIN Milk baths (packed with lactic acid) are thought to have been favored by Cleopatra, says T. G. Wilfong, associate professor of Egyptology at the University of Michigan. The Ebers Papyrus, a document dating back to approximately 1500 B.C., gives a recipe for an anti-aging treatment made of honey, salt, baking powder, and powdered alabaster.

CAMOUFLAGING GRAYS Egyptians used a temporary black dye made from calf's or bull's blood, Wilfong says.

EYEBROWS Some Egyptians shaved their brows and painted on false ones; those who didn't made theirs look fuller with honey and crocodile dung, Wilfong says.