Makeovers are only for teeny boppers, right? Wrong. On Sunday, 26 October, City Harvest Church’s dialect church successfully made over eight elderly men and women from their congregation during service.
The participants, all between the ages of 60 and 80, were given a free, full makeover inclusive of a brand new set of clothes, make-up, hair styling — plus before-and-after photographs to complete the experience.
At the start, with the exception of a few enthusiastic individuals, most of the participants seemed tentative and uncomfortable in their new outfits. Finally, after the flurry of curling, styling, preening and powdering, the contestants were photo-ready.
But when it came to posing for the photographs, the elderly displayed a different side to their initial reticence and discomfort. Most of them seemed much more confident. One male contestant even gamely mugged for the photographer upon request. When asked to comment on their new look, the participants were unanimous in their approval.
Finally, the elderly got to show off their new looks on stage to the congregation. The female participants looked slightly unnerved on stage at first, but as they waved and posed it was evident they did not mind the attention at all.
According to Jonathan Goh, the main coordinator for the dialect church, the reason for organizing the event was to boost the confidence and inspire change in the elderly, as many of them thought of themselves as “old and outdated” and were therefore, poorly dressed.
This is hopefully the first step in encouraging a similar change in their outlook on life and self-esteem. It was a great start to making the elderly at City Harvest Church “grow old with grace”.
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| PHOTOS: Alvin Loh |
