Though it does have its inspiring moments, the beauty world can sometimes be a cruel place. Eurocentric beauty standards, skin tone bias and ageism are very real problems that exist. But we're glad that even in the Indian chapter, we've got firebrands like Zeenat Aman fighting the standards. The 71-year-old Bollywood legend headlined a campaign for jewellery label MISHO for their latest capsule collection of trinkets, titled 'Mementos'. In the pictures, classic shades of black and white are worn with heavy layering coming from MISHO's bangles, necklaces and even sunglasses and a locket. Not only did the photoshoot tick every box for us, the choice for Zeenat to headline the campaign is a brilliant one as well.
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In Bollywood, actors continue to flourish well into their octogenarian years but actresses aren't met with the same fate. In the 2005 Hindi film Waqt, Shefali Shah, who was then 32-years-old, played the mother of Akshay Kumar's character, while the actor himself was 37-years-old. It's one of the many instances that prove how highly prevalent ageism is in an industry like Bollywood, especially for the female population. Ever so often, a moment like Zeenat's comes along that hopefully, will become a movement.
(Also Read: Neena Gupta Is Proof That Style Has No Age Limit)
Seeing Zeenat as the face of a campaign in her 70s is reaffirming that, though slowly, we are moving in the right direction. It's also the fact that she's proudly wearing her grey hair on display in the pictures. Styled in an elegant bob, it's an empowering signal to everyone with grey hair and is conscious about it to accept it as part of one's natural beauty and wear it with pride.
(Also Read: Taapsee Pannu: "Beauty Is All About Acceptance And Letting Go Of Traditional Standards")
