Paulina Porizkova, 56, poses 'full frontal nude' on cover of 'Vogue'
Paulina Porizkova celebrated the 40-year anniversary of her first Vogue cover by going "full frontal nude at 56" for the magazine's latest issue.
On the May cover of Vogue CS, the supermodel, who was born in Czechoslovakia and bred in Sweden, poses in a sheer black body suit with appropriately-placed swan emojis. "Exactly 40 years after my very first (German) Vogue cover at the age of sixteen, here is a new one," she wrote on Instagram, sharing the cover shot. Of the shoot — "one of the most fun and playful" of her career — Porizkova inserted a cheeky trigger warning: "For you peeps who have a problem with the lack of coverup — you can peruse the pages fully dressed."
The addendum was Porizkova's dig at ageism targeted at social media photos of the model both wearing lingerie and in the nude, her artistic treatise of youthful beauty as an "unearned endowment." Porizkova was chosen for the cover, the brand explained, to represent the "beauty of maturation in every moment of human life." Because Instagram has a nudity ban (the platform bans female nipples unless contextualized by breastfeeding, childbirth or "health-related situations" like breast cancer awareness or gender-confirmation surgery), the outlet utilized emojis, although subscribers and newsstand buyers can access the uncensored version.
More than 42,000 fans, including Padma Lakshmi, Lisa Rinna, Helena Christensen and Elle MacPherson, liked the image for its obvious beauty but also its depth. "You give me hope that we’re allowed to own our bodies at any age!" wrote model Robyn Lawley. "My favorite part is that you seem so comfortable," noted a follower. "You’re forcing people to face unconscious biases about age, especially against women. Bravo," said another.
"Thank you for bravely helping us step beyond the narrative life ends at 40," wrote a fan.
Porizkova, whose late husband and former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek (with whom she was separated at the time of his 2019 death) insists that age has not done a number on her sex appeal. "I'm way more fabulous now than I was at 19," she recently told Yahoo Life, therefore a man who "can withstand my awesomeness" is her ideal partner. "What I don't want is a man who doesn't hear me — who treats me as a beautiful and worthy object rather than for who I am," she explained.
"What I have found is that sex gets better with age, which is something that I was kind of terrified about for a while because I kept hearing all these horror stories about how you go through menopause and then you lose your sex drive and you don't want to have sex anymore," she added. "I had been wandering the desert for a little while and I was really afraid that somehow that part of my life was going to disappear or go away or was no longer something that I got to do."
In a COVID world, Porizkova is wading, not diving, into the dating pool. "I just want to play around. I don't want anything serious."
The model is, however, hellbent on ensuring that others feel love, acceptance and worthiness through her messaging: #NoFilters, #SexyHasNoExpirationDate and #DepressionAwareness.
Read more from Yahoo Life:
Trisha Yearwood posts make-up free selfie on a 'real' day: 'No glam, no lighting, no filter'
Paulina Porizkova sparks sexual debate with lingerie photo: 'Can you have sex without love?'
Elizabeth Hurley responds to ‘muddled’ reports about her new sexy photos
Want lifestyle and wellness news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Life’s newsletter.
