During the latest fashion shows in Paris, Milan, London and New York, it was not the twenty-something Insta models Kaia Gerber, Kendall Jenner or Bella Hadid who dominated the catwalks as usual. There were certainly other 'hot, young, new' names to know. But the stars of the season were actually the silver-haired sophisticates, not the ingénues.
At Miu Miu in Paris, British actress Kristin Scott Thomas (63) and Spanish 68-year-old Ángela Molina led the charge. Supermodel Kristen McMenamy, 59, rocked a trendy dress at Vivienne Westwood and Naomi Campbell, 53, worked a black lace corset at Dolce & Gabbana.
Unsurprisingly, a number of celebrities over the age of 50 can still claim their seasonal bookings. But it is much more unusual to see so many lesser-known 'older' models in the teenage parades. Until now.
Bethany Nagy, 53, walked in the Saint Laurent show and was simultaneously seen on billboards across Paris - she is the face of the flagship brand's current womenswear advertising campaign. Axelle Doué, Nadja La Ganza and Kristina de Coninck - all in their sixties - accompanied Nagy on the catwalk at Balmain.
These are beautiful women - striking to look at - who are certainly more reflective of the customer profile that ultimately purchases the clothing on offer. Finally they get the best jobs.
"Beauty knows no age, beauty knows no boundaries, this was a moment," said Balmain's creative director Olivier Rousteing after his show, which he called "one of the most unforgettable of my career." Rousteing has traditionally propelled the Instagram generation - he was one of the first to champion the Hadid sisters and Jenner when they first burst onto the scene in their late teens.
"This is the vision that stands for the future," he said this time, "let's change the codes and clichés of beauty in fashion."
Rousteing's sentiment is great and will be celebrated by his clients. Cher, who sat in the front row, is his archetypal woman - a wealthy woman in her seventies, armored in his sharply tailored (usually glittering) clothes.
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But the proof will be if he - plus Miuccia Prada, Anthony Vaccarello and the other designers who have advocated age diversity at their last shows - actually stick with that next season, or switch to another 'new look'.
Just a year ago, agents were talking about how work for older models had all but dried up post-pandemic as brands were less willing to "take a risk." Rebecca Valentine, founder of Gray Model Agency, is understandably skeptical. She has seen the 'trend' for older models before.
When she launched her more than 35 modeling agency in 2015, she was flooded with bookings, including high fashion clients such as Gucci and Prada. But when budgets tighten and financial times become tougher, brands often choose to play it safe again by presenting their new collections to younger women.
"My concern about Balmain using many older models in one show is that it could create a flash-in-the-pan effect and focus on a different 'extreme' next year," she says, noting that bookings in Paris and Milan much better than in London, which was disappointing in terms of representation.
"The London Fashion Week catwalks were disappointing," she says. "We loved working with clients who showed their collections 'off' the catwalk, especially Ashish whose casting was a perfect mix of [age diversity] and the elegant and eccentric that London is so highly regarded in fashion."
Sylvie Fabregon, head booker at Paris-based agency Silver, which exclusively represents men and women over 40, is more optimistic about an influx of future work.
"This season, age diversity was really 'in'," she acknowledges. Impressively, five older women from her books were cast in the Balmain show. During Paris Fashion Week, she also had a mix of other jobs lined up - some at the biggest, most established labels like Saint Laurent, some at newcomers like Marine Serre. She believes this mix of donors is crucial to ensure that the 'trend' lasts for more than one season.
"It's true that this season was perhaps the best ever for older models booked on the catwalks. We saw demand for both women and men - demand had been increasing for several seasons, we had seen some bookings, but this was much better. I hope this is just the beginning."
Bethany Nagy, one of Fabregon's talents, who has held positions at Saint Laurent and Balmain - two of the city's biggest brands - describes the interest as "exciting". She has worked as a model on and off since 1995, giving her about 30 years more experience than most of the people she shared the runway with this week.
"I think we are witnessing a significant change," she says of the way the industry's beauty ideals are evolving. "It reflects the fact that fashion and style know no age boundaries."
When asked if she ever imagined in the 1990s that she would still be successful as a model in her mid-50s, Nagy says it was "unimaginable."
"I didn't start modeling until I was in graduate school at age 25," she explains. "At that time, in 1995, I was told to lie about my age and say I was 19, because models generally 'retire' at 25. It dawned on me that I had a few good years of modeling before I was going to be put out to pasture. So here I am, 53 years old, enjoying a nearly 30-year career built on discipline, professionalism, dynamic agency representation and a touch of luck."
That, and special beauty, of course.
Axelle Doué, who started her modeling career in 1980, is also happy to be back at it. "I hope it's not just a 'fashion effect'," she says, acknowledging that images projected on catwalks can influence the way older women in all other areas of culture and life being watched.
"It's great to represent the seniors, "the silvers" as my agency calls us, because after all, let's look at the street - there are women and men of all ages, dressing up, putting on makeup, wearing perfume , wearing jewelry. According to the advertisements, fashion should only be the prerogative of the youth. We say that's what elegance is [found] at any age."
It was casting director Calvin Wilson, working with Anita Bitton's company Establishment Casting New York, who was ultimately responsible for recruiting models for the festive Balmain show.
"Normally it's a model casting [event] It can be quite quiet," he says, "but when those women of a certain age came in, there was noise - joy and hugging, people asking how the children and grandchildren were doing. It felt like a reunion."
Rousteing had instructed him to find models of all ages who were not the obvious "famous faces."
"You see some age diversity on the catwalk these days, but it's often women you know, or remember from a previous heyday," he says. "With this, we wanted people to look and just say, 'Wow, who is that amazing woman?' We wanted people to see their mother, their grandmother and their aunt reflected."
As for whether it will last, he mentions two key words: "we are committed."
