Fashionista.com just came with an article about Fashion and older people that I, as a social scientist and a fifty plus woman found very interesting.Why the Over-65 Crowd is Conquering Fashion tells about how brands are embracing senior models, targeting the senior citizen demographic, why is this happening and what to expect from now.
With the help of Ari Seth Cohen who begun in 2008, his blog Advanced Style, has been profiling the inspiring street style of every day senior citizens (it’s basically the Sartorialist for the elderly set) and the site’s success – Cohen recently released a book and has a documentary in the works – goes to show that more and more people are beginning to pay attention to this older demographic.
We can read things like these:
“Older people make up the largest part of the population and they are tired of being ignored,” Advanced Style’s Cohen told me. “Media either tends to ignore the senior set, or casts aging in a negative light. But with the internet and blogger boom images outside of the fashion industry have become very influential. Now, brands have taken notice and are realizing that they have to market towards ‘real’ people.” And increasingly, ‘real’–as in ‘average’–means older.
What’s more, being ‘elderly’ doesn’t mean what it used to. “
“I have seen campaigns use older models in a very patronizing way,” Cohen said. But in 2012, that no longer flies. The elderly today are not just white-haired grandmas and grandpas: They’re vibrant, empowered individuals with a life and style all their own (though, of course, they may still be grandmas and grandpas)."
I think it's so interesting that I higly recommend you to have a, even if brief, look to it.
