For as long as anyone can remember, fashion meant the strut of the nubile down the runway, the piercing gaze of the ingenue on the cover of a magazine. In 2016, one of the world’s most famous models was 10-year-old Kristina Pimenova, dubbed as “the most beautiful girl in the world”, with over one million Instagram followers and four million Facebook followers. And by 30, most models had aged out; those still modelling, were considered ‘mature’. That the fashion world has always been creepily obsessed with youth has never been in doubt.
But the tables are turning, albeit slowly.
Chanel’s Matthieu Blazy opened his Haute Couture show with 50-year-old model Stéphanie Cavalli. The 52-year-old Kate Moss wore a plunging backless dress to close a Gucci show. Twiggy, at the age of 76, models for Burberry. Iman, at 67, graced the cover of British Vogue. In 2026, Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour, both impossibly striking at 76, sat together for the cover of Vogue USA. And most iconic of all, 88-year-old Dame Maggie Smith, became the most unforgettable face of Loewe.
Something similar is happening in India, although we still have a steep climb ahead. At the age of 70-plus, Zeenat Aman struck a pose for Vogue India while in the same year, Vogue Arabia put Rekha on their cover. And in 2022, Madhuri Dixit posed for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar.
These aren’t giant steps for womankind perhaps, but they are gentle strolls in the right direction. There’s no denying that this is a reckoning that has been a long time coming. But it is equally true that behind the glam and glitz lies the glister of cold, hard economics.
In an uneven economy, the demographic with the highest spending power is bound to be that of the older consumer, and growth in luxury spending is increasingly coming from that group. McKinsey’s analysis reveals that roughly half of spending power, comes thanks to the fifty-plus demographic — which makes ignoring that audience look less like an oversight and more like bad business. And in the USA, more than 70 percent of the country’s wealth is cupped firmly in the hands of the over 55 demographic. The silver dollar, it turns out, clangs rather loudly.
Equally, change is being wrought from inside the room; women, especially older women, are now in positions of power across the fashion industry. From the inside, one presumes, patriarchy is being shattered.
At the same time, social media has democratized who we see on our screens. Zeenat Aman’s Instagram account shows her bright, beautiful, vivid life, acting and modelling and advocating for animal welfare. Over in the USA, supermodel Paulina Porizkova flaunts her laugh lines and newly-acquired curves. Such visibility, untainted by the airbrush, helps to combat societal norms, entrenched in ideas of plastic surgery and looksmaxxing.
But the industry’s embrace comes with an asterisk. Critics point out that age inclusivity demands very little structural change from the industry, unlike size inclusivity; the models may have a few more wrinkles or streaks of silver in their hair, but they are essentially the same skinny, tall, statuesque women they have always been.
Often, these are women who have had cosmetic work done, or are retouched to make it seem that way. Would an average woman identify in any way with these twig-thin, perfectly made up, mature models? No. Would an average woman identify with a younger, more size inclusive model? Also no. The worry is that the industry is layering one stereotype over another, albeit with the gloss of diversity.
Even so, the consensus appears to be that fashion is indeed facing a structural change, rather than just a passing trend. Where India differs from Paris and New York is scale and speed. The runway shift abroad is being driven by money moving through a well-established machine of magazines, campaigns and casting directors. India’s version is happening more organically, through individual women marching to the best of their own drum, telling their own stories rather than waiting for brands to notice them. Either way, fashion is having an awakening of sorts; an awakening with hopefully no expiration date.
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