The image and the status of the 50+ agers is changing completely. Gone are the days when the only perspective was the retirement.

The US-copmany WOOLN is employing only senior knitters, all retirees living in New York, for creating their luxurious hand-made fashion collection. It’s a win-win situation for both sides with the aim at creating a strong community, valuing their amazing talent and making them proud to be part of this innovative knitting project.

Also on the catwalk we see a trend to senior models. Headlines is currently making the 73-year old actress and model Lauren Hutton who is staring in the 50th Anniversary campaign from Bottega Veneta.

This isn’t the first time fashion labels have used older models in ad campaigns. A Céline campaign featuring Joan Didion basically broke the internet in 2015, while Saint Laurent featured Joni Mitchell in their ads the same year. In September, 79-year-old Vanessa Redgrave starred in Gucci’s cruise campaign. Even affordable brands are tapping into the power of ageless beauty: Athleta just released their newest campaign starring the world’s oldest yoga teacher, 98-year-old Tao Porchon-Lynch.

British luxury departement store Selfridges has become also aware of the power of „best agers“ and swapped their annual event „Bright young things“ where the work of young artits is on display to „Bright old things“. At that occasion senior creatives such as Molly Parkin, 82, one time fashion editor of The Sunday Times; actor turned painter William Forbes Hamilton, 82; and retailer-turned-designer Nick Wooster, 55, have become the stars of the retail initiative.

An interesting project is „Active 80+“ carried out by Erasmus between October 2014 and September 2016. The aim was to develop and test a research-based training for care staff specialised as coaches for people at high age. Life expectancy is continously increasing and by 2060 every eight person in Europe will be over 80 years old. Therefore it’s important to prepare for it mentally and physically.

Something to look foward to …