Paulina Porizkova is loving Martha Stewart’s historic Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover.
“We’re finally having a bit of spotlight on us seasoned women, showing us as vibrant and sexy!” the model, 58, wrote in a recent Instagram post.
Stewart, 81, recently became the oldest woman to ever grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, appearing on the magazine's June issue.
In her recent post, Polizkova shared a throwback pic of herself sporting a red swimsuit on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1984, alongside another photo of herself rocking a red bikini in 2019.
The Czech-born supermodel also praised Padma Lakshmi, 52, who was featured inside the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, calling her “another gorgeous, powerful, intelligent woman.”
While making it clear that she has nothing but love and admiration for Stewart and Lakshmi, Porizkova said their photos did make her question how older women are portrayed in the media.
“It is to be noted how much younger all these amazing women look,” she wrote. “Which still tells the rest of us that to be seen as beautiful at our age, we better not actually look our age.”
Porizkova said that while she is thrilled to see older women stepping into the limelight, they are still often held to unrealistically youthful beauty standards.
“This keeps poking at me and I can’t quite figure out how to navigate these waters,” she wrote. “I’m so happy we are finally invited back to the main tables, but — we’re expected to show up looking like our daughters.”
Porizkova, who recently celebrated her 58th birthday with a revealing photo on Instagram, noted she is “just as guilty” as anyone when it comes to controlling her image and deciding which photos of herself to share publicly.
“Although I do not filter or retouch any of my photos, and have not had interventions, I’m careful to pick the photos of myself that are the most flattering,” she wrote. “If you want attention for the beauty of age it has to look somewhat appealing and that still means — younger.”
Porizkova finished her post by offering her “sincerest admiration to these incredibly aspirational women who make age look like anything they want and are living their best lives, sexy, vibrant and seasoned.”
She also shared her hope that women like Stewart and Lakshmi are sparking new conversations about aging, and about what it means to age well.
“They do make aging look great, if somewhat optional, which may be the step we need in the right direction,” Porizkova wrote. “They will not take a seat in a corner and fade away as dictated, highlighting all of us in the process."