As Michelle Obama looks back on her life-changing past year, she’s about to ring in another one on Sunday—her 46th. VIEW OUR GALLERY of other women who’ve stayed just as glamorous as the first lady at 46, and those who will be celebrating the same birthday in 2010.
Age is just a number, true. But this year, 46 is the number. Just about every beautiful woman from Manhattan to the capital seems to be hitting that mark in 2010—and with all the attention lavished on these women, 46 might as well be the new 26. Consider: Michelle Obama’s birthday is Sunday, and as she rounds the corner with a sleek new bob and the wisdom of a year inside the White House, she looks better than she ever has. And then there’s Sarah Palin, who despite the controversy and Fox News deals and detractors on all sides, is still, as the youth might say, smoking hot. And let’s just look at the other 46-year-olds (or soon to be’s) for a moment: Lisa Kudrow (she launches a new NBC show in March), Sandra Bullock (experiencing the first real Oscar buzz of her career for The Blind Side), and Wanda Sykes, whose new Fox show may very well make her a new queen of late night when the Conan/Leno shakedown is over. These are women who have worked hard to get where they are, but who are, in many ways, just starting to peak.
Click the Image to View Our Gallery of Chic Chicks at 46
When did it become so good to be 46? Hollywood used to leave women on the side of the road in their late 30s, and certainly no actress over 45 (save Meryl Streep) was thought capable of carrying an entire movie until very recently. But a sea change is clearly afoot—and not due entirely to Botox and Spanx. Women are working harder, and for longer periods of time, than ever before, enjoying a second career bump following the rearing of young children and a period of domestic frenzy. Michelle Obama is the perfect example: At 46, she is continuing with the powerful public career she began working for at Harvard Law School in her 20s, with a brief interruption for family and Barack-support. Perhaps the new dominance (and impeccable style) of women in their mid- to late 40s is reflective of a more realistic vision of the mythical “having it all.” These are not women who are trying to relive their 20s or extend their 30s, but who have been through it, raised children, worked their way up without ceasing, and finally emerged on the other side, wiser, more capable of balance, and much better dressed than their younger selves.
More names: Laura Linney. Vanessa Williams. Marisa Tomei. Diana Krall. Mariska Hargitay. They all look incredible, but more important, they are all enjoying healthy, robust careers at 46, with many years of work ahead. Twentysomethings should not only want to learn something from these women, but they should want to be them—and they will be, eventually, after two decades of hard work and wardrobe refinement.