Is the Rise of Mature Models Just Another Fashion Gimmick?
We had Brat Summer. Now, it’s Willem Dafoe Fall, y’all.
If it wasn’t evident already from Moth-Eaten Maximalism (IYKYK), I’ve been thinking a lot about aging. Not worrying about it (it’s been eight months since my last Botox appointment); just noodling on it.
It seems to be on the fashion industry’s mind too, with celebrities over 40 gracing runway shows or fronting campaigns. Now that I’m in my 30s, models at this age and over certainly don’t feel “old” to me.
Their presence is a stark contrast to the youth-obsessed industry, recently fueled by an 11-year-old North West adding the cover of Interview Magazine to a burgeoning resume that has already outshone that of the most seasoned models, and a 25-year-old Sabrina Carpenter dividing the internet with her youthful, hyper-sexy aesthetic (see this piece by
and this episode of The Polyester Podcast on the discourse).
While the industry appears to have regressed on diversity in terms of race and body shape, aging has emerged as somewhat fashionable. Older celebrities are reiterated as sartorial icons as we move into a post-influencer era, paradoxing society’s fixation on youth. However, this phenomenon is within certain parameters, which makes me wonder if there is a genuine movement afoot or if the pile-up of boomer and octogenarian campaigns is just brands’ latest attempt to go viral.
About ten years ago, Miuccia Prada said she wasn’t “daring enough” to cast older models in runways and campaigns.
Despite this stance, Prada has always appeared ahead of its time when it came to age diversity - well, for men, at least. Notable examples include John Malkovich at 46 for SS95 and Willem Dafoe at 41 for FW96.
The latter would continue to re-assert his status as a brand muse in the iconic menswear FW16 villains runway alongside Gary Oldman and Tim Roth, all men in their 50s at the time, and then this year close Miu Miu’s SS25 show at 69.
One of my favorite eras was in the 2010s when Prada continued harnessing the power of aging movie stars. For SS13, the menswear campaign starred a then 46-year-old Benicio Del Toro (whose delicious imagery became my desktop background for the rest of the year) alongside Harvey Keitel, who would have been in his mid-70s.
FW14 gave us a 57-year-old Christoph Waltz (that’s a bingo!), and FW22 featured Jeff Goldblum (then 69) and Kyle MacLachlan (then 63). You get the gist, Prada loves a daddy. Don’t we all?
Meanwhile, in womenswear, more mature models popped up, though they weren’t as old as the men cast. SS13 marked the iconic Prada daisy collection, which was so impactful on me and my fellow fashion students at the time (see the screenshot below from my Instagram in 2014, which I thought fit to post despite not owning one iota of Prada or Tabi boots at the time, but resonated with the person I wanted to eventually become).
The campaign included 90s models like Kirsten Owen (then 42), Eva Herzigová (then 40), and Amber Valletta (then 39). At 40, the eternal Prada Girl Esther de Jong returned to the FW13 runway, a collection I lie awake at night thinking about to this day.
In more recent womenswear collections, it would seem Miuccia has become more comfortable in dressing women over 40. The FW24 Miu Miu collection was described as “a vocabulary of clothing, from childhood to adulthood,” with Stephanie Cavalli (47), Kristin Scott Thomas (63), Ángela Molina (68), and Dr Qin Huilan (70) walking the runway. In SS25, Alexa Chung (40) and Hilary Swank (50) were added to the lineup of a show that was opened by a 16-year-old nepo baby.
Older models have also been a recurring theme at Loewe under Jonathan Anderson’s creative direction. You’ve got the impossibly chic Greta Lee (aged 40) as a brand ambassador. The recent SS25 pre-collection campaign starring Peter Glazebrook (80), who is famous for growing gigantic vegetables, and the British artist Rose Wylie, who is in her 90s.
The brand has supported 56-year-old Daniel Craig’s successful transition from Bond heartthrob to chaotic fashion icon. While I welcome this new spin on masculinity, I feel this feat is one that women can’t quite achieve as seamlessly. The media had to drag Pamela Anderson and Demi Moore for aging and “letting themselves go” before they could be rebranded as “fashion cool girls.”
It is interesting to note that while Loewe taps older talent for its marketing, fresh young faces continue to dominate its runways. We know that this is a brand that often relies on gimmicks. Is the use of greying models an update to its frog wellies and the pigeon clutches - a prop to go viral?
As consumers grow older, nostalgia has proven a winning formula in fashion time and time again. Just see how people lost their shit in the comments when Marc Jacobs recreated a Clueless campaign with Alicia Silverstone (now 48) for Heaven. The last batch of celebrities that didn’t find fame on social media are aging. Will this formula have the same impact in thirty years when a TikTok designer is helming Chanel and casts the Hawk Tuah girl in her 50s? Probs not.
Casting aging models does feel more authentic within the Prada, Miu Miu and Loewe handwriting. Certainly, when compared to other labels that just chuck a few older models on the catwalk for a singular season. In an article for The New York Times back in March, Tagwalk data showed that roughly three-quarters of the top 20 runway shows in Paris and Milan in the FW24 circuit featured at least one older model. At Schiaparelli, the figure was closer to a fifth of all models cast, a format that was abandoned for the following season to favor the young and the skinny.
That’s another thing with these campaigns. The models used are typically straight-sized. And while Naomi Campbell continues to walk runways into her 50s and Brioni and Wolford have previously tapped Samuel L. Jackson and Grace Jones, respectively for campaigns, they’re also overwhelmingly white, as Lauren Cochrane pointed out in a November article for Elle - Where Are All The Older Black Women In These Fashion Campaigns? The industry is fine with veterans as long as they still fit into a certain mold.
To younger generations, mature fashion icons exude a certain je ne sais quoi, with their enviable wardrobes and personal style thoughtfully curated over time. They are an antidote to the influencers who keep getting younger and younger and are gifted vintage pieces to wear at a red carpet event to satisfy our obsession with archival pulls. However, the presence of older models does perpetuate a standard of aging “gracefully,” something that is limited to the rich and their access to the best chefs, personal trainers, and plastic surgeons that money can buy.
This could be very much why brands are honing in on this generation, as with age often comes wealth. Something I’ve written about extensively for my IRL job is luxury’s refocus on older demographics as the sector experiences a slowdown. In the 2010s, the democratization of luxury was evident as brands began embedding streetwear into house codes to court younger audiences as more affordable products like logo-emblazoned T-shirts became a catwalk norm. Post-pandemic, luxury houses doubled down on appealing to their ultra-wealthy clientele, who are typically older and less impacted by financial downturns, by rising prices and curating VIP experiences.
I think about how I’d like to dress when I age. On the one hand, I want to be chic, elegant, and a little quirky, like Chloë Sevigny, Gillian Anderson, Nicole Kidman, Tilda Swinton, and Hsu Sho-er (who went viral for modeling abandoned clothes at her laundromat with her husband in Taiwan) all rolled into one. On the other hand, I find there is so much freedom in not aging gracefully, a fuck you to the status quo, and the Quiet Luxury aesthetic that has become expected of older women. I want to be Michèle Lamy or the old ladies in the Diesel x Savage x Fenty campaign.
When you’re a kid, you laughably think 30 is old. I was hoping that by the time I was in my 30s, I would be more chill about the way I looked. Of course, this didn’t happen, and as society continues to shift the standards of beauty for all ages, I wonder if it ever will.
A wonderful piece as always!