The Rise Of The Grown-Up Supermodel

Until recently, models our age were as rare as unicorns. But, thankfully, older women are finally allowed to be beautiful.

- Alice Hart Davis

You sit there for years, decades even, increasingly irritated that the women showing off clothes for the over 40s are so very, very young, and then, thrillingly, a whole mass of fabulous older models starts to come along, all at once.

There was Isabella Rossellini, 66, at Dolce & Gabbana’s recent runway show, ruling the catwalk with her grown-up son and daughter, and baby grandson in tow. Meanwhile, in Paris, Jane Birkin, 71, mesmerised audiences at Gucci. Last year the original Nineties supers – Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford and Carla Bruni –posed on the Versace catwalk 25 years on from their debut and every bit as gorgeous; and there’s the increasing prevalence of grey-haired mavens such as Carmen Dell’Orefice, 87, and Jan de Villeneuve, 73, in magazines too. It seems that the fashion industry is finally catching up with the realisation that age sells, and is beginning to acknowledge this. Being an unashamedly grown-up woman is, at last, becoming the norm.