Fashion Grows Up

If there's one thing that will change the fashion industry's obsession with youth, it's money. I'm not talking bungs and bribes - Cash For Wrinkles, anyone? Or the super-rich. Really, who cares if Daphne Guinness would rather binge on couture than eat? No. It's officially time for designers and retailers to wake up and smell the grey pound. All Walks Beyond The Catwalk, whose aim is to increase diversity in fashion and prove that 'real beauty is good for business,' have just told me about some research by Ben Barry a PhD student at Judge Business School, Cambridge University, that supports their philosophy.

'In my research, featuring 300 women in Canada, the US and UK, equally segmented between 14-65 years of age, over 90% of women between 40-65 increased purchase intentions when the advertisement featured models reflecting their age and size,' reports Barry. 'Women over 40 possess more overall spending power than any other age group, and they spend more on women's apparel than younger market segments. Moreover research has demonstrated that ageing does not reduce fashion interest among individuals.'


Women over forty want clothes that fit, flatter and look fashionable. And we want to see them on older models. Time for change, don't you think?


PS Why stop at 65? The fabulous New Yorkers snapped by Ari Seth Cohen for Advanced Style still care about fashion - and Alexis Bittar has been using 67-year-old Lauren Hutton in his ads this year.




All Walks Beyond The Catwalk.

Style at any age

Fashion has always been fixated with youth. The pressure to stay eternally young is what inspired me to start That's Not My Age in the first place. The need to see more older models, more wrinkles, more diversity and less ageism in fashion. I know I'm not alone, there are tons of fabulous bloggers of a certain age out there (you can find a fair few in my Blog Roll) and by promoting older models and using photos of ourselves and other mid-lifers, I'd like to think we're doing our bit to help shift attitudes.

I love this photo of Joan Burstein by The Sartorialist. Scott Schuman has the ability to beautifully capture stylish people of any age:



And, ta- dah! This morning, I opened the newspaper and found two age-related articles that helped take the edge off my hangover. One on the fact that grey haired, natural chic is on the up - I'm not going to be the one to say I told you so - with a great quote from Caryn Franklin, journalist and co-founder of All Walks on the Catwalk:



"Our culture is fearful of ageing," said Franklin, "and especially ageing women. I say, 'Stop apologising for getting older. Embrace it.' I want young women to see that beauty ages beautifully and there is no need to feel that getting older is something that has to be medicated, managed with surgery or be obsessed about."

And the other on the need to see more middle-aged women on telly. Chairman of the BBC Trust, Chris Patten, says he'd like to see more mature women presenting programmes:

"First of all, I'm 67, for heaven's sake, and I'm married to a charming and beautiful 66-year-old, and I would be delighted if she was the face of anything on television."

And I don't think the former Conservative Party chairman was using his position at the BBC to find his wife a job. There are over 20 million Britons over 50 - let's hope that this is a watershed, not a fad.


Quotes: The Observer

Glad to be grey

Whilst Jean Paul Gaultier celebrated ageless style by sending models down his A/W 2011 catwalk with gorgeous grey beehive wigs, That's Not My Age prefers the real thing. Click here to see my grey streak - and er, super model Kristen McMenamy looking fabulous sans dye-job. So it's good to see that lifestyle brand Toast, who show their menswear collection on models of all ages, are now using older, grey-haired women too - that's the lovely Daphne Selfe above. Hooray!







'O.A.P/A.O.K: Grab your bus pass - the older lady inspires,' said Elle Collections magazine about Gaultier's grown-up models:













Yesterday market research company Mintel tweeted, 'Just one in seven European women aged over-55 consider their hair to be their best feature. Could more can be done to target this group?'



I'm trying to find out some more about this statistic - but in the meantime, what do you think?





Catwalk photos: style.com

Life is the Occasion

That's Not My Age thinks it's commendable that fashion retailer, LK Bennett is using real women/customers over forty in their latest Life is the Occasion campaign. Chandrima, 42, is an indie rock-loving, consultant obstetrician who has an office full of babies...



Helen, 51, is a busy mother of eight who runs a boutique hotel in Yorkshire and says, 'I have no time to spend on wondering what to wear,' which is probably why she's up a stepladder in a pair of high-heeled slingbacks.

The Style List

Breaking news, people! Today Debenhams launch their latest campaign featuring older models, from left to right: Caroline Josling, 52, Valerie Pain, 66, and Maxine Smith, 41. In collaboration with fashion commentator, Caryn Franklin, the high street retailer plans to 'give ongoing solutions, advice and guidance on how 40+ women can achieve any desired look.' The project called The Style List will be delivered in stores, online and through photography.

Franklin says, 'It’s been really fulfilling to create shots that celebrate the wonder of getting older. It’s important to challenge what we see in our media with a broader reflection of beauty. Enjoy the magic of these women, their confidence, their attitudes and their allure. These wonderful faces express the joy of getting older - not something we see enough of.'




All commendable stuff but the accompanying press release claiming that DEBENHAMS TARGETS ‘FORGOTTEN WOMEN’ WITH GROUND BREAKING CAMPAIGN (dare I mention Levi's, Gap, Twiggy for Marks & Spencer and Dove?) is poorly conceived and tactless. Debenhams are right to take action, I just wish they'd asked Caryn Franklin to write the press release.


Read more about the project here

Love: Lauren Hutton

OK, I'm a bit slow off the mark with this one but that's the advantage of being a late adopter; less pressure, less competition, just let the iPad-carrying hipsters do all the work for you. And so, when designers at NY fashion week are looking for models with gappy teeth and there's something of an age-fest going on; Julianne Moore at Tom Ford's show yesterday, Christy Turlington in the current Louis Vuitton ad campaign, Kristen McMenamy - US Vogue, September issue, Stella Tennant...I won't go on, just to say that it's a joy to see Lauren Hutton, nearly 67, on the cover of LOVE magazine.

Discovered by the legendary Diana Vreeland in 1965, 'She saw something in me. She saw what she was seeing in the streets: a new sort of person...who wore jeans and a t-shirt with no bra, and many of these 18-year-olds were still wearing iron corsets - fashion was still very much in the fifties - and I was not.' By 1974, with her gap-toothed smile and wonky nose, Hutton had become the 'million dollar girl next door,' the face of Revlon Ultima II, an American Vogue cover girl and the highest paid model in history.

Wrinkles, imperfect teeth and old news - you can read it all here.