50 Shades of Gray: Octogenarians Are Redefining Fashion
Gray is the new black. Celebs as young as 17-year-old Kylie Jenner have gone gray as part of the hair color trend, but women with naturally silver hair are leading several new fashion campaigns, demonstrating once again that 2015 might just be the year of the octogenarian.
The 86-year-old British fashion icon Daphne Selfe, who has been dubbed the world's oldest supermodel, was recently cast for a collaboration between Swedish retailer & Other Stories and Vans shoe company. A grandmother of four, Selfe wears long silver locks and dark shades while modeling dalmatian-print shirtdresses, silk tops, and matching spotted Vans slip-ons alongside 22-year-old British model Flo Dron.
Selfe isn't the only 86-year-old to be named the new face of a fashion line. Social media sensation Baddie Winkle, a Kentucky grandmother whose Instagram posts shows a fun-loving woman fond of tie-dye shirts and marijuana leaves, is the new star of Los Angeles fashion brand Dimepiece's "State of Mind" campaign. The ads, which include a billboard near the Coachella exit in Indio, California, show Winkle lounging poolside in one of the brand's black-and-white one-piece bathings suits.
"Our brand has always stood for timeless female empowerment and continues to encourage this mindset in our newest campaign," reads a statement on DimePiece's website.
The two new campaigns were announced less than two months after 83-year-old Carmen Dell'Orefice debuted as the latest cover model for New You, a health and antiaging magazine whose previous covers have featured Brooke Shields, Jenny McCarthy, and Courteney Cox.
Dell'Orefice, who recently appeared in the designer Elie Tahari's Fall/Winter 2015 fashion show, told New You: "Today I am in a territory that business considers unmarketable: age and white hair.... Slowly, however, I started to own that territory little by little because I stood up for age."
Brands are trying to own that territory, too—marking a major shift in an industry known for valuing youth. In high-profile campaigns this year alone, Celine enlisted 80-year old author Joan Didion, Kate Spade hired 93-year-old designer Iris Apfel, and St. Laurent cast 71-year-old Joni Mitchell.
Related stories on TakePart:
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• Singles Are Boycotting a Popular Dating App Because of Age Discrimination
• Madonna Takes a Fall in Her Crusade Against Age Discrimination
Original article from TakePart
