It seems as though when young women demonstrate the looks and talent to be the very top fashion models, their faces get seen everywhere for three years or so. But as time passes, their star falls, and a younger model becomes the new “it girl”, they show up on magazine covers and in advertisements less and less. What happens to them then? Well, after watching ABOUT FACE, I can tell you that two things happen next: They become very introspective, and remain insanely beautiful.

ABOUT FACE: THE SUPERMODELS, THEN AND NOW gathers some of the most iconic faces from the 50’s through the 80’s and has them reflect on the industry that made them famous. The names gathered include Carmen Dell’Orefice, Isabella Rosselinni, Christie Brinkley, Jerry Hall, and Paulina Porizkova amongst many more. One by one they tell us how they got into the fashion industry, and reflect on the ins and outs of their experiences.

Beauty is a funny thing. Society wants us to believe that time slowly strips us of our beauty…adding lines, withering the skin, greying the hair. However, what time really does is accent natural beauty with grace and wisdom. In the years since these women first stepped in front of a camera, they’ve all gained perspective, experience, and really lived (lived hard in some cases). What that’s done is given them all a truly multifaceted outlook, not just on their own lives, but on this world we live in and its perceptions.

Models are recruited insanely young, and as such, really have no sense of identity yet. As Paulina Porizkova puts it: “Show me a girl who knows who she is at 15, and I’ll show you a freak”. That’s part of what makes the women that grace magazine covers and runways so malleable, but it’s also what can lead to something so much more later on. It’s only with discovering identity that one becomes truly self-confident – which is the key to feeling beautiful. Modelling pushes against that: its production pulls focus to physical flaws, leaving those who do it never feeling self-confident. Ergo – no identity.

If there’s a flaw to this film, it’s in its look. The women all look stunning of course, and listening to them speak as the classic images of them come and go really does a lot to underscore the insight and perspective they now have on the world of style. Unfortunately, the film does them no favours as it shoots them all with flat and boring digital aesthetic against a black backdrop (I swear Cheryl Tiegs was filmed with an iPhone). It’s a puzzling misstep, especially given that the film’s director is a renowned photographer.

Aesthetic aside, this film is definitely one to watch to listen to these women reflect on who they were and who they are. They have a unique opinion on what defines true beauty…and they should know; after all they were each the benchmark for some time. The takeaway from it all is that what we believe to stereotypically beautiful has a lot of trickery happening under the surface. Conversely, if you take the beauty believed to be past its expiration date and look beneath the surface, there is so much more left to offer.

ABOUT FACE plays once more on Friday May 4th – 6:30pm at The Bloor.