4 min readJun 4, 2026 06:30 AM IST First published on: Jun 4, 2026 at 06:30 AM ISTIt was the dismal October of 1987, the year of the stock-market meltdown in the US, when a French fashion designer, Christian Lacroix, launched a “luxe” collection at a society gala on Wall Street. It was not an accident. The fashion industry had already dubbed this genius the “messiah”. So, while the ardour for fashion was plunging along with the stocks, he rescued the fashion and beauty industry in that best of years, the worst of years.Fast-track to the recent Cannes red carpet extravaganza, held against an even bigger global economic and political breakdown. As the world saw images of the starving and severely wounded from Asia and Africa, India’s mainstream as well as social media and the beauty industry saw nothing wrong in joining the gala event in France, streaming images of models and Hollywood/Bollywood beauties of yesteryear.AdvertisementFeminism had long warned women against the beauty industry sneaking its agenda into their worldview. In the 20th century, when global beauty contests began to seem passé, the industry mined feminist phraseology to push products for the “liberated woman”. The advertising world used all sorts of clichés to push back against old-school feminists who had been berating expensive galas and holding up real-time data about working-class women.In 2026, threatened by recession and job losses, promoters of fashion and beauty products were forced to look for a “messiah” to lift up their sagging bottom lines. An erstwhile beauty queen, a model-turned-actor from Bollywood, rose as a natural symbol for promoting the idea of “ageless beauty”. A media blitzkrieg followed the 24th consecutive appearance of the Chosen One at Cannes as proof of how a real beauty ages naturally.Like Psyche, the mythical Greek figure forever navigating doubt and questioning appearances, this old-school feminist commented on the phenomenon of agelessness being possibly based on cosmetic enhancement. All hell broke loose. The first reaction ascribed the comment to “envy”; clichés like “a woman is a woman’s worst enemy” were then brandished.AdvertisementNo ideology can claim to give you terminologies for a lifetime. Feminism is no exception. At 80, I can see more and more younger women rushing to claim a so-called feminist future. But theirs is built on phrases emanating from past activism and gender politics, co-opted by both politicians and the fashion industry. The daily reports of dowry deaths and simultaneous calls for “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” make for uneasy partners, as do the linking of beauty-enhancement creams with “self-esteem”. This has produced massive misunderstandings over older feminist concepts. Cosmetic surgery, injecting botox or silicone gel to lift sagging skin, is now labelled professional beauty enhancement. If it fails to hide what was to be hidden, it is described as beauty’s defiance of patriarchy. All this is creating what two octogenarian feminists had foretold: “Tyrannies of social expectation” (Gloria Steinem) and “the chrysalis of conditioning” (Germaine Greer).you may likeThe term “ageism” was originally coined to mark the social value denied to women past their prime. It surfaces frequently at these global galas. But truth be told, how many women past 60 figure in media-led feminist discourses on fashion and beauty? How much do we get to hear of their fear of disease and dependency after crossing 70?The next real wave of liberation will have to be rooted in a collective idea of self-esteem among women of all ages, classes, castes, and communities. It’s time branded concepts of shakti, ageism, and saas/bahu attitudes were replaced with new phrases created out of fresh insights. When beauty contestants and all women past their prime feel free to talk collectively about ageing, the fears of not retaining their looks eternally, and how much it has cost them throughout their lives, a truly new power base will be created. Who knows, it may go on to spur a new socio-political movement towards equality. Some may lose their present power and constant media attention, but all of us stand to gain.The writer is former chairperson, Prasar Bharati