The face... JOANI JOHNSON

MEET THE MODEL OF THE MOMENT: THE SEXAGENARIAN NEW YORKER WITH A TEA-BREWING SIDE HUSTLE

“BRANDS NEED TO APPEAL TO A WIDER DEMOGRAPHIC”

How do you, at 67 years old, find yourself hand-picked by Rihanna to model on a catwalk with Cara Delevingne, the Hadid sisters and Joan Smalls? Ask JoAni Johnson, the NY-based model who is now walking for TOMMYXZENDAYA, Eileen Fisher and Deveaux. After posing for a streetstyle photographer in Manhattan in 2O16, the Harlem-born daughter of Jamaican immigrants – who stands at just 5ft 4in with a cascade of grey hair – was cast in a video for Allure on the virtues of ageing. It went viral. Johnson credits her striking style to the neighbourhood she was brought up in. ‘In Harlem, people are always well dressed,’ she says, ‘You didn’t leave the house unless everything was completely on point. My great aunts and mother had impeccable style.’ Though Johnson was interested in fashion, she studied maths and went on to work in sales, and more recently became a certified tea blender. ‘Taking time to brew a cup is always relaxing. It’s great for winding down after a long fashion week,’ she says. Now she’s the face of the fashion industry’s increasingly inclusive casting. ‘Brands are starting to understand that, in order to survive, they have to appeal to wider demographics.’ That demographic being older women – those with real spending power. ‘Inclusion on all levels is key, because representation matters.’