Over-40 actresses dominate fall magazine covers

Video: Glossies say 40 is the new 20

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   >>> this morning on "today's woman" over 40 and all the rage. you may have noticed a bit of a trend if you browse the magazine stands recently. actresses who said good-bye to their 20s long ago are now dominating the covers. fall fashion covers this year make over 40 look fabulous. there's "harper's bazaar" with jennifer aniston , age 41. halle berry , age 43. and julia roberts , age 42. so how is it that hollywood 's more seasoned actresses are fall's new it girls?

   >> you're going to get a broader audience if you pick somebody who is older. miley cyrus on the cover you can tell you about 300,000 people who wouldn't even pick it up. now if you put julia roberts on the cover, it has just more appeal and more gravitas.

   >> magazine sales are down from last year and hollywood is following the same success formula.

   >> women over 40, they've got some life experience. you can't base that -- and i think audiences can always see it when somebody is contrived or fake. if you have an actor or actress in their 20s, they just don't have that life experience. they can't bring that to these roles.

   >> sandra bullock has thrown her weight around to the tune of $56 million. that's her income in the last year thanks to the huge success of "the blind side" and "the proposal. " sandra bullock is hollywood 's highest paid. jennifer aniston stars as a 40-year-old single mom in "the switch." some say the over 40 formula is a welcome trend.

   >> youth rules of hollywood and it was actresses. it seemed like once they hit 30 they were like nonexistent in hollywood and they couldn't get a callback. now it's kind of cool to see that hollywood is finally catching up and realizing that women over 40 have a lot to offer.

   >> magazines like the silver screen now happily embrace the idea older is wiser and it's bankable, too.

   >> is it a positive trend to have older women on the cover? you bet. it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to america and maybe now we can get over our obsession with you. that's the way the world is and it's great.

   >> laura is a marketing and branding strategist and averil is from "harper's bazaar." good morning to both of you. let me start with you. the september issue is the most important issue for fashion magazines . why do you think we're seeing all of these actresses over the age of 40 on the covers?

   >> well, i think it does come down to dollars and cents. the biggest ad revenue, of course. a lot of those pages are ads and we want to appeal to the broadest audience who has money in this market? the older woman has a lot more money than the younger woman who doesn't have money to spell. they do want to make the best case to the most people who have the most money.

   >> it's about the buck not showcasing older women and saying, look, america --

   >> well, yes. there's a combination and it does come down to dollars and cents. i think the economy it's worth it to realize what do women really want? has our culture grown up and embraced aging? they are great examples of it and kconsumers can relate to that and love them.

   >> you put jennifer aniston on the cover, did you do that to send some message to your audience out there? did you do it because she's a hot star? we did it because she's a hot, fabulous, chic woman. interesting to note that, yes, the big fashion magazines in the september issue have women who are over 40. but we've watched these women who have appeared on lots of fashion magazines age so gracely from their 20s, 30s, 40s. the fact they're still on the cover at 40 is a fabulous message. would we still be putting people in their 20s on the front cover of our magazine? absolutely. it's fabulous every age moment. we cover that a lot and i think it's a wonderful message that we are sending that you can age gracefully and gorgeously.

   >> and i take issue with this a little bit. if you want to send the message then the rest of the year you put on a lot more models who are 40, 50, 60, not just this group we've all grown up with to begin well, they are stars and the models in general in the magazines tend to be young but we are a celebrity obsessed society. you see fewer models on the cover. we're interested in stars and celebrities and time tested stars. there's also a lack of really exciting young 20-somethings to talk about. a lot of them are the lindsay lohans and the snookis that don't have as much to talk about or show for themselves.

   >> all right. hopefully these covers will do well. ladies, thank you so much for joining us this morning. appreciate it.

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