Amid growing criticism over the return of a narrow, white and ultra-thin beauty ideal on the runway, the latest round of fashion weeks, which wrapped Tuesday in Paris, offered a different kind of diversity. While plus-size representation appears to be fading, this season saw a surge of models and celebrities over 50 taking center stage.
They appeared in some of the most prominent shows of the season, from Michael Kors in New York to Gucci in Milan and Chanel in Paris. As the luxury market faces mounting challenges, fashion houses are once again courting older consumers, women with both time and significant spending power.
Chanel’s show on Monday evening opened with 50-year-old model Stephanie Cavalli. Dressed in a black skirt suit, paired with a deep-purple handbag and matching shoes, and wearing her naturally graying curly hair, she projected confidence and ease. It marked the second consecutive time she opened a Chanel show under designer Matthieu Blazy, following her appearance at the house’s haute couture show in Paris just weeks earlier, a move signaling both a stylistic and commercial direction aimed at a specific clientele.
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Got tired of dyeing her hair. Stephanie Cavalli at Chanel show
(Photo: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT, AFP)
“Older models bring a completely different dimension to the clothes,” Blazy told The New York Times. “They have life; they’ve seen the world.”
Cavalli is not new to the fashion industry. She worked as a model in the 1990s and early 2000s, and recently returned to the runway after years out of the spotlight. While she was not part of the supermodel elite like Christy Turlington or Naomi Campbell, she was a sought-after runway model who appeared in shows for leading fashion houses.
“I never thought I would do something like open a Chanel show. It was completely unexpected, especially at my age,” she told Vogue. “When Matthieu (Blazy) wanted me to open the show, I was happy, obviously, and a little nervous too, because I feel like it’s quite a responsibility to open such a big show.”
On her gray hair, she said to Vogue: “I was tired of having to color it all the time, and feeling that sometimes the color would come out nice, but sometimes it wouldn’t”. During the COVID pandemic, she chose to stop coloring her hair, “But as soon as I realized it was making a difference in both my hair health and my career, I stuck with it,” she added.
Cavalli was far from the only older model on the runway. Christy Turlington, 57, one of the iconic supermodels of the 1990s, walked in Michael Kors’ 40th anniversary show. Artist and model Anh Duong, 65, appeared at Carolina Herrera, while Calvin Klein also featured several older models, all during New York Fashion Week.
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Anh Duong walks the runway at the Carolina Herrera show
(Photo: JP Yim, GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA , AFP)
In Milan last month, Kate Moss, 52, closed Gucci’s show wearing a thong with the brand’s logo, revealing a glimpse of her backside. Meanwhile, Jil Sander’s runway included multiple models in their 40s and 50s.
At a recent Miu Miu show in Paris, model Kristen McMenamy, 61, and actresses Gillian Anderson, 57, and Chloë Sevigny, 51, walked the runway. Sevigny marked 30 years since her first appearance for the brand.
As in much of fashion, the trend is cyclical. Older women have appeared on runways and in campaigns for brands such as Lanvin, Céline and Burberry since the late 2000s, signaling that style is not limited by age in an industry that often glorifies youth.
Photographer and blogger Ari Seth Cohen helped popularize the movement with his “Advanced Style” project, which documented stylish women over 60 in New York and other cities around the world.
The growing presence of older models in recent seasons, and especially during the latest fashion month, is no coincidence. More fashion houses are casting women in their 40s, 50s and 60s to reflect their real customer base, older women with strong purchasing power.
Beyond representation, in a time of turbulence in the luxury sector, older models and celebrities project confidence, stability and financial independence, offering a contrast to an industry dominated by cosmetic treatments and social media influencers who document their fight against aging.
