Expired
Apparently, fashion has no age, but you can get the impression that the usefulness of trends ends over the age of 50. It is more or less then that the average woman begins to disappear from the area of interest of the clothing industry. Her money is still valued, but communication becomes one-sided: from her wallet to the manufacturer’s pocket.
There comes a time in life when women who are interested in fashion no longer want to follow the latest shape of the heel or this season’s most desired handbags. This happens around 50, when a woman has a specific, stable personality and has no need to look for new models for herself. This confuses existing advertisers. After all, fashion is based on luxury and fantasy, on selling us an unreal, non-existent version of us, which is available through the use of a credit card. It shows us what we are short of and feeds on this eternal lack of fulfilment. Happiness is presented as self-realisation through possession, giving the illusion of being one step away from perfection every season.
This message of participation in the collective act of consumption while ensuring a sense of uniqueness mainly reaches the age group from 15 to 30, that is people who are still in the process of “designing themselves”. Mature people do not have such a clear need to mark their own self, because due to their age and experience, they already belong to a given social group. The older the person, the greater the confusion of clothing manufacturers.
Although a retired Polish woman is not a retired German or French woman when it comes to income security of the elderly, Poland ranks 20 in the ranking, and poverty does not affect Polish senior citizens more often than other age groups. However, based on the available advertising messages, it could be believed that the average older woman (at what age someone becomes a senior citizen is debatable – in Poland it is the retirement age, which is 60 for women, although American anthropologists tend to set 75 as the beginning of old age) is not interested in fashion and does not care about cosmetics, skin or hair care. If there are any advertisements addressed to this age group, they are rare and appear mainly on television, where actresses who recommend wrinkle creams are usually two decades younger.
For years, all over the world, women have been shrugging this false representation off, just doing their job. Until today’s women aged 50 and 60+, the former baby boomers or representatives of generation X, who had had professional careers in the 1980s and 1990s, started to experience social disappearance. They know the mechanisms of the market that they themselves co-created, and are disappointed with how resistant the fashion and beauty industries are to changes in communication (although not resistant to frequent changes in assortment), stubbornly ignoring the fact that society is ageing and while the individual purchasing power may decline with age, overall 50+ have more money to spend than the younger group.
The mere fact that no one wants to reach for it is not as surprising as the fact that women are stripped of their dignity while being invited to open their wallets. No wonder that the advertisement of Capture Youth cream by Dior addressed to the 50+ group with 25-year-old Cara Delevingne sparked great outrage. Big concerns are reluctant to assume that communication has to be adapted to the recipient, not the other way around.
Perhaps companies do not want to accept such approach, because it violates their ontology which is based on the undisputed belief in eternal youth and the pursuit of a better and better version of oneself. Not “a good enough version”. Their entire simulation of growth and profit forecast is based on this pursuit. The pursuit of the impossible, that is being forever beautiful, young and therefore rich.
Ari Seth Cohen, author of the Advanced Style blog which documents the style of the elderly, puts it more bluntly: that the fashion industry feeds and shamelessly preys on our fear of death, creating its anti-ageing propaganda. And however harmful, it generates results easily turned into cash.
Fortunately, the term “anti-ageing” is slowly disappearing from the dictionaries, because you cannot be against something that is a natural path of human development and awaits each of us. It was banned already in 2017 by the American magazine “Allure” in its editorial style book, and in 2018, the Royal Society for Public Health called for the non-use of “anti-ageing” labels on cosmetics entering the British market.
Women’s magazines quickly picked up the topic, because in May 2019 the British “Vogue” published a special issue called “The Non-Issue” dedicated to women over 50. “Age must not be a barrier to women’s self-realisation”, said Editor Edward Enninful. And for the cover, he invited 81-year-old Jane Fonda with the slogan “It takes a long time to become young”.
In December 2019, the International Longevity Centre UK published a report in which they calculate that continuing to ignore the older age group could cost the UK £ 11 billion over the next 20 years. “For too long the fashion and beauty industries have been bewilderingly resistant to recognising just how fashionable and stylish the generation of older consumers are and want to remain. The potential of these consumers is huge and it has been shamefully sidelined”, commented Diane Kenwood of ILC. So the change is coming – the sooner the better, because data show that between 2011 and 2018, the sales of clothes and shoes in the 50+ age group increased by 21%. With this pace of growth and the continued decline in birth rates, in 2040 it will be the main purchasing group in this market sector. In Poland, it has been calculated that in 2050 the number of people over 65 will constitute 32.7% of the society compared to 14.7% in 2013 (2016 ombudsman report).
There is a lot to think about, because if these consumers are drifting away from the market, it is not because of their unwillingness to buy or the lack of funds. They just stop identifying with what the market offers them, they no longer feel part of the current offering, and they no longer want to spit into the wind.
Cohen’s blog, created in 2008, contributed to the perception that life doesn’t end after 60. The photos and stories he published had such an impact on the media world that in 2014 a documentary about his activities was made, which included his heroines, the wonderful ladies over 80. One of them was Iris Apfel, who is 100 years old today and still wears clothes according to the principle “More is more, less is bore”. She worked all her life as a decorator and interior designer, but she became interested in fashion only in 2005, when Harold Koda, the curator of the famous MoMA, offered her an individual exhibition after he had borrowed clothes from her collection many times over the years.
“Rara Avis” (a rare specimen in Latin), as the exhibition was called, suddenly became the centre of attention. Dozens of articles, a movie and a Barbie doll in the image of Apfel soon followed. She was invited to several significant advertising campaigns, for brands such as: & Other Stories, MAC, Alexis Bittar and Kate Spade, and eventually became the face of Magnum ice cream.
Although Iris is indeed a rare bird in the industry, the fact that she attracts so much interest and still sells a product made manufacturers look more favourably at grey heads – but first, they cautiously turned to the well-known and proven ones. And so, in 2015, grey-haired writer Joan Didion appears in the pictures of Juergen Teller in the Céline campaign by Phoebe Philo, and Joni Mitchell in the Saint Laurent campaign. Both photographed in a naturalistic style, without correcting wrinkles. Their strengths are personality and style which they have developed over the years and which happens to fit the brands. Soon the former model and actress Lauren Hutton starts to promote Calvin Klein’s underwear at the age of 73, Jane Fonda and later Julianne Moore become the L’Oréal ambassadors, and Julia Roberts appears as the face of Lancôme. Charlotte Rampling advertises the NARS make-up brand, and in January 2020, at the age of 74, she appears in the Givenchy spring collection campaign with Marc Jacobs.
It sounds like a massive attack of old ladies, but these are only primroses of the upcoming change as evidenced by the fact that these are all examples from recent years that are so easy to recall, because there are not as many of them as the publicity they have gained could indicate.
Is it the same with catwalks? For several years, more and more diversity has appeared there. Both in terms of age, size, race, as well as disability or acceptance of a model’s religion (see Muslim model Halima Aden who appeared on the catwalk and in campaigns wearing hijab). Initially, it is an attraction or a good PR stunt. However, things are changing so slowly that in 2017, a group of older models protests at the opening of the London Fashion Week Winter. Just before the show of Simone Rocha, who invited three models in their 70s and one in her 50s to the catwalk that season, and regularly inflates the statistics, avoiding hiring teenagers. In the show season in February 2019, her shows were dominated by women in their 30s and 40s, including familiar faces such as Chloë Sevigny or Jeny Howorth.
A neat trick that brands are resorting to is the same ploy they use in their advertising campaigns. Well-known faces, models from the 1990s, return to the catwalk. Donatella Versace invited her brother’s former muses to the Spring 2018 fashion show to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death. The list of women who turned up included: Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Carla Bruni, Cindy Crawford, and Helena Christensen. Dries Van Noten celebrated age diversity at his hundredth show with Erin O'Connor, 39, Carolyn Murphy, 42, and Amber Valletta, 43 up on the catwalk. Half a year later we see Monica Bellucci and Isabella Rossellini making appearances for Dolce & Gabbana. In Fall 2019 shows, “aged” models walk for Hellessy, Elie Tahari, Batsheva, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Burberry and Erdem.
At the Milan MM6 Maison Margiela show, grey-haired models danced on the catwalk. We regularly see them modelling for Balenciaga, Sies Marjan or Eckhaus Latta. However, this is still only a fraction of the total, because according to the report by The Fashion Spot, only 1 in 200 models in the spring/summer 2020 season was over 50. There were 39 in total, but this is still an improvement compared to only five in 2016... The age of the models increased slightly, from 21 to 23 in 5 years (2019 Fashion Model Directory survey). Perhaps it would have happened faster if there were more agencies offering the full age range of models. However, there are few of them on the market. One of them is Mrs Robinson established in 2013, which includes the segment euphemistically called in the industry “classic” and “vintage”, referring to the age of women of course. An interesting case is also the Russian Oldushka which employs only people of both sexes over 45 years of age. Today it has 32 models, the oldest at the age of 85.
If no one is convinced by the arguments that grey-haired consumers are still consumers, the numbers must do the trick. Boston Consulting Group and Tencent calculated that the average age of a consumer of luxury goods is 38 years, and this threshold will go up. Beauty and fashion brands need to face the truth and change their target just like Donatella Versace who invites Bellucci, Bruni and Rossellini, each with a wide audience in other countries. Brands are also ageing and they should stick to their ageing consumers while aspiring to gain new ones, precisely targeting their message depending on the place of residence, age, gender and chosen medium.
No research is needed to claim that more and more women in the 50+ and even 60+ age group install Instagram accounts followed by tens of thousands of people. It is enough to check out the #PowerOfGrey and #AgeWellRevolution hashtags, which, to be fair, were set up as a supplement to advertising campaigns, but were quickly taken over by ordinary users. Renia Jaz, @VensWifeStyle, says: “We’re not ashamed of the changes taking place in our bodies, on our faces, and in our hair, and we want brands to respect that”. She is one of those women who show that taking care of yourself is still a joy after turning 50, and she does not intend to hide her wrinkles. She is followed by 103 thousand people.
JoAni Johnson, 68 (74,000 followers), hired by Rihanna for the debut campaign of her fashion house, Fenty, says: “Fashion doesn’t have any age, gender, or race limit, so why restrict it in the visuals? It’s about time my demographic was reflected more broadly in fashion”. On That’s Not My Age blog, Alyson Walsh provides an entire list of the most prominent 50+ influencers who have a direct impact on women their age. They inspire with their personality, sense of humour, passions, and clothes. They expect more from fashion than just the experience of buying new goods. The brands that score highly are the inclusive ones – not those emphasising their exclusivity, but those authentic in their message and honest in communicating with the customer.
Although the above examples show that the fashion and beauty industries are trying to bring about change, their actions are still chaotic and quite random. As long as PR and marketing people or designers deciding on the direction of brand development do not go out and notice that not only 20-year-olds walk the streets, the industry itself will hinder the change.
Demna Gvasalia, the designer of Balenciaga, however, recommends patience and vaticinates: the fashion of the future is no trends, no seasons, no age or gender. The winning design will be so universal that each of us will be able to freely adapt it to our needs.
Author: Magdalena Kacalak
The text was published in "Wolna Sobota” on 16 January 2021
