Historically, women who came to The Times were immediately placed in the women’s pages, called “Food, Fashions, Family, Furnishings.” The section was informally known as the “four Fs” and ran from 1955 to around 1971 as a one-page section in the paper on varying days of the week. It was hardly the first women’s section; a housekeeper’s column ran as early as the 1870s. Domesticity, however, was an abiding theme. There was even a kitchen at the far end of the floor where the Four Fs worked.

"When you have confidence, you do feel like you’re much younger. But if you say, “When you wear this, you will suddenly be younger,” then that’s odd. I guess that’s what the anti-aging idea is. To make women feel insecure about their age — that’s concerning."