What a fantastic idea this is ! My particular fascination is with how some women age better than others...I'm not talking Botox here... I just mean some everyday women who always manage to look fantastic.

How do they do it ? And what are they doing - or not doing - compared with the rest of us ??

Age is the big illusion and I love the way you have shown that beauty is much more lasting than age would try to tell us, it is different to glamour and different to style and something enduring. If the camera can find it, so can I with my little eye.

I saw Joan Bakewell on Have I Got News for You recently; boy does she look amazing [as well as being highly intelligent and incredibly funny]. sue; I think it's all down to cheekbones, cheekbones and cheekbones.....

Yes, good bone structure and good genes!

I'm sorry but I find that picture horrible. I would find an overweight, dimply legged, white haired man horrible too.

Oooooops meant to add. I have never been what could be described as attractive (not even when I was young) but I can appreciate beauty but I can't understand or see the beauty in a middle aged or even old person stripped half naked in a car park. Yuk.

I agree, gillybob. Thinking mutton dressed as lamb in that photo.

Well it would help if they had taken the photograph somewhere with a bit better lighting.

Do you think so Nelliemoser ? Better lighting might have meant we got to see even more dimples and ripples of fat. Yuk. Should have been in total darkness then I might have appreciated it !

What a lot of mean comments!

I am feeling mighty mean today only being honest Ana and surely the Blog was inviting comments good and bad.

I think older women can be very beautiful, wrinkles and all. The problem with that photo is that the way the woman is presented subscribes to a very young, modern ideal of 'beauty' ie strapless dress, legs on show, all of which shows off young smooth flesh to full advantage. It does nothing to show the character and signs of a life well lived that add beauty and depth to a face as it ages. I think the question is not 'does beauty in older women exist?' but 'what is beauty and how do we define it?'

Some years ago I saw an exhibition of photos of very old wrinkled men and women and they were beautiful but not in the same way young people are beautiful.

The woman in the picture seems to be striking a defensive, age minimising pose to me.

I agree with nightowl - the youthful pose does not capture the true beauty of the older woman (or man). In fact I think it just highlights the attributes lost.

She seems very proud of her varicose veins!

I have a Norwegian friend who is fifty years old and she is beautiful. She will always be beautiful I expect because she has a wonderful complexion, good bone structure and a calm and caring nature that somehow shines through. Hmm, I suspect if you wrapped her in a bedsheet in an ugly car park with dim lighting and took a photo from some distance it might be a little hard to perceive her natural beauty.

I also think she would look better with her legs covered! I always think Twiggy looks pretty good in the M&S ads.

well twiggy would , if she has not had work done I will go to the bottom of our stairs !!

M&S probably have air brushed her!! X

petallus and nightowl have hit the nail on the head with what is wrong with that photograph. It makes me feel decidedly uncomfortable. And I am sure that Joyce does have a certain beauty, but it is not captured here.

I also wonder why she agreed to pose in that way, I'd have been directing the photoshoot myself.

I thought it fine , except for the knees .
Pretty brave , quite a handsome woman IMO

i've come to the conclusion that happy people, with a smile on their face, tend to be more attractive. A smile lifts the face. No amount of botox, face lifts, etc., etc., can produce the same effect.

Two pairs of glasses for £90 at Asda .