Ageless Grace : Over-35 Women Are Discovering the Appeal of Letting Their Years Show

Kim Yumiko Nagatani, Claire Kendall and Margaret Sargent are professional models caught up in one of America’s biggest trends. At 38, 50 and 61, respectively, they’re part of the collective aging of America, which is quickly taking the emphasis off youth. By 1996, more than half of the U.S. population will be over 35, according to the Census Bureau. But already the monumental shift in demographics is making a major impact on culture and appearance.

“Grandmothers are suddenly the rage, so I’m doing more modeling,” notes Sargent, who frequently poses for commercials and ads. Kendall and Nagatani say that they’re working about twice as much as they did last year. “There are a lot of women out there who are my age,” Kendall says. “They want to feel that it’s OK to age, as long as you look your best. So older models are in demand.”

The youth-oriented cosmetics industry is responding to middle-age needs. The sophisticated colors, custom-blended products and anti-aging treatments that predominate in cosmetics collections this fall are targeted at women ages 35 to 65. Despite glitzy makeup ads that feature 20-year-old models, the message at the beauty counter is that it’s hip to be pushing 40, 50 or even 60something. Young, wrinkle-free models are made up to look older or, at least, ageless in the hope that mature faces will attract mature consumers. Revlon, for instance, recently announced the return of Lauren Hutton, now 45, to promote one of its lines. And at 37, Isabella Rossellini, continues to be the Lancome “face,” a job she’s had for eight years.

It’s no coincidence that cosmetics companies are promoting neutral colors with no-shine finishes as this season’s most fashionable look. A matte finish reflects less light, thus de-emphasizing wrinkles and age lines. “The woman who is over 35 today has always been exposed to subtle makeup. She feels that she looks her best wearing neutrals,” says Andrea Quinn Robinson, president of Ultima II and former beauty editor of Vogue. “And nothing looks worse than frosted makeup on a heavily creased lid,” adds Robinson, who at 46 wears earth-tone makeup and her dark blond hair long and straight.

Cosmetics industry executives have been forced to readjust their image of the middle-age consumer. “A 45- or 50-year-old woman doesn’t think old, dress old or act old and, obviously, with that kind of an attitude, she doesn’t look old,” says Tony Michaels, vice president of marketing and advertising at Lancome. “Mothers are looking at what their teen-agers are doing with bright colors and doing the same with neutrals. They’re not wearing less makeup; they’re wearing it differently--more eyeliner, more eye shadow.”

Rather than dictating colors this year, manufacturers are selling what customers say they want. On the eyes, women will be wearing no-shine versions of the earth tones so popular in the 1960s and early ‘70s. Deep shades on the lips, rather than the pale hues of 15 or 20 years ago, will update the face for the ‘90s. But red, and even orange, lipsticks are subdued with brown tones. The latest foundations will be as close to natural as possible, with delicate peach blushers adding just a hint of color on the cheeks. Custom-blended powders and foundations, such as those by Charles of the Ritz, Prescriptives, Luminique and Visage Beaute, have a tremendous following among women over 35.

Catering to an older consumer, often a working woman, has forced the cosmetics industry to give her more than just the makeup colors she wants, says Vivian Behrens, vice president of marketing for Estee Lauder cosmetics. “Her time is at a premium, so the woman who’s over 40 wants products that marry treatment and color.”

Following the lead of Lear’s, Mirabella and other magazines geared to the older reader, the cosmetics industry recognizes that while she’s willing to look her age, the older woman is determined to look her best. Price, it seems, is no object. Many anti-aging products, such as La Prairie’s Essence of Skin Caviar and Chanel’s Emulsion No. 1, cost more than $70. Before the anti-aging trend hit the cosmetics market three years ago, only the most exclusive skin-care products were priced at more than $35. Arie Kopelman, president and chief operating officer of Chanel Inc., says that the older woman is willing to pay these high prices only for products that make a visible difference because “she’s been around. She’s not stupid. If a woman is going to pay $40, $50 or $60 for a face cream, it has to be effective.”

At Clinique, which is known for its moderate prices and youthful clientele, new products are infrequent, but this month the firm introduced Daily Eye Benefits, an eye cream that costs more than $20. Such a release is a sign that the industry is preparing for the maturing market.

In his book, “Age Wave,” which explores the societal ramifications of aging, author Ken Dychtwald writes that the cosmetics industry will “experience the biggest boom in history” as Americans spend the next several years “trying to take their youth with them into old age.” That may be true. But 50-year-old Claire Kendall says her goal is much less lofty, and she may have already achieved it: “I don’t want to look 20 or even 30 again. I just want to look the best I can now.”

KIM YUMIKO NAGATANI At 5 feet, 3 inches, Kim Yumiko Nagatani has been one of Southern California’s busiest petite models. Now at 38, an age when she had expected to be working less, she’s in demand because of her mature appearance. Keeping her over-35 face looking vital means treating dry skin. “I was a beach bunny all my life, and now I’m paying for it,” the Torrance native laments. So she uses sun block and moisturizer to prevent further damage and applies eye cream for crow’s-feet. In her busy life as a wife and mother of daughters Alyssa, 3, and Ayama, 6, Nagatani already wears the new neutrals. “I’ve worn brown, black and charcoal eye shadows since I was a teen-ager,” she says.

(Hair: Eric Bernard / Cloutier; makeup: Augustina / Celestine-Cloutier; model: Kim Yumiko Nagatani / Cloutier)

CLAIRE KENDALL Claire Kendall of La Canada was in her early 20s when her ash-brown hair turned gray. Horrified, she tinted it until she was 43, when upkeep became too time-consuming. “I tried to blend the colors with temporary rinses while it was growing out, but most of the time I wore scarves and kept my hair super short. It was awful,” Kendall recalls. Today, at 50, she is one of the West’s top mature models, sought after for her silver hair. The mother of four sons, including race car driver Tommy Kendall, she has her own racing license but prefers taking to the ski slopes for her fun. So Kendall spends nine months out of the year in Sun Valley, Ida. Exposure to the elements there means her fair skin “takes a beating,” she says. “I have to protect it with sunscreen all the time.” Although many of her friends have been turning to cosmetic surgery, Kendall says it’s not an alternative for her: “Not yet--I’m basically chicken.”

(Hair and makeup: Jetty Stuzman / Cloutier; model: Claire Kendall / Cloutier)

MARGARET HOLLAND SARGENT At 61, Margaret Holland Sargent of Los Angeles is a grandmother, a model and a successful portrait artist. Modeling was just a sideline for her in the past, Sargent says, but she’s working in more television commercials now that she’s older. Despite the increased on-camera attention, her art still comes first. Currently at work on a portrait of her granddaughter, Erin Paige Sargent, the artist says most of her paintings are commissioned for private collections and others are created for news magazines. Among her most famous subjects are Gerald Ford, Margaret Thatcher, Tennessee Williams and Alexander Haig. Studying other people’s faces has given her insight into her own. “Makeup is just a means of creating light and shadows on the face--I always keep that in mind,” says Sargent, who acknowledges that even she occasionally falls into a makeup rut. When that happens, she consults professional makeup artists during modeling assignments for advice on updating colors and application techniques. She used a brown tint on her hair until five years ago, when she finally decided to let the gray show “because it’s kinder to my face.” With lighter hair to frame her face, she now selects a paler foundation and subtler shades of eye shadow than she wore when she was younger. Sargent changes her makeup palette seasonally, favoring rosy pinks in the spring and earth tones in the fall. “Now that there’s a market for grandmother models,” she says, “I’m paying more attention to makeup.”

(Hair and makeup: Jetty Stuzman / Cloutier; model: Margaret Holland Sargent / Cloutier)

Fall Beauty Report

Autumn makeup this year is monochromatic, with eyes and lips enhanced by subtle earth tones instead of bright colors and metallic effects. The new neutral colors, matte finishes and intensive treatment products are in response to the demands of a more sophisticated consumer, the woman over 35.