Post titleGrowing old (dis)gracefully

“Old age ain’t no place for sissies,” said Bette Davies – a phrase that rings true for more and more of us as the population lives longer. And older women – once largely invisible and overlooked in fashion –- have become increasingly central to the style zeitgeist, with fashion directors such as  Grace Coddington and Carine Roitfeld ever more influential. And mature women are being cast more frequently as models and brand ambassadors too. The elegant, silver-haired 86-year-old British model Daphne Selfe is in constant demand, and the flamboyant  New Yorker Iris Apfel – also an interior designer, whose motto is “more is more and less is a bore” – was recently chosen as the face of hip fashion label & Other Stories.

Ari Seth Cohen’s blog, Advanced Style documents stylish New Yorkers aged between 60 and 100 (Advanced Style/Ari Seth Cohen)

Its campaign was shot in the 93-year-old model’s home by Ari Seth Cohen, already known for his hugely successful street-style blog Advanced Style, in which he documents stylish New Yorkers aged from 60 to 100. His recent documentary film, also called Advanced Style, tells the story behind the blog. “I always love working with older people because of their ability to tell a story with a look,” the 33-year-old photographer tells BBC Culture. “Women like Iris Apfel promote personality and personal expression rather than a youthful idea of perfection and beauty.”

Inspiration came early for Cohen, whose grandmothers were his “best friends” when he was growing up. “They were my role models,” he says. And now the marketing clout of the silver-haired style maven has become apparent, it seems. “Brands are definitely starting to wake up to the fact that there is an entire demographic of intelligent and experienced older shoppers that they have been ignoring for so many years,” says Cohen. “Bringing visibility to a new image of ageing…. will hopefully help change our attitudes towards growing older.”

Unique chic

What comes across in Cohen’s subjects is their confidence and strength of character. “Style is all about the attitude that comes along with dressing. Many of the women I photograph have become more confident with age. They know their bodies better, aren't afraid of expressing themselves, and no longer care about what other people think.” So does ageing stylishly transcend fashion? “I think style can definitely be an act of creativity. I look at style as a form of vitality, but there are many other ways to age stylishly that have nothing to do with clothing. Style is how we live our lives and approach each day.”

“Many of the women I photograph have become more confident with age” says Cohen (Advanced Style/Ari Seth Cohen)

It’s perhaps this emphasis on individualism that has made Advanced Style so popular with younger people. As Cohen puts it: “[Iris] comes from a time before ‘fast fashion’, where you wouldn’t come across hundreds of people wearing the same thing. It’s interesting because personal style has really become a commodity. Many of the women I photograph say that everyone is trying to look different these days, yet they all end up looking the same. I agree with Iris’s pro-individual sense of dressing and I believe that any creative act can be a form of personal expression.” Or, as Iris herself has said: “When you don't dress like everybody else you don't have to think like everybody else.”