The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
LONDON, United Kingdom — Lyn Slater, a 64-year-old college professor in New York, hates the concept of age.
But age is a subject that comes up for Slater more than most. That's because she is closing in on 500,000 followers on Instagram, better known as a platform for teenage influencers. Posting under the handle "Accidental Icon," Slater wears everything from Balenciaga to JW Anderson. Valentino, Uniqlo and other companies have hired Slater for advertising campaigns and collaborations on Instagram and her blog.
Slater, who began blogging in 2014, is an early success stories in the resurgence of women aged 50 and over, exerting the kind of influence that many Insta-famous 20-year-olds could only dream of having. Trend-watchers trace the start of the "Greynnaisance" to 2015, when the then-80-year-old author Joan Didion became the face of Céline and Saint Laurent tapped Joni Mitchell for its own campaign. More recently, Isabella Rossellini, Jan de Villeneuve and Daphne Selfe have posed for Sies Marjan, Simone Rocha and Tank Magazine, respectively.
Why do you think we would accept that our life ends when we turn a certain age?
"When you show an older woman in a campaign, not only does she have the power to inspire a younger person, but also the power to inspire her generation," says Ari Seth Cohen, 36-year-old founder of Advanced Style, a blog and Instagram account devoted to capturing the "sartorial savvy of the senior set."
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Maye Musk for CoverGirl | Source: Courtesy
Still, older models remain relatively rare. Slater is the first client over 60 at her agency, Brigade, said managing director Max Stein. He added that it was her "voice, style and community" that led the company to sign her, "not because of her age."
A by-product of the baby boomers' rise has been their appeal to the millennial and Gen-Z generations.
"When I grow up I want to be Maye Musk," reads one comment on Musk's account by Scarlet Jenkins, a 19-year-old from the UK. In the image, Musk poses in a sequin Dolce & Gabbana dress and headpiece in New York. The caption? #JustGettingStarted.
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