Fabulous at 50
British model Cecilia Chancellor, 50, on the catwalk at the designer Dries Van Noten’s show in Paris yesterday. In a trend that has surfaced during the current crop of fashion weeks, she joined other older models in a ‘gracious celebration of womanhood’
DRIES VAN NOTEN marked his 100th fashion show in Paris with a gracious celebration of womanhood, casting models who had starred in some of the designer’s previous shows.
The familiar faces included Amber Valletta, 42, Cecilia Chancellor, 50, Emma Balfour, 37, Erin O’Connor and Malgosia Bela, both 39.
With many designers making an effort to be more diverse in their casting, using more non-white models as well as older and amateur models, it nevertheless made for a unique and moving event. Van Noten said he wanted to celebrate “without nostalgia and with little artifice”.
The move to cast older models has been bubbling under this latest crop of fashion weeks.
In London last month, the designer Simone Rocha also cast artists and older models including Chancellor – the British model who made her name in the 1990s and who graced the cover of The Telegraph’s Stella magazine last month – as well as Benedetta Barzini, 73, and Jan de Villeneuve, 72.
De Villeneuve also appeared on the Osman catwalk in London in a show that repeated his idea from the previous season (he got there first) of casting his friends and customers to walk along the catwalk. During Milan Fashion Week, in an irreverent and fun show, Dolce & Gabbana had the same idea, asking women who were not necessarily models but “friends of the brand” to model their clothes.
“Life doesn’t end when you start getting a pension,” de Villeneuve, who began modelling in 1966, told The Telegraph after London Fashion Week. “Older women love fashion too. I’ve always thought it would be nice if people of all ages, shapes and sizes were included because that’s more relevant to day-to-day life.”
This seems to be resonating with designers. Rocha, who designs clothes with her friends and mother, Odette, in mind, has said that what she does “is for all types of women and that’s what I wanted to reflect in my casting”.
At the Dries Van Noten show, where the designer received a standing ovation, the mood was celebratory. He said that the clothing was about “women dressing as they would like to dress themselves, expressing themselves, being comfortable, mixing menswear with womenswear, everything that we stand for”.
In other words, making clothes for “real” women – that overused phrase that nevertheless seems to be resonating with fashion brands.