Fashion's Mrs. Robinson Complex

Chalk it up to "new nostalgia" or supermodels making a comeback, but the fashion industry’s MILF fixation is in full effect. Earlier this week, Madonna made headlines yet again thanks to a steamy new Steven Klein-photographed W spread that features the Material Mom in a lavish, light-filled Brazilian home, flanked by a handful of gorgeous twenty-something, half-naked Brazilian boys. In a biblically confusing series of events, adding fuel to the press-storm is the fact that one of the male models in question, Jesus Luz, has become Madonna’s real life companion.

Add to the list of MILFs stealing the fashion spotlight: Danish supermodel and BlackBook favorite Helena Christensen, whose sexy editorial spread with Gossip Girl’s own Ed Westwick is featured in Harper’s Bazaar’s March issue. At 40, Christensen is far from past her prime, but she’s still old enough to be 21-year-old Westwick’s mother.

Last but not least is fashion icon Jerry Hall’s new campaign for Chanel. The blond (and, at 52 years old, still a) bombshell is pictured in bed with male model-of-the-moment Baptiste Giabiconi. Of his choice of Hall for the campaign, Karl Lagerfeld explains: “Oscar Wilde said, ‘I like men who have a future, and women who have a past.’ It is this whole idea of seduction that is summarized here that appeals to me. One of a very young man fascinated and attracted by what a woman does: her wardrobe, her perfume, her movements, her allure, etc.” The cougar is making a comeback—surely, thanks in large part to a recent, recession-induced disinterest in vanity and artificial beauty. The elegant older woman has finally resurfaced as the new icon of allure.

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