Linda Evangelista and Nicole Kidman, two middle-aged female megastars, grace two American magazine covers;
the former top model, who used to not even get up for less than $10,000 a day, adorns "People", and the actress, who is still one of the highest paid in Hollywood, "Vanity Fair".
Of course it's all about looks - what else?
The already incredibly immaculately preserved Nicole Kidman angers fans with a rather Photoshopped-looking, heavily defined abdomen, while on the cover she appears to emerge from a golden cage in a sexy Miu Miu micro version of a schoolgirl uniform.
Body positivity cannot be meant
The inner part of the magazine with "Hollywood Issue" presents the fifty-four-year-old as someone who has broken through borders and glass ceilings.
According to the cover photo, body or age positivity cannot be meant by this.
In contrast, the fifty-six-year-old Linda Evangelista, who came to “People” from years of self-imposed cover after a botched “beauty” procedure, has to practice self-acceptance against her will, but not without success.
According to Linda Evangelista, a fat-loss treatment horribly named "fat-freezing" had the opposite effect on her.
"Permanently deformed" and "disfigured," she sued the practitioner.
She can no longer earn money with her appearance, but she no longer wants to hide.
So two stories of body images, and no happy ending in sight: Whoever has the image right to perfection, regardless of how it is edited, is subject to criticism, who does not correspond to the ideal, as well as who sadly fails in the attempt to achieve it , even more.
"What does she look like?!" is still the cover question, and it's hard to wait for Nicole Kidman and Linda Evangelista to be too old for that one day.
But the day will probably never come.