It is not breaking news that as women age they try to get their hands on any serum, light therapy, cosmetic procedures and follow any trends they can to look younger. The question that needs to be asked, though, is when did we decide aging is a bad thing?
When we are younger, as women, we want to grow up quickly and explore womanhood. But, when we finally reach the ages we have always aspired to be, we ‘de-age’ ourselves as a reminder of our younger days.
It is a quintessential part of girlhood for girls to watch their mothers get ready in the morning and aspire to be them. Girls try on their mother’s heels, dresses and jewelry all while playing with their makeup and styling their hair like hers for fun. But, that’s all it was: admiration and innocent fun. In today’s society, we see that same trend, but it’s slowly getting twisted into a sad reality.
We see the news articles and social media posts about young girls going into makeup stores and selling out $60 blushes, $30 lipsticks and other high-end makeup. What’s even more shocking is these girls are buying extreme skin care products like retinol, which is completely unnecessary for girls to have on their skin at such a young age.
These younger girls want to grow up so bad they’re not even fully enjoying their youth. But little do they know, it catches up to you. Many women in their late teens and early twenties have expressed how they miss the simplicity of being a child and not worrying about how you look in photos. Back to a time when just looking happy in a photo was “acceptable” and they didn’t need to worry about how they looked. There was no need to worry if their makeup was patchy, whether their outfit and hair looked good, or whether their smile was good enough for the photo.
The older you get, the more you want to go back to what you took for granted, like your youth and innocence. This trend has shown itself by the way older generations are starting to dress. Bows in our hair, baby tees, tiny floral prints and even the obsession with Jellycat stuffed animals.
Many people agree that women are striving to appear younger as they grow older. Natalie Swisher, a ? major, believes that “the usage of bows and baby tees are a way for us to resonate or connect again with the little girl that still lives within us. Some of my friends wear bedazzled tees and jeans, which remind me a lot of the clothes I wore a lot as a child or see children wearing now.”
“I definitely think this is something that will stick and we will see for years to come. I don’t think it will always be the same trend and there will be different versions, but we will always try to mirror our younger selves and each version of the trend will always be in,” Swisher said.
Without argument, societal pressures and standards are the top factors when it comes to trends and fads. Women are constantly expected to upkeep themselves and their looks more than men. Unfortunately, no matter how evolved society is nowadays, women are still held at such high expectations physically because they are seen as a trophy. A prize for men to win.
This leaves older women feeling pressured to appear and dress younger and what they perceive to be “more beautiful.” They also are working extra hard in anything they do to gain any type of respect within society. This is especially true for women within the workforce. Women aspire to feel attainable and desirable to men as a way to seek satisfaction or validation. After a while, the chase for satisfaction is never ending and women don’t feel enough. They fall into a rabbit hole of comparing themselves to pictures and filters on Instagram. The celebrities and models are only another catalyst that leads women to test out skincare, makeup and health trends to make them feel more confident, not just for men but for themselves.
Women also don’t want to feel forgotten about. Society pushes generations “out of style” as they get older to make room for a more conventionally attractive and appealing age group. This makes women feel objectified, used and like they are losing value as they age.
All in all, not only is there regret for wanting to grow up so fast, but there is also a fear of aging, not being accepted within society and growing out of style. This mindset is unfair for women to go through and society as a whole needs to help break the stigma we have placed around aging, especially in women.
Support Student Media
Hi! I’m Kayla Friedman, A Magazine’s editor-in-chief. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.
