Overlooked Elegance: Fashion's Struggle to Embrace Women Over 50
Women over 50 form one of the largest sections of consumers for the market, but a set of dilemmas still hangs over the industry concerning representation and involvement. Women over 50 are nearly half of the market because they form the largest portion of fashion consumers, yet oftentimes they are the most forgotten or ignored in marketing strategies as well as in designing the product. Ideally, the whole composition continues being biased toward the younger ages and demographics.
The economic potential of this population is undeniable. According to research, consumers over 50 years old will drive the lion's share of spending in the near decades and will surpass $16 billion. Furthermore, according to International Longevity Center reports, the present neglect of older consumers by the fashion industry can mean a whopping $13 billion loss in revenue. Despite such stats, the trendy cool of youth remains fashionable and younger generations -Millennials and Gen Z-remain better represented in all campaigns, especially in high-end labels.
Stats also show that most women in their sixties are more stylish now than ever as when they were young, according to Is This Mutton? British fashion blog. 52% of women in this age group consider they dress better now than they did when they were younger; 68% shop often. But brands have focused on a million trends and styles on the aesthetic front to appeal to more Millennials and Boomers, hardly paying much attention to what older women are interested in or need.
This puts mature women naturally in a cloud. Consumers are mad at the lack of representation, and industry movements seem to point to change, but the change is slow and seems to be symbolic mainly. At other times brands celebrate older models—Charlotte Rampling for Massimo Dutti and Maggie Smith for Loewe, to name two—notably using older women as style symbols. Again, however, these are anomalies to the general trend, given that youthful storytelling and visuals remain the fashion visual lexicon.
This continued exclusion of older women from mainstream advertising tells a tale of yet unfinished business by the fashion industry in securing a broad base of inclusivity. Brands occasionally gesturing toward diversity fail to carry the message to the true representation of older women as an integral part of such campaigns. It is getting increasingly hazardous with shifting demographic and economic ground realities.
Economic factors in the recent past have fundamentally changed the fashion view, and the way consumers react and decide about fashion products has rapidly evolved. Some industry insiders have started to drift away from a traditionally youth-obsessed look, hinting at an edge toward, though showing only a slight willingness toward, more age-defying looks. The hiring of Walter Chiapponi at Blumarine, for example, promises more maturity, and Phoebe Philo's new line targets women 40 years old plus-an unheard-of and extraordinary anomaly in an industry that is still all about youth.
With continued aging within the Western world, an apparent hesitation in the fashion industry to reach out to older consumers on a more honest and truthful basis may alienate one of the most important and faithful demographics. A lost opportunity for a failing segment, which it might not soon recover, may also cost the industry not only cultural relevance but also financial stability.
