Youth might be wasted on the young, but is fashion? It’s often said in our industry that older women are the ones actually buying the runway creations we typically see on young models. Just like the fact that the vast majority of luxury womenswear designers are male, it’s a paradox hiding in plain sight. But this season, as though to acknowledge that reality, designers cast women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, both celebrity and non-, to tap into a significant segment of their audience.
At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy opened the show with 50-year-old model Stephanie Cavalli, who sports distinctive gray strands and also walked his couture debut in January. Older models “bring a completely different dimension to the clothes,” Blazy told The New York Times post-couture. “They have life; they’ve seen the world.” The show on Monday also featured Christina Chung and Laura Ponte, both in their 50s.
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Seasoned model followers spotted appearances from names like 61-year-old Kristen McMenamy (at Tom Ford and Miu Miu) and 45-year-old Mariacarla Boscono (at Gucci and Alaïa.) In some cases, the casting also closed the loop on house history: Calvin Klein enlisting 50-year-old grunge-era goddess Guinevere van Seenus, who walked for the label in the ’90s; Michael Kors bringing in Christy Turlington, 57, who starred in his first-ever ad campaign, to close his 45th anniversary show; and Demna selecting Kate Moss, 52, as part of his self-aware exploration of “Gucci-ness” and the late ’90s collections of the house.
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Celebrities and cultural figures over 40 also made cameos, including Gillian Anderson and Chloë Sevigny today at Miu Miu. At New York Fashion Week, Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon cast artists Rachel Feinstein, Amy Sherald, Anh Duong, and Ming Smith to walk his Peggy Guggenheim-inspired show.
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These appearances don’t just create goodwill and allow 40-plus women to see themselves reflected on the runway. They also feel like a pushback against a culture of eternal youth where influencers express terror at the prospect of turning 30 and early-in-life facelifts are increasingly becoming the norm. Though runway body diversity has noticeably dropped off for several seasons, it seems that, at least this go-round, age really was nothing but a number.
This article was first seen on ELLE US.