Nobody doesn't like Meryl Streep.
There's an old adage (no one seems to know who originated it): "If everyone likes you, you're doing something wrong." Meryl Streep may be the only person who defies this truism. Because she is a truly an original, everyone likes her, and she seems to have done everything right.
She built her career turning in one solid performance after another. Meryl Streep Began earning accolades early in her career, slowed only a little to marry sculptor Don Gummer (pictured above left with her) in 1978 and have 4 seemingly healthy, well-adjusted children – all while avoiding the celebrity sandpit that couples like Brangelina & Co. fall prey to.
And now, at 62, she finally makes the cover of Vogue – possibly the most prestigious fashion and style accolade.
One could quibble though: What took them so long to give her a Vogue cover??
Meryl Streep is arguably the face of a generation – she has taken us through benchmarks of the era: Viet Nam via the Deer Hunter, extremes of plastic surgery in Death Becomes Her, and the complex contemporary dynamics of the modern family in It's Complicated.
Not to mention, she is the same age as Vogue editrix Anna Wintour, whom she also portrayed-but-not-really-but-yes-really in The Devil Wears Prada. Streep purportedly vehemently defended the strong woman at the top, modifying the portrayal and several scenes – that scene with Anne Hathaway about the blue sweater? That was her – rumor has it.
For the January Vogue cover, she is interestingly, and appropriately, unglamorous. Meryl Streep always wears a nice gown to all the awards shows, but rarely wows or goes over the top. In fact, her style has been termed dowdy in years past.
Her hairstyle on the cover is simply a reflection of the way she wears it in real life (at any rate, the trend these days seems to be no matter what you wear, your hair is un "done") – in opposition to her roles. In so many of them, Meryl Streep has made herself virtually unrecognizable—The French Lieutenant's Woman, A Cry In The Dark, Sophie's Choice — certainly as Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, for which she is celebrated on this cover.
But she admitted to Vogue (via the Daily News):
she was offered three different roles to play a witch after turning 40. She believed it meant women in her age group were "grotesque on some level," and told her husband "It's over."
Streep models an outfit ideal for her age range — a gray, collared, button-front shirt and flowing silk skirt grounded by a wide belt, its simplicity belies a presumably whopping price tag. And the fashion trope of trashing expensive clothes in water – a fountain, a hydrant or most often, an ocean, as here, has (perhaps) accidental resonance. Jung believed the shoreline represented the meeting and melding of the conscious and unconscious — very appropriate for the particular brand of magic that Meryl weaves.
True, she only may be the oldest Vogue cover girl, as at least this one article acknowledges but certainly the oldest in recent years – continuing the trend of visibility for older women, and honoring experience and the true sense of style – one with substance.
Hail Meryl – and Vogue for putting her on the January cover.
Other age-defying perspectives:
How To Define Voluptuousness
Happy Birthday Anna Wintour!
How to Avoid Plastic Surgery
A Muse is a Muse is a Muse
Should Models Look Like You?
Yes, Models Should Look Like You!
Top 10 Tips from model Cindy Joseph