Lingerie model granny shines light on older women
SAO PAULO: Wearing nothing but a lacy bra and matching panties, Brazilian grandmother Helena Schargel strikes a seductive pose during a photo shoot featuring her latest lingerie designs for women over 60.
“Wonderful, marvelous,” the photographer gushes as Schargel, 79, stares confidently into the camera in a converted warehouse in Sao Paulo.
After decades working for a fabric company, the lithe and energetic Schargel emerged from retirement more than two years ago on a mission to drag older women out of obscurity.
Her tactic? Sexy fashion designed especially for them – and modelled by her.
“This project has a clear goal: to make women visible,” Schargel said at her elegantly furnished apartment in Brazil’s biggest city.
Schargel has launched several underwear collections with Brazil’s
Recco Lingerie. An activewear line with the company Alto Giro was unveiled this year and more are in the works, she says.
Schargel, who helps with the designs, says Brazilian women over 60 have long been overlooked by fashion companies, society – and even themselves.
She shares words of encouragement on her Instagram account, where she has nearly 18,000 mainly women followers, of all ages.
Messages such as “take a risk” and “you can do anything” pepper her feed, which receive hundreds, sometimes thousands, of likes and comments.
“I never thought about how old I was, never – this never worried me,” says Schargel, describing the popularity of plastic surgery in Brazil as “madness”.
“It was only a few years ago that I realised I was no longer 33.”
The daughter of Polish immigrants, Schargel began making clothes as a teenager and selling them in her parents’ store.
It was the beginning of a lifelong career in fashion.
Along the way, she got married twice and had two children. She now has five grandchildren, some of whom wear her designs.
Retirement did not suit the soonto-be octogenarian, who moves with the ease of someone decades younger.
“I thank God that I don’t need to go to the gym,” she says, lolling in a lounge chair in black and white leggings and matching loose-fitting top and sneakers.
“I do pilates three times a week, which is good for me and my spirit.”