The professor who became an accidental fashion icon
Lyn Slater, 63, walked past a New York catwalk show and become a star
The models in glossy campaign images are, overwhelmingly, very young. When H&M cast the 60-yearold stylist Gillean McLeod to model its swimwear last summer, she became a global news story.
Perhaps it isn’t so strange, then, that Spanish retailer Mango is releasing a campaign starring women ranging in age from 19 to 63.
While Mango’s decision may go against the grain, the numbers suggest it makes perfect economic sense. In the U.K., for example, the over-50s hold 68.3 per cent of household wealth, while over-65s spend billions per year on clothes.
The campaign’s oldest star is 63-year-old New Yorker Lyn Slater, a university professor and successful fashion blogger.
“I love that a brand like Mango was willing to take a risk and look at becoming more inclusive,” the glossy silver-bobbed Slater says.
The really clever part is this isn’t just appealing to an older demographic. Characters such as Slater — who has almost 100,000 Instagram followers and promotes young designers — are millennial catnip, too.
“Everywhere I go now in New York, there will be someone on the subway or in a store asking if they can take a selfie with me. It’s very strange but a lot of fun. A wonderful adventure.”
She had been thinking of starting a blog for some time, but it wasn’t until she unwittingly walked past a fashion show venue and was accosted by street-style photographers at New York Fashion Week in September 2014 that she took the plunge.
“I went to meet a friend for lunch and I was wearing a Yohji Yamamoto suit and carrying a Chanel bag. All of a sudden all these photographers starting taking pictures of me because they thought I was some kind of fashion person. Then the tourists saw what was happening so they all began taking pictures, too,” she says. “When my friend arrived, there was a huge crowd around me. We were laughing and I said ‘I’m an accidental icon!’ Then she said ‘That’s the name of your blog and you need to start it tomorrow.’ So that’s what I did.”
As a professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Service, Slater has devised a personal style that works for her.
“People always ask me, ‘Is there something you shouldn’t wear at your age?’ and that is just the most annoying question.” — Lyn Slater
“I like to provoke a little bit so when I’m dressing for university, I always think, ‘What can I wear that no one else will be wearing and will make me stand out but at the same time people won’t be able to find anything inappropriate with?’ ”
On the subject of age, Slater is dismissive.
“People always ask me, ‘Is there something you shouldn’t wear at your age?’ and that is just the most annoying question. It’s about who you are and what you’re comfortable with.”