Older women are fronting major fashion
campaigns and one of the next Bond girls is 50 — mature ladies are having a
moment, but does it represent a change of attitudes or just a marketing
gimmick?
With her silver hair styled into a severe bob, clad all in black with
huge
sunglasses, 80-year-old US author Joan Didion cuts a striking figure in the
new ads for Celine.
A guitar-strumming, floppy hat-wearing Joni Mitchell, 71, fronts Saint
Laurent’s Music Project, and Dolce and Gabbana focuses its new campaign on
cackling Italian grandmothers.
Meanwhile Madonna, 56, has been posing for Versace, Julia Roberts, 47, is
the face of Givenchy and Italian actress Monica Bellucci, 50, will soon be
the
oldest ever Bond girl.
Such adverts should be no surprise given an ageing population and the
growing purchasing power of older people in some parts of the world.
The senior market is “one of the most powerful consumer groups in mid to
long-term”, said Magdalena Kondej, an analyst for Euromonitor International.
“Marketing targeted at elderly consumers that has found success to date
often uses older celebrities in advertisements,” she said, citing L’Oreal’s
recent signing of Jane Fonda, 68, to advertise a face cream for over 60s.
“This approach would also seem the best option for apparel brands and
there
is no shortage of poster girls for older, glamorous women,” Kondej added.
But critics question whether this signals a real change in attitudes, or
are simply the latest shock tactics by a fashion industry that will never
give
up its love of youth.
Click Here: habitat tord boontje
‘Makes a nice contrast’
Sylviane Degunst, 56, was spotted by a model scout two years ago on a
London street, and has since appeared in photo shoots for high-street
clothes
as well as other adverts.
Slim, although not tall, she has killer cheekbones and hair that has been
white since she was 18.
Degunst was a writer and publisher in her native France, but struggled to
find work on moving to Britain and has embraced her new career.
“I can’t use my mind any more so I may as well use my old body… I’m
having a great time!” she told AFP.
“We’re not in competition with the young girls, but I think it makes
a nice
contrast. It’s interesting to mix things up.”
Degunst is far from the top end of the age spectrum — American Carmen
Dell’Orefice is still modelling at 83 — but she says that stereotypes still
prevail.
In one of her first modelling jobs she was asked to sit in a wheelchair,
while in another, scouted because of her white hair, she was rejected
because
she did not look old enough.
Artist, writer and curator Sue Kreitzman insists that older women are
becoming more visible in all public spheres, and even goes so far as to call
it an “older lady revolution”.
“It’s happening slowly, but it really, really is happening,” said the
75-year-old London-based New Yorker.
Kreitzman praises the Celine pictures for showing “that older people are
here, we’re beautiful — we count”.
“What I love about it is that Joan Didion doesn’t look the slightly bit
young. She’s gorgeous and she’s an old lady,” she told AFP.
On the catwalks, even if former supermodels Amber Valletta, 41, and Eva
Herzigova, 42, both took to the runways in Paris in January, skinny young
women still rule.
But Sylvie Fabregon, who runs the Masters and Silver agencies for older
models in the French capital, says she is seeing increased demand for more
mature women.
“People are not stupid — women have had enough of seeing 20-year-old
girls
in adverts for cosmetics to fight wrinkles they don’t have,” she told
AFP.
Marketing gimmick?
Many Western countries are seeing a growth in the “grey pound”, not
least
Britain, where pensions have been largely protected since the financial
crash
while wages have stalled.
In 2012, the over 50s accounted for almost half of all UK household
spending — and spending on clothing is soaring, according to the Centre for
Economic and Business Research.
Sandra Howard, a 74-year-old author who was a top model in the 1960s and
1970s, is sceptical about the new trend, saying the fashion ads featuring
older women are “not about grey power, but the power to shock”.
“It’s one thing to have a beautiful older woman in a cosmetics ad — I
think that does work,” she told AFP, citing “The Queen” actress Helen
Mirren’s
campaign for L’Oreal.
“I think in fashion photography you can mix in older and younger women, I
think that’s good. But if you go too much and do it as a gimmick, it’s
slightly offensive really.”
However, she concedes things have moved on a bit. “When I was modelling,
you were old when you were 30!” she laughs. (AFP)
AFP, by Alice Ritchie
Photos: Campagne Celine P/E 2015; Campagne Saint Laurent P/E 2015;
Campagne Alexis Bittar P/E 2015