On Avant-Garde Ad Campaigns & Aging Gracefully

AFTER IT WAS ANNOUNCED EARLY LAST week that 80-year-old American author, Joan Didion, would be starring in French fashion house, Céline’s, latest ad campaign, it was all the internets could talk about. And whether this new shift toward embracing ‘women of a certain age’ began in 2010 with photographer Ari Seth Cohen’s blog, Advanced Style or something that has been gaining MOMENTUM due to the rise of the “silver economy,” — that is, the considerably higher wealth of 50-plus households in the United States and Britain versus “the shrinking spending power of the employment-challenged younger generation”; whatever the reason may be, this change has people talking, which is always a good thing.

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Images above : № 01 – Linda Rodin, 69, for The Row’s Pre-Fall 2014 lookbook; the Olsens also featured Lauren Hutton in 2008, when she was 64 [read our past interview with Linda here] // № 02 – Julia Roberts, 47, as the SS15 face of Givenchy, photographed as she arrived — no hair, no makeup, and, as requested by Riccardo Tisci, no trademark Pretty Woman smile // № 03 – author Joan Didion, 80, for Céline // № 04 – 90’s supermodel, Christy Turlington, 44, for Jason Wu, Calvin Klein Underwear & Prada // № 05 – American actress, Jessica Lange, 65,  for Marc Jacobs Beauty, shot by David Sims // № 06 – Joni Mitchell, 71, for Saint Laurent’s Spring 2015 campaign (as part of the brand’s Music Project) // № 07 – iconic French actress, Catherine Deneuve, 70, for Louis Vuitton // № 08 – Dame Helen Mirren, 69, (untouched & unairbrushed), as the UK ambassador for L’Oréal Paris // not pictured : British actress, Charlotte Rampling, 68, for Marc Jacobs & NARS cosmetics