It seems at long last that the fashion industry is getting it – you need boomer models to appeal to boomer consumers! According to The Globe and Mail, 50-year-old Madonna is donning the ads for Louis Vuitton; 52-year-old Jerry Hall is the new face of Chanel; 50-year-old Twiggy is the model for Marks & Spencer; Helena Christensen, in her late 40s, is modelling underwear for Agent Provocateur. The list goes on and on – Ines de la Fresange, a former Lagerfeld muse, just walked the Paris haute couture runways at 51. On TV, former models Cheryl Tiegs (61) and Iman (54) are appearing as hosts and guest judges on shows such as True Beauty and Project Runway. At 42, Cindy Crawford touts her own line of furnishings and 40-year-old Jennifer Aniston was the recent cover girl for GQ magazine.
With the demographic reality of an ageing population, this makes sense as the fashion industry realizes that the disposable pounds, euros and dollars lie in the pockets of a much older age group. Of course, we need to remember that older women now look better – so most mature women models are now proud to let people know their age. The biggest satisfaction for older women boomers must be J. Crew‘s recent accomplishments – donning senior citizen Lauren Hutton as its 2009 spring cover girl – and, at the same time, supported by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and her daughters. Who thought J. Crew can be cool again?
Slowly but surely–as the saying goes.
When I first wrote “Forever Cool” for boomer women and men ( first self-published, then re-published by Random House in 2007)..I had been told the boomer market is not profitable and uninterested in style.
What a difference 4 years have made!
My new book “Steal This Style” engages the boomer woman with younger generations (Random House, April 14,2009)..
I consider 40 year olds relatively young. Sixty-five year old Lauren Hutton looks great in the newest J Crew catalog, and to call her “senior citizen” just seems awkward.
We need a new vocabulary–and we need to shed the imagery of aging that is no longer relevant.
Sherrie (www.sherriemathieson.com)
I thought Lauren Hutton looked fabulous on the cover of the J.Crew catalog, too.
Twiggy is 60, not 50. I thought she’d be about 63 or 64, but she was a teenager when she became a famous model.
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