American Apparel, a brand notorious for splashing images of flirty teenagers across its billboards, famously cast a 61-year old in its latest campaign last week, while Lanvin’s fall 2012 campaign featured models in their 60s and 80s.
It’s not the first time high fashion has ventured into more mature territory. Karl Lagerfeld famously used 60-year old Ines de la Fessange in his 2010 couture show, where she strutted the runway with models 40+ years her junior.
And 83-year old Daphne Selfe, who has appeared in the pages of Vogue and worked with Jean Paul Gaultier, says she’s working more now as an older model than ever before.
“I’m doing more high fashion now than I did as a young woman, I think because at last I’ve lost the puppy fat!” said Selfe.
A blog called Advanced Style is being credited with helping kick-start the trend for a more “mature” high fashion look.
Photographer Ari Seth Cohen started the website in 2008, hoping to garner attention for his Satorialist style images of women over 60.
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“I have definitely noticed an increase in the visibility of older models since I started Advanced Style four years ago,” Cohen said. “Older people make up the largest part of the population and they are tired of being ignored. Media either tends to ignore the senior set, or casts aging in a negative light. But with the internet and blogger boom images outside of the fashion industry have become very influential.”
Do you think there should be more models over the age of 60?
13 Comments
Ryan At lest we lived to tell about... Not sure if You will..... hope you make it ! Modeling is not playboy magazine . The purpose of a model is strictly to give a general idea of how the product looks on " Real " people.... Those of us that are seniors do not want to look at kids to buy our persoanls.
ReplyI am "over" 60 and loving life...I can STILL "cut the mustard" too...I am a Jeans and T-shirt kind of GAL..Our age-group are more relaxed..We are spending our childrens "inheritance" on Travel to far away places..Now they have to "wonder" where in the WORLD is MOM and DAD...Heh, heh, it's our turn now...
ReplyWhat about women in 50s? And how do they get into the modeling industry? Any suggestions?
ReplyYes, definitely! Why not, especially when '40' is the new 30, 50 is the new 40, etc?!
1 ReplyI'm sure that men in particular would only look at a fashion show just to perv at the girls rather than the clothes, but the primary objective of fashion shows is to demonstrate what the clothes look like on a real person as opposed to a clothes rack. As real people come in all shapes and sizes and are of all ages and all need clothes that suit their age and size, it makes perfect sense to use models of all ages shapes and sizes. When thinking of buying clothes we want something that will look good on us, not on a teenage twiggy, unless we are a teenage twiggy of course!
2 Replies