Dressing up as an elderly lady for Halloween - WTF?!

[Laceyshoes]

Is it just me or is this really nasty? Heidi Klum dressed up as an old lady "complete with varicose veins"

I get that it's an incredible makeup job and that it's meant to be funny because she is known for her beauty and obviously old women are considered to be the polar opposite of this.

But, if you're not doing the sexy revealing costume thing, Halloween costumes are usually something scary and repellant like a witch or zombie and I'm really taken aback that someone would put elderly women in this category. Genuinely quite stunned actually! And that it's come from a woman too

Before anyone says it, I do know there are more important things going on in the world and I do have plenty of other, bigger things to worry about :) I'm just amazed by this and wondered if anyone else thought the same.

I think it makes a change from knickers,bra and animal ears that so many slebs seem to favour.

Depressing but not surprising given the industry she works in.

It's just fancy dress, dressing up to be something you are not. I think people are way overthinking it.

I think that's quite horrible. Clearly we are supposed to be wowed by the irony of a model voluntarily disguising herself as an ordinary-looking older woman, with a medical condition associated with age.

Plus it says a lot about 'Elderly Woman' being considered equivalent in costume party terms to Vampire/Marie Antoinette/whatever.

In North and South America, Hallowe'en is simply fancy dress - any fancy dress. There is not this emphasis on ghouls and goblins and ghosts and witches etc. I believe the same is the case in Ireland.

Contintental Europe don't really have a Hallowe'en tradition at all, so I guess it depends on which tradition Heidi (being from Germany) is following.

Isn't the personification of Death an old woman in Spanish speaking cultures?

it could be the direct cultural equivalent of skull mask and a scythe.

I agree OP, there's a nasty association between old woman and witch.

However, what a fantastic job she (or whoever) has done! I had no idea that sort of thing was possible!
(That said I don't really know what she looks like normally :o)

Ageist and misogynistic - par for the course in her industry.

Not sure why it's wrong, just an unusual choice I suppose. Johnny Knoxville is making a pretty penny out of pretending to be an old at the moment.

I've just had a look through previous pictures of her Halloween parties and there's one of her dressed as a robot(?) One of her as if she had no skin,guests dressed as angels,Indians,Cleopatra and clowns. I think its just costumes and make up instead of being something scary.

Halloween costumes are usually something scary and repellant like a witch or zombie

in the US this is not at all true and people dress up as anything and everything for Halloween. It's the quality of the costume that draws attention rather than it's goulishness so to speak.

I really think you've misunderstood.

Should people who dress as geeks be shamed for that too?

A clear example of demonising the elderly.

Plus it says a lot about 'Elderly Woman' being considered equivalent in costume party terms to Vampire/Marie Antoinette/whatever.

That's what I thought. She's not dressed up as any particular individual, just as a generic elderly woman. Implying that there's something so grotesque about old women that dressing up as one is funny in itself.

*Clearly we are supposed to be wowed by the irony of a model voluntarily disguising herself as an ordinary-looking older woman, with a medical condition associated with age

Wow you are really overthinking this!

Jenny McArthy went dressed as Miley Cirus's tongue and with a few other 'slebs dressing up as the woman herself.

An entire family went as the Kardashians! Halloween is not the same in the US as here... calm down.

Come on, for a lot of women becoming old is a terrifying prospect, which is why there is huge emphasis on hiding the fact, and enormous amounts spent on treatments for the signs of aging.
There are threads on MN berating women for looking old, Judy was the most recent one I think.
So yes, I can quite see why a grey-haired woman with wrinkles and veins was seen as suitably horrific, especially in a showbiz setting.

I think it was brilliant!

I understand the lack of ghoulishness of US Hallowe'en costumes, but I still don't think it detracts from the ageism of a young supermodel choosing the appearance of an elderly woman as a costume, especially when her industry alternately demonises and ignores anyone past 30.

In America the costumes are not scary necessarily, it's just fancy dress.

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy were fishermen. Is that nasty?

I wouldn't describe Heidi Klum as young.

I don't think it was ageist at all. It was about good make-up and actually, not sexing herself up, which is what a lot of celebs do. She never tries to make herself look sexy and always picks quite different costumes.

If she'd of dressed up as Barbie, she'd have been slated for that too. or a geek, then mocking someone who couldn't possibly be a fashionable and popular as her, get my point...

If a man had dressed up as an old woman, this would not be an issue.

she'd have

When I first read the heading i thought you were complaining about my DD, for she & her friend both dressed up as grannies for trick or treating last night!

I can quite see why a grey-haired woman with wrinkles and veins was seen as suitably horrific, especially in a showbiz setting.

Oh I get that elderly women are seen as revolting, especially in the fashion and media world.

I still think it's hateful though and am hoping that Heidi Klum ages really badly now

I didn't think there was anything wrong with them doing that either, btw.

'a young supermodel choosing the appearance of an elderly woman as a costume, especially when her industry alternately demonises and ignores anyone past 30.'

Heidi Klum is 40 Queen.