A few days ago, I had the pleasure of seeing the latest ad campaign by design team Badgley Mischka. The duo recently hired Teri Hatcher (of Desperate Housewives fame) as their latest spokesmodel. But it was after seeing these photographs and dissecting their latest designs that I thought to myself "Teri Hatcher?!" Let's just be brutally honest for a minute - Teri Hatcher is 42 years old. Before Desperate Housewives, every time someone mentioned her, you'd think "has-been," and as far as Desperate Housewives goes, Susan Meyer is easily the most annoying character out of the bunch.
In their Spring 2006 ad campaign, Badgley Mischka employed Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen as their spokesmodels. At the time, they were a polar opposite from the Teri Hatcher we know now. They were barely adults (only 19 years old), and at a peak in their fame. What exactly was the design duo trying to accomplish by hiring a washed-up, middle aged woman? Personally, I think they were trying to make a social statement. While the Olsen twins, with their multi-million dollar empire, might be seen as role models for the younger generation, Teri Ha
tcher is in many ways, a prime role model for an average middle aged woman. During the height of her fame, she played the romantic interest of Superman, but when Lois and Clarke ended, she dropped out of the radar for several years. For a while, it seemed that Teri Hatcher would never regain the fame she once had, but then she found her big break - Desperate Housewives. This simple primetime dramedy not only returned her to fame, but brought her fame that exceeded anything she had known previously. Any woman who thinks she's already passed her prime needs only to look at Teri Hatcher to realize that you can always rise again.
But Hatcher's former has-been status is not the only thing working against her. She's not exactly the face of blinding youth anymore. In a day and age where runways are riddled with teenagers barely old enough to smoke, and where celebrity blogs pretty much revolve around the lives of a select few party girls and heiresses, it seems impossible that a forty-two year old woman would be chosen to model for one of the hottest labels in fashion. I'm sure that someone so...mature, was not the obvious choice for what was surely a multi-million dollar ad campaign. No, I think that Badgley Mischka was making a statement when they hired Hatcher - that women of any age and any background can be total sexpots. Not only is the label trying to appeal and cater to an older clientèle, but they're trying to prove to the world that 40 really is the new 20, and that regardless of how many Mikimoto pearls they can buy, girls like Paris Hilton will never be as refined and accomplished as women who have several more life experiences under their belts.
What am I trying to get at? To sum it all up, although Teri Hatcher might have once been regarded as another typical has-been, now she is in the prime of her life. She is a perfect example of why the modern fascination with the extravagant, party-going lifestyle doesn't have a thing on the experience, the maturity, and the pure elegance that is a sophisticated grown woman. Personally, I'm sick and tired of turning on E! or logging onto Oh No They Didn't and seeing nothing but coverage over Paris Hilton's post-jail vacations, Lindsay Lohan's week long stints in Rehab, and Britney Spears' slow descent into has-been nothingness. It's women like Teri Hatcher, Angelina Jolie, and Julia Roberts who, regardless of a few more years under their belt, are the ultimate in sophistication and beauty.
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