Far from being timelessly youthful, elderly models show off white hair and wrinkled skin, but still radiate the true aura of female beauty in their late years.
When it comes to “modelling,” we often think of young, beautiful women striding down the catwalk, smiling on magazine covers.
However, a wave of old models in their 80s has given the public a new look at this profession.
Starting to appear since 2015, older fashion models have amazed viewers with their beauty and style.
Far from being timelessly youthful, they show off white hair and wrinkled skin, but still radiate the true aura of female beauty in their twilight years.
They provide an interesting counterpoint to the dominant influence of youth in the fashion industry – and more broadly, in culture. For some brands, their appearance is often symbolic.
Last month, Spanish fashion brand Loewe announced actress Dame Maggie Smith, 88, who is very famous for her role as strict Professor Minerva McGonagall in the film as the new representative for its Spring-Summer 2024 collection.“Harry Potter,”
This choice makes fans “Harry Potter” excited when thinking of the image of Professor Minerva McGonagall wearing makeup gaudy in a luxurious fur coat that made Hagrid run away.
“Professor of haute couture,” one user commented below a photo of Loewe on Instagram. “100 points to Gryffindor.”
Rebecca Valentine, chief executive of Gray Model Agency, the only agency in Britain that stocks models aged 35 and over, said Loewe’s use of Ms. Smith as a model was “quite groundbreaking.”
Valentine said the actress looks like “a glamorous grandmother” in the fashion photos taken by photographer Juergen Teller, which is especially meaningful because the photographer is “a true icon , someone who often works with top young models.”
With the new campaign, actress Smith has officially joined the group of women who only appear in fashion campaigns or in fashion magazines when they are over 70 years old.
Among them was Charlotte Rampling, 77, wearing large sunglasses promoting Massimo Dutti’s new collection. “Queen of Cakes” Mary Berry, 88, collaborated with Burberry last month, while lifestyle guru Martha Stewart became the oldest cover model in the history of Sports Illustrated Sweater when she appeared in the issue this year at the age of 81.
In 2021, actress Catherine Deneuve, then 77 years old, wore a vinyl shirt with a high collar, appearing in Saint Laurent’s advertising campaign.
This year, actor Sir Ian McKellen, 84, attended the catwalk show of 26-year-old designer SS Daley in Soho, London, England. He ended the show by reading Alfred Tennyson’s poem “The Coming of Arthur”.
Famous designer Phoebe Philo is said to have initiated this special movement in 2015 when she invited writer Joan Didion to be the representative model for Céline sunglasses when Joan Didion was 80 years old.
This is not the first time the fashion industry has honored models with outstanding looks. World fashion always surprises the audience with bold ideas from designs to trends in using models.
Before the trend of older models appeared, plus-size models once stirred up the world fashion scene. Not hesitating to wear sexy dresses and hot bikinis, they show off the beauty of health and plumpness, breaking the stereotype of the “thin body” figure in the modeling industry.
In particular, in 2016, plus-size supermodel Ashley Graham made history when she became the first heavy model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Ashley’s success not only brings potential in the modeling industry to plus-sized women, but also makes them more confident in their own natural figure./.