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The Age of ReAsonWhat do Joan Didion, Julia Roberts, Joni Mitchell, Twiggy and Emma Thompson have in common? Not that they’re icons from a time gone by, but are the It-girls of the moment. For, as Jean Paul Sartre said, “With older people, it’s quite different. They’re reliable, they show you what to do, and there’s solidity in their affection.”By AsmitA AggArwAl

fashion is celebrating the cerebral lushness that comes with age, pushing the ‘svelte-always-works’ formula to the background. Almost as if the style landscape is seeing a Renaissance. It all started when Phoebe Philo of Céline roped in American author Joan Didion, now 80, to be

the face of the brand, and then, Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy signed up Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts for his autumn campaign. What followed was a chain reaction, with Marks & Spencer getting actress Emma Thompson, human rights campaigner Doreen Lawrence and singer Annie Lennox, among others, on board, last year. The newest face of beauty giant L’Oréal is ’60s supermodel Twiggy (Lesley Hornby), now 65, following closely on the heels of the sassy Dame Helen Mirren, 69, who was their face last year. The latest to jump on to the bandwagon has been Saint Laurent Paris, who’ve signed on songwriter Joni Mitchell. It is, undoubtedly, the year of the extraordinary woman, who may not be in her 20s and reed thin, but who has navigated the tumultuous wave called life and has found her own unique space.

Not Just A NumberWith brands celebrating ease, along with comfort, these faces tell a story of fortitude along with their evolution of style—Emma, for instance, never carried a purse when she was younger, stuffing her things into a plastic bag, instead. As Kolkata-based designer Kiran Uttam Ghosh feels, there’s something special about a woman who is comfortable in her skin, she is ‘unapologetically herself’. That is where the appeal of older, more evolved, women lies. “Ageless elegance and confidence is the kind of beauty that never fades,” she says. “They’re the kind of women I’d like to keep company with. Like Audrey Hepburn said, the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years. These brands obviously endorse that.”

At 80, Joan suffers from multiple sclerosis, has faced fate’s tumultuous challenges—her daughter died at 39, she was widowed while very young-and she dealt with these blows with dignity. Many feel she fits in to the Céline aesthetic of ‘reality versus fantasy’, as Philo

herself famously said, the chicest people are those who have no digital footprint.

“Every era gets the supermodel it deserves—Twiggy, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Rosie Huntigton-Whitely, Cara Delevigne are all style icons of their respective eras,” says designer Monisha Jaising. “Being the face of a generation also represents the aspirations and ideals of that generation. Since the turn of the millennium, the media has been promoting the idea that supermodels are being replaced by actors and celebrities. L’Oréal, for instance, has been using famous actors such as Frieda Pinto and Aishwarya Rai for their most prestigious campaigns.” She believes that Twiggy for L’Oréal could well mean that the cosmetic giant is reviving the ‘supermodel’.

briNgiNg sexy bAckIt seems the catwalk, too, is embracing the older woman phenomenon, with Amber Valletta, 40, closing the show at Atelier Versace’s haute couture SS 2015, along with Czech stunner Eva Herzigova. Rajesh Pratap Singh believes that the concept of the seasoned woman is ‘interesting and fresh’ to labels. “What these women stand for, especially now, when everyone (read all the fashion universe-designers, magazines, press, critics, stylists-everyone) is obsessed with the impossible idea of everlasting youth... just the idea of superfluous optic being the only criterion, becomes all the more significant,” he says. “Which puts a lot of pressure on the rest. Didion, more than Twiggy, really proves the point well. A better representative for an idea that fashion can dare to talk and discuss things other than sex.”

Jaising adds here, that the move to bring back these icons of yore is also an attempt to revive the style they epitomised. “If you actually look at Twiggy in the campaign, her hair with the heavy fringe is very ’60s,” she points out. “Joan Didion was a style icon during her era, perhaps because of her early days as editor at Vogue. Her signature look—black polo necks—soon became the symbol of style and followed by many. Céline has probably used her to revive that old-age charm, which is

very much in sync with what the brand itself stands for.” While this trend may not have caught on in India with few exceptions of Sharmila Tagore being seen in a shawl ad or the King of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan selling from cement to jewellery. No one has the guts to take on a seasoned star like 71-year-old singer Joni Mitchell, but Heidi Slimane for Saint Laurent SS 15 campaign took the road less travelled. Bharatanatyam dancer Savitha Sastry elucidates that it just shows that the fashion industry is looking beyond thin and fair skin. While designer Zulekha Shariff takes it a step further and announces that 60 is the new 20. “Sexagenarian are the models of today-it is about the will and not the age and confidence is the best weapon women have,” she smiles.

Part of the Saint Laurent Music Project, Slimane has shot Canadian musician Joni, known for the super hit Big Yellow Taxi, in a classic fedora and cape, strumming a guitar, but what lies beneath, as designer Nisha Sainani explains, is that brands are looking to transcend the ordinary and associate themselves with a broader and timeless definition of beauty. It’s a sign of the coming of age of the beauty and fashion industry, reflecting that we no longer have to rely on youth to define beautiful. These women exude a sophistication and intrinsic grace that all women aspire to, whether they are 16 or 60.

For designer Meher Mirchandani, the reason certain brands use older women as their face is linked to their values, mission and ambition. It depends on the message the brand wants to communicate to its consumers. “For example, L’Oréal’s values include passion, quest for excellence and responsibility, and Twiggy fits the bill,” she concludes. Older women exude confidence, reliability and success. They are women of substance, even though it is a cliché, and I am sure these brands want to pass this message to their consumers.”

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