Senior caregiving is made so much easier when that senior is committed to aging well. Looking good and feeling good go hand in hand. As I look around the style and fashion landscape, I am heartened to find that the world is beginning to realize that beauty is not the sole domain of prepubescent youth.
Tina Turner, arguably the poster child woman for surviving with style, is the cover model on Vogue Germany’s April issue, wearing blue silk Armani and looking smoking hot. It’s her first Vogue cover and the title of the piece says it all: Simply the Best. Shot by photography duo Claudia Knoepfel & Stefan Indlekofer and styled by Nicola Knels, Ms. Turner shows off her legendary gams in the fashion spread and doesn’t shy away from an extreme close up.
According to style blog Fashionista , a spokesperson for Conde Nast Germany confirmed that Turner is the oldest person ever to grace the cover of Vogue in the magazine’s 120+ year history (followed by 62-year-old Meryl Streep’s January 2012 cover.)
“My life circumstances are absolutely perfect, the condition of my soul is spiritually and mentally good. My physical condition is also very good, which is not really a surprise, since I never took drugs or smoked cigarettes. Thus, I’m physically healthy, and I’m happy!”
However, in the accompanying interview she adds, “I completed my last tour at the age of 69. I really saw it as my farewell tour. What I did on that tour was on the edge of what I physically was able to, and wanted to, do. And these short outfits, they are not how I see myself anymore at this time. So, I won’t do that anymore, I have ended it.”
Healthy aging is at the forefront of Ms. Turner’s continued success. But rather than rest on past achievements,the icon is looking forward to reinventing herself and staying very much in the cultural zeitgeist. She is just waiting for the right material — modern, but “rooted in her own musical tradition.”
What is apparent is that at 73 years of age, Tina Turner is not looking back, but looking forward, studying German and enjoying her life, in which she says she is “happier now, than she ever was”.
All images are taken by Claudia Knoepfel and Stefan Indlekofer. Copyright by Vogue Germany.
