Timeless Beauty

"At 50 you get the face you deserve," said Coco Chanel. And in a new development for the fashion industry - in which the average retirement age for women is 26! - these are precisely the faces that are becoming more interesting and more coveted. As a couple interviewees in this doc point out, this change is being driven largely by younger photographers who want "faces… that can tell a story." The rise of social media, too, is a factor; with Instagram you can present your own portfolio and be your own agent. Among the models we meet: Catherine Loewe, a former attorney who switched careers at age 57; goofily adorable twin sisters Monette and Mady Malroux; and Daphne Selfe, now 90, who's been working steadily since 1949. What's their secret? Think young (and salads and yoga don't hurt). And, ohhh, the hair! - satiny sweeps of silver-gray, meringue-y clouds of snow white piled aristocratically high. Age is not the only taboo being broken; increasingly, models are being showcased whose bodies can offer the painterly textures of vitiligo or freckling, the ethereality of albinism, or the luxuriant baroque curves of plus sizes. It's still all about selling clothes, of course, but the industry is finding that intimidating people into conforming is less effective than inspiring them to let their individuality shine. (Seattle International Film Festival)