Three decades of Demi Moore and what her ‘downageing’ can teach the rest of us
Demi Moore, 59, has pushed many beauty boundaries in her 30 year career as an actor. The original beauty influencer, Moore broke onto the scene as Jules in the 1985 coming-of-age film St. Elmos Fire alongside Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy and Emilio Estevez with an enviable crimped and backcombed power hairstyle.
In 1990, Moore stole our hearts and influenced a generation of soft bowl/pixie crops as Molly, Patrick Swayze's widow in Ghost and went onto reshape our hairstyles once again with an angular bob in the 1993 drama Indecent Proposal starring Robert Redford.
Thereafter, she made a serious style case for the buzz cut (Moore shaved her head for her role in G.I. Jane) which she debuted on the red carpet in 1996 with her then husband Bruce Willis and their daughters Rumer and Scout wearing an elegant black strappy gown and sandals.
She empowered women to embrace their pregnant bodies when she bared her baby bump on the 1991 cover of Vanity Fair, and went on to transform her body on more than one occasion from getting stripper fit for her role as Erin Grant in Striptease, a film about a woman who turned to stripping to finance her custody battle against her ex-husband, to her role in G.I. Jane in which she got into peak physical condition training to be the first female Navy SEAL.
By the time Moore hit 40, she had grown out her locks into an ultra-long and glossy style which she's since made her signature bucking the trend to go shorter with age.
On the contrary, her London hairdresser Ivan Ferreira told The Telegraph that keeping her hair so long is a deliberate power move designed to set her apart, which he keeps in top condition with a unique invisible layering technique developed in his native Brazil where long bottom-length locks are abundant at every age.
However, it is Demi's agelessness that has sparked endless surgery rumours, none of which the actor has admitted to. In 2003, it was widely reported that Demi had a plastic surgery overhaul to the tune of $250,000 for her appearance in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
And the rumours didn't end there. In 2006, the Daily Mail reported that sources close to the actor, then 43, revealed that she had had surgery with surgeon Brain Novack to address sagging skin around her knees.
In a 2007 interview with French Marie Claire she refuted the reports saying that she had “never” had any cosmetic surgery. Yet, as recently as January this year, social media erupted with more talk of surgery when Moore walked the catwalk for Fendi’s Spring-Summer 2021 Haute Couture show in Paris.
Fans took to Twitter to comment on her 'unrecognisable' facial features which Moore responded to by appearing on social media two days later looking relaxed and natural leaving fans to believe the difference in appearance was down to make-up.
If Demi Moore has taught us anything about ageing well it is to focus on executing the basics faultlessly: glossy healthy hair, glowing skin and the art of neutral make-up.
Make-up artist Nikki Wolf and hairstylist Ken O' Rourke both posted a picture to Instagram with the look they created on Moore for the British Fashion Awards. Not veering far from her signature style, O' Rourke created a glossy middle-parted style that was blow dried straight with a lustrous shine.
Whereas Wolf elegantly upgraded Demi's usual nude make-up with soft smoky eyeshadow, bronzed cheekbones, a pop of coral blush and a warm toned nude lipstick, letting her glittering frock be the focus.
Putting an end to the controversy once and for all, she took to the stage to present Kim Jones with the Leader of Change Creativity award for his work with Dior Men and Fendi, exuding the kind of youthfulness that surgery cannot buy.
