Thanks for your excellent question: Both Madonna and Raquel Welch are (or were) artists whose main art involved the gifts they shared with the public, including their “look” (the style and messages they presented to the world) and other gifts/talents they projected to the world through their performances (both sang and acted).

And probably most importantly (the main reason I wrote this as one story), both offer different ways to approach something bigger we all care about: The goal of beauty and making ourselves (and our work) as beautiful as possible.

As with all art (from their work to stories writers write), we all look at art (and most work) and react to what we like and don’t like, what works and what doesn’t, because it helps each of us learn our way to the better path.

Madonna’s latest controversy over her “new look” came just as Raquel Welch died, so their stories overlapped in the public conversation just as Madonna tried to say the negativity against her was “ageism,” but as you rightly point out Raquel Welch was seen as “classic” even though her age advanced far further. Interestingly, some new stories say Madonna heard the public’s reaction and is now trying to get her old look back.

Thanks for reading and commenting!