Grace’s musings: ‘We’re just getting into our groove’

Halle Berry is one of my PRO AGE heroines. When the 58-year-old (same age as me!) actress talks about the way we view women, people sit up and take notice.

So I was delighted to hear her recent thoughts. “As we age,” she said, “we [women] just get old, right? Men get sexy. They’re silver foxes. We’re just old. Society tells us that our time is up. But I know that we’re just getting into our groove.”

She’s so right. It can take a long time to figure out how life should be lived – and it’s only in our forties, fifties and beyond that some of us get there. Suddenly we realise we’re part of a vital cohort that’s able to achieve goals and ambitions we couldn’t even have imagined a generation ago.

And women like Berry are helping to get that idea across – and changing the narrative around ageing at the same time. When I founded Studio10, midlife women were just an afterthought in the beauty industry. We were barely even considered. I wanted to fill that gap in the market.

But at the same time I also wanted Studio10 to be more than just a makeup brand. I needed to redefine what beauty was for women as we age – and to eliminate the misconceptions and assumptions that surround us in midlife.

That’s why I chose to highlight the PRO AGE movement and share my musings with you, so we could all embrace ideas on how to feel as beautiful – and confident – as possible. It looks like we’re winning. There’s finally a greater degree of recognition for the sophistication, spending power and growing influence of our demographic.

The double whammy of gendered ageism and its associated tropes is beginning to change. And that’s in part down to the women – including Halle Berry – who are bold enough to speak out. Because why should we remain silent in the face of so much societal rubbish?

Berry warmed to the theme in Marie Claire, too, when she said: “Age is just a number that they stick on us at birth. As women, we get defined by it way more than men do and sometimes it can debilitate us. It can trick us into thinking what we’re supposed to do.”

So how do we tackle it? We seek empowerment. We work on our inner selves, stay curious, grow and learn. We follow our dreams, whether that’s about simply starting a new hobby or overhauling our lives. We loosen society’s strictures from the inside out.

As Berry says, now is the time when “we’re just starting to accept our true, authentic self, realise what our gifts are”. As the year draws to a close, I urge you to do just that: embrace your gifts, put them front and centre.

And remember, you’re just getting into your groove.