Renata switches to short
One of Sc
ott Schuman's (The Sartorialist) favourite subjects, Italian stylist and journalist Renata Molho, 59, has cut her hair. Renata is widely admired for her elegant/careless look, a sort of Mediterranean Jane Birkin.
Above, Renata in her long mane, the classic mature Italian woman's flag, ca. 2006.
Another shot, in Feb. 2007: long hair, big glasses, flat boot.
In a p
hoto published this month on The Sartorlalist, she's had a cut. Looks like a wavy bob, uncoloured. And similar coat (or is it the same?) to '07's; she doesn't feel the need to change her cocoa-over-cream combo.
It's interesting to see how a different hairstyle changes nearly the same attire.
What is your impression of her in the long hair, and then with the short?
ott Schuman's (The Sartorialist) favourite subjects, Italian stylist and journalist Renata Molho, 59, has cut her hair. Renata is widely admired for her elegant/careless look, a sort of Mediterranean Jane Birkin. Above, Renata in her long mane, the classic mature Italian woman's flag, ca. 2006.
Another shot, in Feb. 2007: long hair, big glasses, flat boot. In a p
hoto published this month on The Sartorlalist, she's had a cut. Looks like a wavy bob, uncoloured. And similar coat (or is it the same?) to '07's; she doesn't feel the need to change her cocoa-over-cream combo. It's interesting to see how a different hairstyle changes nearly the same attire.
What is your impression of her in the long hair, and then with the short?
Comments
I currently find myself with a similar dilema - whether to cut my shoulder length hair or not. Not wanting to look like an old hag (and not having Renatas' bone structure or luxurious mane!) I tend to wear it up all the time.
I loathe the idea that middle-aged women should be forced into a short mumsy cut, but sometimes at a certain point the very texture of our hair might not look so nice very long. I have far more hair than most 20 year olds, but it is thinner than it was a decade ago and this causes me great grief. So I did have it cut to a curly bob, but when wet it is definitely still shoulder length. Jenny Wren, just an inch (couple of cm) off can make a big difference without risking the dread mumsy look.
Looks like the same coat to me. She wouldn't fear buying something perfect and wearing it for years.
Jennywren: There are many kinds of up-dos but to generalize, I find them somewhat more demanding to wear as we get older, as there is nothing around the face.
CompassRose: The first word that sprang to my mind was "prim".
lagatta: I have an acquaintance (Italian as it happens) who wears this very long hair. Her hairdresser told her that it looked like "dead seaweed"- which is quite apt, as it has thinned. But she is loathe to cut even 3 inches that would make her hair look much healthier. So I support your point: if long, has to be healthy and reasonablly thick.
When I zoom in on the coat, the second shot appears to have much deeper pile- so I just can't say for sure.
I see by the other comments as few of us agree.
Then I decided that she really DID look better with shorter hair -- precisely because it made her "look her age," or, as Pseu puts it, more sophisticated.
I thought it was really interesting that the first reaction is to focus on what makes her look younger. in our culture, the inquiry often stops right there, and it shouldn't.
Yes, she may look a bit older with the shorter hair, but why shouldn't she? She's a beautiful woman, but definitely a woman "of a certain age" and the shorter-hair look embraces that.
I'd rather die than "have to" look matronly.
[More aging than the hair is the smoking, so I'm just focusing on first impressions of what each does for her face vs overall look/societal conventions around hair etc.]
The first long-haired shot is very glamourous, but in the on-the-street one her hair is very flat and doing nothing for her. May have just been a bad day, of course!
I don't know if she way dying her hair and stopped or is greying naturally, but if the former she may have chopped to get rid of all the dead hair and damage. Or because she was bored.
[Two reasons I just chopped, so admittedly I may be biased/seeing hair as just hair....]
Vix: Here, it's quite rare to see a woman that age smoking anymore but I do see quite a few 20-somethings.
In the first picture she looks stunning with a sparkle and life to her and he hair is gorgeous. I don't see that in the second picture you posted. The hair is dull and thin at the bottom and she looks flat and tired. Yes you see the fabulous bone structure, but the spareness also emphasizes the downward droop of the cheeks along the jawline, something that affects most of us as we age.
With the bob, yes there is a "doneness" to the look, which may not look as youthful and carefree, but the cut with the glasses adds a sparkle and draws the eye up to the fabulous eyes and away from the jaw. I think the third photo shows a woman who looks more interesting and full of life. Here the hair works with the glasses. In the second photo they just seemed to drag her down.
And the Germans! Seem a lot of them use the fact that Hitler hated smokers (as well as so many other groups and categories of human beings) as an excuse to keep on puffing. Including a good friend who is one of those emergency surgeons who go in to work in war and disaster zones... Germany is even slow with smokefree zone regulations because of the Nazi stigma.
Yes, alas I see a lot of teens and 20-year-olds smoking. I saw the loveliest young man with that perfect skin nobody has much past 20 puffing on his bloody cig. I decided that telling him he was ruining his beautiful skin would DEFINITELY mark me as a meddling old hag...
"Tasse-toi, ma tante!"
Picture #2 it looks like her hair is starting to thin/gray and it washes her out.
Picture #3 it looks like she is embracing the gray and working a more gamine chic look (makes me think of the movie Amelie). I think it is a better look for her than #2, and I think #1 may not be attainable any more as hair changes over time and she may not want to dye hers or do whatever else it takes to keep it looking as gorgeous as picture #1. I also think the lipstick/scarf combo in #3 is a big help.
Contact lenses or at least better-designed glasses would add to the improvement.
Whoops, now I'm reading the comments, I see there's quite a differnce of opinion.
Also - the coat is great.
~Madeline
If Renata was in a neat black coat with glossy or creamy lipstick and a nicer pair of glasses she would look very youthful and chic.
mardel: That's it- she looks more 'done' in the bob. Some like that, others don't.
L'age moyen: "completely individual and uniquely stylish" is such an apt phrase! Love it.
Anne: It IS like Amelie, a whimsy about it. The lipstick/scarf reminds me to pay attention to colour.
Funny: Though I like women in glasses, they do obscure her eyes, such a dramatic feature in photo #1.
Anon-Madeline: Some women identify their bob as 'mumsy' but could it just be the time has come to change? I do think there is a time in life where one realizes that lush hair may not last and we are tempted to have long and flowy while we can.
s.: I like your imagination. Or perhaps she is thinking, "I'm a Scott Schuman pet and I know it!"
g.: I find it fascinating that we 'see' her so differently. How I would like to learn her impression of her new cut.
lady jickey; But... Madonna! Italian women of a certain age must have their darker lipstick; she is not a gloss type :)
Shelly: Can;t tell abut glasses; interesting that some want her to los them. I like women in glasses.
Lisa: more gray would be interesting too, but inbetween is draining to me.
very tired, hope you can decipher that!
She looks beautiful to me both ways, though I have a personal preference for her long hair. I love that she does not dye her hair. And that she does not over do the make up. She seems comfortable in her own skin.
I like to think her bob was a spur of the moment decision...maybe on a beautiful warm day, dashing into a barber's and saying: "Go ahead, cut it!" (in Italian of course)...then lighting up a cigarette and going on her merry way, happy to feel the breeze on her neck and unconcerned with the "younger or older" question.
And in the end, isn't that inner freedom the 'style" we are all craving to feel?
So whether real or imagined, and yes, it's probably heavy on the imagination :)...the way she appears in the photos inspires me!
I have posted her quote: "Not too many beautiful things together: one particular element and the rest must be something cooler, silent and respectful like a frame in a picture."
http://apaleyellow.com/?p=17
Her dress is green!
Her fashion advice you quoted sounds like a poem.