At 58, Paulina Porizkova Poses Topless, Opens Up About ‘Shame’ in Powerful Message
Paulina Porizkova, 58, posed topless, covered in silver paint.
The star’s powerful images were for the cover of Elle Czech Republic.
“Yes, I’m topless; but the silver paint on my skin is like an armor,” she wrote on Instagram.
As one of her generation’s greatest supermodels, Paulina Porizkova has appeared in countless magazine features, but her latest may be her favorite. The 58-year-old posed topless, covered in silver paint, for the cover of Elle Czech Republic’s November issue, and the images are powerful.
“I have done many covers this year I’m very proud of, but this one is special,” she wrote on Instagram. The photo features her topless chest covered in silver paint to match her gray hair, and the paint is carried all the way down her torso, where it meets her open trousers. She continued: “Yes, I’m topless; but the silver paint on my skin is like an armor. The silver deflects darkness and reflects light—but allows me to feel everything.”
Porizkova, who grew up in Czech Republic, went on to explain that “nudity was common” in the culture she was raised in, that it was “accepted as a part of being human.”
“I was never made to feel ashamed of an unclothed body, mine or anyone else’s,” she added.
That has certainly aided her confidence throughout her career, but in the context of the Elle cover, her bareness was a reminder of her agency, independence, and power. “As long as it is MY choice to undress, it actually makes me feel strong,” she wrote. “It makes me feel like I have nothing to hide. This is where my power lies. Not the nudity per se, but the ability to show myself as I am.”
The portrait, she wrote, helped her see herself as “a woman who is not ashamed for being exactly who she is. A woman who refuses to be shamed,” she wrote, adding: “I do not feel like this woman every day. But this is the woman I’d like to become. The one who claims her space without apologies, without guilt, without shame, and—with or without clothes.”
Understandably, fans and followers flocked to the comments section to praise Porizkova’s confidence and message. “Just so POWERFUL! What draws my attention the most isn’t the nudity but the confident strong look on your face!” one person commented. “You’re inspiring to women of all ages,” another added. “I love, admire, and respect everything you stand for!❤️👏,” someone else wrote.
If you follow Porizkova on Instagram, you know she’s no stranger to baring it all to share a message—be that the clothes from her body, or the makeup from her face. In August, for example, she shared a makeup-free selfie to show off what 58 looks like.
“This is a 58-year-old face without fillers, Botox, or surgery,” she wrote. “I am aging. Some days, I like it. I feel like my face has gained character even as it’s lost its youthful prettiness. And it seems a fair trade-off. Other days, (and this is mostly only if I do a photoshoot), I have to gulp some self-acceptance.”
She continued: “Fortunately, this change also means being wiser. And bolder. So I keep gulping self-acceptance.”
At this point, whenever Porizkova strips down, literally or proverbially, we know to listen up. And this time was no exception.
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