Fashion Gold in The Old

article published in www.stuff.co.nz - from The Press

The fashion industry is in for a rude shock. It has always been obsessed with youth. Now it has been forced to grow up.


The youth market is shrinking globally and older consumers are growing in number and spending power. In Europe, consumers aged over 55 will increase 60 per cent in the next decade, according to trend forecaster Worth Global Style Network (WGSN).

Last month Chanel presented its Cruise collection in Australia. Invited guests were the fashion media and important clients. One look at the front row in both Sydney and Melbourne and it was obvious the Chanel customer was not born in the 1980s - she would have already been a Chanel customer back then.

Marketers are trying to speak to this powerful consumer, and smart fashion businesses are slowly changing tack. The use of older models is a growing trend that has permeated most sectors, with fashion one of the last consumer categories to make the change. The return of the true and now older supermodels - Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer - was a signal that the luxury fashion houses had realised they needed to relate to an older consumer. Some women will choke on their coffee when they read that a "mature woman" in the marketing world is defined as a consumer 35 and older, with the sweet spot being 35 to 55.

Think Gwyneth Paltrow, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Obama and Michelle Pfeiffer. They want fashion in "real world" sizes and don't want to dress like their daughters or their mothers. They don't want to be excluded or patronised. They want to be made to feel important and catered for.

Michelle Obama is the poster girl for fabulous and over 40. The First Lady is a modern-day fashion icon at 45. She is lauded for her interplay of high and low designs having the ability to wear a Target dress one day and Michael Kors or Thakoon the next.

According to leading New York- based consumer research analyst Dana Telsey, one of the biggest communication hurdles is that the lifestyles of mature women vary so greatly. Basically, it is impossible to sell one message to all, which is an important factor to consider when in the US alone the mature women's apparel market is worthmore than $46 billion.

"Most people think and act 10 years younger than they really are," Telsey says. "Basically, companies should target the interest levels of the personality type, rather than the age. Age is just a number; lifestyles are a mindset."
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Providing an inviting and non- exclusive retail message can help a brand. For example, Sydney-based designer Mela Purdie's label is stocked in 250 stores across Australia and New Zealand with the branding message "building blocks for a modern woman's wardrobe".

"My label is designed for women re- inventing themselves. They may be going back into the workforce after maternity leave or saying goodbye to the powersuit as they retire," explains Purdie, who is in her mid-40s.

"I want to take the work out of getting dressed but still create garments that are figure-friendly but fashion forward."

Purdie uses her own staff as house models to fit her ranges, which are available in sizes 8-22.

The face of a brand can also send a strong message to the consumer. Sarah Murdoch, 37, and soon-to-be-mother- of-three is the queen of Australia's brand ambassadors. She has been with Bonds for a decade and is the face of its Supershape bra. Bonds' latest clothing collection is titled Youth but Murdoch says when she looks at the new campaign she looks beyond the young model's face.

"I look at the outfit separately from the model and see a way in which I can make it work for me. I will definitely wear those pants but would I wear it with the cropped sloppy? No, I'd team it with the longer one."

Murdoch does concede "there is an age when you do walk into the shops and think, 'This is not for me."

"But I have always dressed simply anyway. I have never been into mini- skirts, so it's not like I have ever felt as though I needed to start dressing for my age."

Country Road has been very careful not to overtly label its new label, Trenery, as an over-40s label, even though it is. Head office hopes consumers will perceive Trenery as a new lifestyle brand.

"We let the imagery speak for itself; it's up to the customer to decide whether or not it's right for them," says the creative director of Country Road, Sophie Holt. "We believed this was almost the forgotten market.

"I think as you get older you know who you are and what you want out of life. There is also a factor of an increase in confidence. Older women feel that they know themselves and, unlike when they were younger, they can make up their own minds."