Our British partner recently sent me an article from the CapitolBay publication titled: Why Britain’s next top models are over SIXTY. The article goes on to say retailers are chasing the grey pound as never before and older women are topping up their pensions with £2,000 modeling jobs. It seems after decades of being ignored by the fashion and advertising industries, we are starting to see an increasing number of mature models gracing the catwalks and featured in ads for high-end designers like Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton.
Even the Olsen twins (all of 27 now) when they began expanding their luxury brand, The Row, started targeting women in their 40s, 50s, ad 60s with money and taste. According to a Wall Street Journal article, The Row cast runway models from decades past for its recent Pre-Fall 2014 Collection lookbook and even took Lauren Hutton, now 70, as their guest to the CFDA awards in 2012 rather than a hot young starlet. The fact that Ms. Hutton is still seen as a relevant fashion icon at 70 speaks volumes about how much has changed with this generation.
The fact that retailers are just now deciding that mature women over 60 might still be valuable customers makes me smile. When I think about all the clothes myself and my friends still buy -smart designers should be targeting us. We’re not buying “old lady” clothes either. On a recent trip to NYC, we made our usual assault on Saks Fifth Avenue. I snapped some pictures as Karyl and Valerie tried on clothes. Some of their selections aren’t exactly matronly.
