AGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
BURO MIDDLE EAST, AUGUST 2021
You remember the Joan Didion for Céline ad which broke the internet back in 2015, right?
Joan, the immortal intellectual, crystalized as iconic style maven by a brand that was the indisputable taste maker for modern, intelligent, achingly cool women. That was a moment.
Finally, we gasped! Old(er) women being represented like themselves, bearing their age and looking old, yet in a way that is still aspirational and inspiring. BOOM! Philo does it again. The images went viral, sparking a collective jolt of electricity and excitement as they flooded our feed. This was groundbreaking. Exciting. Novel. Brave. Visionary even. Then came Bottega more recently with their S/S 21 campaign toting an older, stylish aspirational woman. How progressive and inclusive this felt. Ironically, “refreshing” in fact.
Which got me thinking (again), why is the notion of seeing a woman of a certain age so revolutionary when it comes to selling high end contemporary luxury fashion? At the end of the day, isn’t she the one buying it? Can’t imagine those hefty price tags are being pandered off to some 20 year old who’s still paying off their school loan, right?