Fifty, fabulous and fashion forward
Celine Dion, Diane Keaton and 97-year-old style icon Iris Apfel are among the new heroes of the famously youth-obsessed fashion industry, writes Annie Brown.
The sight of supermodel Stephanie Seymour, 50, sashaying down the runway in a glamorous, bondage-inspired dress to close the Versace show during Milan Fashion Week was first, one to behold, and second, a further sign that the famously youth-obsessed fashion industry is open to the idea of ageing.
Seymour – who told Vogue, ‘‘Who wouldn’t want to do the Versace show again after 20 years?’’ – wasn’t the only older model cast this season.
Model Stella Tennant, 48, walking for Burberry, Christie Brinkley, 50, at Michael Kors, and actress Chloe Sevigny, 44, at Simone Rocha (whose participation was fashion and nostalgia catnip for Gen X), were particular highlights.
Meanwhile, much mileage has been made of how singer Celine Dion, 50, has become the internet’s favourite style icon.
A true fashion fan, Dion was photographed crying in the front row at the Valentino couture show in January. Much of Dion’s wardrobe is couture, and her daily outfit changes are faithfully documented on her Instagram account, where she now has 2.9 million followers.
Model Iman, 63, was on the subscriber cover of Instyle US’ March issue this year and, according to Harper’s Bazaar, actress Diane Keaton, 73, is Instagram’s best new fashion influencer, thanks to her recent penchant for ‘‘Outfit of the Day’’ photos.
As fashion editor Lauren Alexis Fisher wrote of Keaton’s new project, ‘‘Now, she’s gracing Instagram with the fashion content that’s been missing in our feeds of perfectly curated blogger posts.’’
Perhaps the best example, though, is Iris Apfel. The 97-year-old fashion icon, unabashed maximalist and subject of the 2014 documentary Iris, signed a modelling contract with one of the world’s top modelling agencies, IMG, last month. Her colleagues in the agency include model of the moment Gigi Hadid and Victoria’s Secret ‘‘angel’’ Lily Aldridge.
Suzie Shaw, managing director at social media and influencer agency We Are Social, says fashion influencers over 50 are making a real impact.
‘‘No doubt there are fewer influencers over 50 than [those] in their 20s, but those who are there are gaining real traction because they more faithfully represent their audience than mainstream media, and they are also more authentic and relatable,’’ she says.
Shaw highlights Instagram influencers such as 91-year-old great-grandmother Helen Ruth Van Winkle from Kentucky, better known as Baddie Winkle, whose passion for all things fluoro has amassed 3.8 million followers, and university lecturer-turned-fashion blogger Lyn Slater, 66, of fashion website Accidental Icon as ‘‘proving you don’t need to give up being fashionable when you hit 50’’.
Ageless style is something that Janet Muggivan, the founder of Beauty Dossier, an online beauty course aimed at older women in particular, believes in.
‘‘The rise of ‘ageless’ influencers is a brilliant direction,’’ she says. ‘‘The tone of their looks is different and tends to more individualistic styles, rather than a lot of the younger influencers who are more dedicated to fashion. There’s a big difference between fashion and style,’’ she says.
However, Muggivan – the former PR director for Revlon for 25 years – says brands need to work harder to meaningfully connect with this group.
‘‘Brands face a real challenge marketing to this audience as the size of the market is enormous, yet there is often a disconnect between the language and imagery brands use,’’ she says.
‘‘We don’t want to be labelled ‘mature,’ yet that is what we are. We are more concerned with looking relevant and modern. For brands that can crack the code there is a goldmine waiting, but brands are often working with outdated perceptions of how to engage the ageless category.’’
The goldmine is real. According to recent data from the US Government Consumer Expenditure Survey and Neilsen, women over 50 compromise the largest demographic of incomes over $100,000, and control 95 per cent of household purchasing decisions. They are, according to business publication Forbes, the ‘‘ultimate super consumer’’.
A recent (relatively small) survey of more than 500 women by marketing agency SuperHuman found that 96 per cent of women over 40 didn’t feel ‘‘middle aged’’ and 90 per cent felt younger than their mothers’ generation at the same age.
Suzanne Brooks, 74, a Cairns-based lawyer, says generations before her were old – and dressing the part – before their time. The increased profile of stylish older women, she says, gives women hope.
Brooks appears in photographer Ari Seth Cohen’s new book Advanced Love. Cohen celebrates the ‘‘fashion and wisdom of the senior set’’.
Brooks documents her style on her Instagram account @TheAussieIris. The name pays homage to her style hero, Iris Apfel. ‘‘She seems so vital,’’ says Brooks. While Brooks used to think her love of fashion was ‘‘trivial,’’ now she embraces it. ‘‘I love dressing up, I just love fabrics and I love style,’’ she says.
We’ve been here before, of course. In 2015, the writer and accidental style icon of just about every bookish woman who also cares about clothes, Joan Didion, then 80, featured in an advertising campaign for French fashion house Celine.
In 2017, then 73-year-old Lauren Hutton fronted Calvin Klein’s lingerie campaign, and major beauty brands such as L’Oreal have long tapped older faces, including actresses Andie MacDowell and Helen Mirren.
The casting of older models and faces for campaigns has been criticised for being token, and there is a valid argument that there is a distinct advantage in looking like Mirren at 73, say, and not like, well, most of us. Yet as Accidental Icon’s Lyn Slater told W magazine in 2017, ‘‘This project is me saying: I’m not 20, and I don’t want to be 20. But I’m pretty cool, and here I am.’’
So yes, style is ageless. Here they are.
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‘‘The rise of ‘ageless’ influencers is a brilliant direction. The tone of their looks is different and tends to more individualistic styles. There’s a big difference between fashion and style.‘‘
Janet Muggivan