Granny Models: Why older women are conquering the catwalks

Dame Maggie Smith sits on the sofa as if waiting for the train to Hogwarts on platform 9 3/4. Upright posture, skeptical look, handbag on lap. She has the white circle skirt neatly spread out next to her, almost as if she wanted to pretend to be a Muggle. But the actress, who starred in the famous Harry Potter films and played Professor McGonagall, is not on location this time, but on the set of star photographer Jürgen Teller. Smith, now 89, is the advertising face of the Spanish fashion brand Loewe this spring.

Young, fresh, flawless – this triad of the beauty world currently seems to have been undermined. Older women are appearing more and more often in campaigns and magazines. This was also the case last fall, when Charlotte Rampling modeled for the fashion chain Massimo Dutti at the age of 78, Catherine Deneuve graced the cover of the French “Haper’s Bazaar” shortly before her 80th birthday, and the Philippine “Vogue” in March when she was 106 years old Tattoo artist Apo Whang-Od took to the title.

Granny Models: more than a one-season hype?

Finally diverse? Nobody will fall for this fashion fairy tale anymore. Too often, a few older models popped up on the catwalks and ended up serving only one purpose: the more diverse image of luxury brands. And yet “granny models”, i.e. women of grandmother age, could be more than just a one-season hype this season. At the fashion shows that recently took place in New York and London, you could rarely see more women with gray or white hair. They were neither very young nor wrinkle-free, and yet they attracted everyone’s attention with their elegance and casualness.

Real women – that’s what New York designer Batsheva Hay was looking for just a few weeks before her show at the beginning of February. Whatever the weather, she ran through the streets, hanging out in front of supermarkets, cafés and gyms. There she waited until she met women who asked her to walk in her fashion show. Many were so surprised by the street casting that they said yes. The only condition: you had to be over 40.

“I realize that aging is a major concern for me and my friends,” Hay said in a recent New York Times article. After her 40th birthday two years ago, her view of fashion – both privately and professionally – changed. Everything suddenly looked “so young,” she remembered. She wanted to change that. At her show, women like 67-year-old Brigitt Doss walked the catwalk, as did 65-year-old Gwen DeVoe with her gray Afro curls. In fact, Hay’s casting was so good that some viewers only admired the women – but not their clothes.

In London, too, you have recently seen an increasing number of older models at the shows. At Erdem, for example, one showed up in a white fuzzy coat, while at Roksanda they even forewent any additional make-up so as not to hide wrinkles and hard contours. Jonathan Anderson, creative director at Loewe, did not cast older women for his own line JW Anderson, but he did put gray curly wigs on his young models and thus at least playfully took up the “granny style”. The designer duo Marques Almeida probably had the most extensive casting: They sent many women of different ages, body shapes and skin colors down the catwalk.

Age blind: The fashion world ignores a wealthy target group

For Anna Murphy, fashion editor of The Times, the latest development is just a logical step. “It’s a bizarre situation because many women and men who could afford luxury are older, but the industry is obsessed with youth,” she says. It’s as if she’s designing specifically with her customers in mind.

It is all the better that more and more designers are now committed to the visibility of older women. Will the phenomenon of “granny models” continue at the upcoming shows in Milan and Paris? Probably not, both fashion cities are still driven too much by the mechanisms and commercialism of the beauty world. Like old school.