Consistency is a mark of authenticity: Tackling ageism in the world of fashion

As regular visitors to our website will know, 2023 is a big year for the Centre for Ageing Better as we prepare to launch our campaign to try to change negative attitudes to ageing. We hope the campaign will help to help spark a wider ‘Age-friendly Movement’ where we all think, feel and act differently when it comes to ageing – in our communities, in our workplaces, in our professions and in our personal lives - overturning the deeply entrenched negative attitudes that exist towards ageing and older people through a collective and nationwide approach.

As we build up to the campaign launch this autumn, we’re determined to get the conversation started around ageism, which remains a prejudice that is all too easily accepted and tolerated in our society. To help us, we’ve launched a series of monthly conversations with leading ageism-fighting campaigners from a wide range of sectors and backgrounds to discuss their work in tackling age-based prejudice.

You may have already caught our Chief Executive, Dr Carole Easton OBE, discussing with the Commissioner for Older People in Wales.

This month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jacynth Bassett, the founder of Ageism Is Never In Style & The Bias Cut. I’ve long admired the work of Jacynth in trying to tackle the widespread ageism that radiates from much of the fashion industry and which then hugely influences substantial parts of wider society.

And so we were delighted to collaborate with Ageism is Never in Style by the Bias Cut in our latest image library collection in which we gave six 50+ women the opportunity to be fashion models for the day.

It generated some really beautiful images – no airbrushing out of wrinkles or blemishes or alterations to women’s real body shapes. No conforming to the ‘kooky’ older- women-in-fashion stereotypes.

No wearing old-fashioned clothing or women devoid of sexuality which so many people told us in a survey made them feel bad about ageing. Perhaps more problematic than these stereotypes is the fact that older women are so often overlooked in the fashion industry - and underrepresented in ad campaigns and on screens in general. This is despite the changing age profile of the population and an increasing older consumer base.

Surely it makes business sense for brands to put older women in their clothes and campaigns? And rather than defaulting to older women with geometric haircuts and impossibly youthful looking older models, reflect an authentic vision of women at older ages that people actually recognise and relate to?

It feels like things are beginning to change as some forward-thinking brands wake up to their changing customer profile, but it’s slow progress. I’m delighted to say that just over three days our images have already been downloaded thousands of times. The results speak for themselves.