“If you spend enough time surrounded by very rich people today, the conclusion is clear: people didn’t look like this before because, by nature, it’s not possible to look like that,” journalist and writer Amy Odell wrote a few days ago in a column in The New York Times. In the text, she highlighted a fact: how the ultra-rich are no longer concerned with hiding the evidence of their surgeries and treatments, but rather boast about them. These interventions have become another way to flaunt wealth: “The implicit appeal of aesthetic treatments is that it’s not simply about looking ‘better,’ about ‘fixing’ something (…) it’s, rather, about enjoying a particular type of experience-based self-care, infinitely customizable and accessible only to a select group,” the writer pointed out.
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The so-called “rich face” (or the more grotesque version, the Mar-a-Lago face) has quickly emerged as a status symbol beyond handbags and watches. But, just as not all rich people opted for logos or carats to show their position, not all have surrendered to surgery either. In terms of aesthetic pressure, as in everything else, there have always been classes. Content creator Jenny Park pointed this out in a video on her social media, highlighting the distinctive features of an old money face (that label so popular on TikTok to contrast with the “new rich”). That is, a face that ages “naturally.” Taking that “natural” with many caveats. Park emphasized that those who have held wealth for generations have never felt the need to project excess, whether through a diamond rock like Georgia Rodríguez’s or six-figure handbags like those worn by the Kardashians or many footballers during the World Cup.
Wrinkles versus fillers
Journalist Marina Ortiz, a content creator focusing on pop culture and great fortunes, points to a popular phrase online that perfectly illustrates this phenomenon: “On the internet, this concept has become fashionable: nobody is ugly, only poor.” And she links the boom in plastic surgery among the elites (and also among those with standard finances, though that’s another topic) to aspirational desires, something that doesn’t concern those who have lived surrounded by wealth for generations: “Having money is not aspirational for old money people; it’s something they already possess. They don’t need to prove that their things are expensive or that they’ve spent a lot of money. I believe that in their case, it’s almost more desirable to wear good, valuable things that aren’t necessarily expensive, and even products or brands that few people know. Exclusivity and quality usually mean a high price, but it’s not the same as wearing a logo T-shirt to show you can spend money on X brand. For the new rich, however, any hint or symptom that they have money to spend is desirable, including the ability to mold their appearance.” At this point, Ortiz makes a distinction and recalls how “in Europe, this idea of manufactured beauty as the only solution applies less to us than in the United States. Although I think this is also being lost.” Dr. Martín del Yerro, head of the plastic surgery unit at the DEMYA clinic, states that “indeed there are patients who shy away from naturalness and seek aspects that aesthetically seem more attractive, more striking, and do not correspond to patterns of naturalness,” but he emphasizes that there is “a large majority of people who do not seek such modification.”
Opposite those who seek to reinforce their power, not only by multiplying their fortune but by demonstrating their purchasing power through tens of thousands of euros worth of interventions reflected on their face, we find another group that seeks to maintain a low profile, shuns public ostentation, and rejects excess (also public, because no one knows what they do in private) in all its forms. “I have always thought that the rich people we know are the least rich, like the owner of Aldi or Lidl, who are among the richest men in Europe and there are no recent photos of them. In Spain, I believe people like Eugenia Martínez de Irujo [although she has had some operations, she still shows wrinkles] do advocate for a more old money lifestyle. One example is that she hasn’t fixed her diastema, something that would be unthinkable in the Mar-a-Lago mentality,” reflects Marina Ortiz.
Who can afford wrinkles?
A few days ago, The Telegraph newspaper detailed the three characteristic features of that old money face and illustrated it with an image of lawyer and diplomat Caroline Schlossberg, daughter of John F. Kennedy and Jackie, perhaps one of the most representative examples of a wealthy person who maximally protects her privacy and avoids ostentation. According to the publication, having a recognizable face, undergoing maintenance rather than “correction” treatments, and having a face that shows evidence of lived time are the three points that define the old money face. This does not mean that the ultra-rich by birth do not care about their appearance; on the contrary: they put themselves in the hands of the best medical-aesthetic centers to take care of themselves, but without leaving overly obvious evidence. And that’s where that much-touted “naturalness” comes in, which is never truly natural, because any modern body has been more or less intervened: from orthodontics to an undetectable but extremely expensive ultrasound treatment to stimulate collagen.
Series like Succession, which delves into the comings and goings of a wealthy family owning a media conglomerate, have put this privileged social group of the ultra-rich by birth, lovers of Brunello Cucinelli cashmere and Loro Piana shirts, in the spotlight. The Gettys, the Rothschilds, European aristocracy and royalty… all of them have been born into abundance for decades and even centuries, and many of their most prominent members fit that old money face with wrinkles, spots, or any other aspect typical of a lived skin. But just as silent luxury in fashion was a sham, in this contemporary beauty where the face is another element to optimize, those faces that “age naturally” are also a sham.
However, it’s important not to reduce everything to a single archetype. For example, within the prominent Getty family (originally linked to the oil industry), we find Aileen Getty, who, after a somewhat turbulent youth, today represents that old money face. On the other hand, we have Sabine Getty (married to Joseph Getty, Aileen’s nephew), who frequently shares much of her life on social media and has indeed modified her appearance with evident medical interventions. Ortiz adds another example by citing “figures like the Spencer sisters, who, despite being British, aristocratic, and wealthy, have the most Mar-a-Lago faces in history.”