Older and Glamorous … Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage

By Marilyn L. Pinsky

For a few years I have been following a photographer, author and creator on Instagram, Ari Seth Cohen, who has a blog called Advanced Style (advanced.style.)

It is a great name for the photos he takes of mature men and women with wonderful fashion sense or as my friend Mr. F. would say, “a flamboyant” sense of style.

So you can imagine how excited I was to see that Ari Seth Cohen was going to be speaking at the Sarasota Art Museum in Florida and screening his documentary, along with one of his muses, Judith Boyd, aka The Style Crone.

Fashion is a universal language and the documentary, also called Advanced Style, has been seen the world over to great acclaim, as have his books.

His latest book, Advanced Love, “collects affectionate portraits of subjects who prove that love is bound by neither the constraints of age or time.” His fourth soon-to-be released book is Advanced Pets, featuring stylish seniors and their equally well -dressed pets.

When you see older models in high fashion ads, you can credit ASC, as designers have said he helped them recognize that older adults are a viable market for their clothes. Many have used his subjects on their runways and in ads for their brands. One was Jackie Murdoch, an original Apollo theatre dancer who always wanted to be a model, but for a young black woman in that era, it was out of the question. After ASC started showing her and her fabulous sense of style in his blog, the French couturier Lanvin came calling and at the age of 82, she became a high fashion model.

ASC grew up in San Diego with his grandmothers. His stylish grandmother let him explore in her closet and get to know good clothing and his maternal grandmother, who was also his best friend, encouraged him to move to New York City after college and seek work in the fashion industry.

“The profound sense of grief I felt after losing my maternal grandmother was my impetus to roam the streets of New York looking for older, stylish women to photograph and who dressed in the vintage style that she loved,” said ASC. This use of fashion to deal with grief was also a connection to Judith Boyd. They found each other online and bonded through loss and regaining creativity.

“As my husband was diagnosed with a rare and relentless type of cancer, I blogged about cancer caregiving with outfits. I blogged about death in outfits. I blogged about grieving and whatever I was wearing at the time,” said Boyd, who lives in Denver, Colorado, but has become one of ASC’s closest friends as they travel the world together talking to audiences about aging with style. Boyd’s message is “I’m dressing up for myself. It gives me energy and makes me feel good.”

In the documentary I loved watching the models doing their hair or placing their hats just so, while also adjusting their hearing aids.

In the interviews, they were honest that not every day is a ‘feel good day’ and some days you just can’t get going and are dealing with the physical issues of aging.

One model said, “I’m great from the waist up, don’t ask about from the waist down.” Another said “when I’m asked my age, my reply is ‘somewhere between 50 and death.’”

“Money can’t buy style”

The people in ASC’s film and the majority of the stunningly dressed attendees at the museum lecture talk about thrifting and shopping at consignment and vintage shops. This is an adventure for both men and women. “My boyfriend and I love to thrift together and help each other find unique looks,” said one of Ari’s couples.

Doug D’Elia of Tully, a writer and poet, is also a street photographer perhaps best known for covering NYC Fashion Week.

You can find him on Instagram at @dougvandelia.

With his artistic eye he collects and sells vintage clothing. As you can see from his picture, he is a wonderful model of the elegant
vintage style for men.

In closing, my favorite Ari Seth Cohen takeaways to live by:

1. Style has nothing to do with size. You don’t have to look like a skinny model in the fashion pages to love dressing up.

2. At this stage of the game, put together whatever you want. For inspiration, look for other older people who are fashionable and initially copy their style, while adapting it for yourself.

3. Many people only find their fashion style in their 60s and 70s.

4. We tend to become invisible when aging and it can almost feel like a political act to dress up to counter that.

5. When you dress outside the norm, expect to get reactions both good and bad. To each their own. We all have a style and express it in different ways.

6. Start by shopping and playing in your own closet. You don’t even have to leave the house.

7. Style is not just expressed through clothes, but with purple, pink or blonde streaks in your hair on both men and women and with nails of all colors, including blue, neon and sparkly.

8. Where do we go when we’re all dressed up? Think of the grocery store and a walk around the neighborhood as your own personal runways.

9. And the question I got to ask, “What do you do with your beloved high heeled shoes you rationally know you should no longer wear, but can’t bear to give away?” Display them on shelves around the house as you would art objects so you can enjoy them all the time.