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How Mature Female Models Have Influenced the Modeling Industry

Today, the fashion and modeling industry is experiencing a paradigm shift from its traditional outlook that only glorified young women models while back benching older women models.

The opinion shift has been kindled by mature female models with great intellect, resilience, sex appeal, and beauty. These older female models have proved to the world that age is not a deterrent to making it big in the modeling industry.

Female models over 50 years old have had a big and direct influence in the fashion industry. Here’s how.

Mature Female Models Are the Voice of the Older Consumers

Traditionally, once a woman matured in her body at age 30 and above, she was suddenly regarded as less appealing. As a female grows into womanhood, changes in her body are inevitable. More often, these changes dispel them from the ideal image that society expects of models. Female editorial models are very slim, with 33 inches around the hips, 23 inches around the waist, and 33 inches around the bust. Additionally, they are expected to be at least five feet and nine inches tall. These beauty standards exclude older women because their body changes don’t allow them to look as they did in their younger years.

For the longest time, these older women have been neglected by the fashion industry, which is ironic given that mature women have a higher purchasing power. In the past decades, older women half-heartedly took the back seat in the fashion and modeling space, but that was because they didn’t have an alternative platform. In the old days, fashion magazines and television single-handedly controlled the modeling world, and they were not enthusiastic about casting older women models.

Fast forward to today, and mature female models such as Daphne Selfe, Jan de Villeneuve, Frances Dunscombe, and Maye Musk have been featured in iconic fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Prada, Harper’s Bazaar, Grazia magazine, and Hunger magazine. Thanks to these resilient mature female models, fashion brands are now catering to the needs of older female consumers.

Mature Female Models Are Inspiring Other Younger Models

With the high standards set for models, even middle-aged women in their 30s and late 20s find it harder to continue modeling. Especially when they make the transition to motherhood, most models find themselves benched from the modeling world. While these models must take time to care for the children, it doesn’t have to be the end of their modeling career. Female models over 50 have inspired the younger models in their 30s and 40s. Now, more models with young families are coming back to the fashion industry to continue their modeling careers. Fortunately, the versatility of today’s fashion industry means that there’s demand for their services.

Older Female Models Promote a Healthy Lifestyle

As part of a more seasoned population, mature women models are more honest, composed, and intelligent. Older models have proved that aging is a natural thing that women should embrace instead of concealing it and feeling invisible. These mature models keep fit by adopting healthier lifestyles such as exercising and yoga. Therefore, they’re seen as role models to the older women who are trying to lead a healthier lifestyle.

There have been cases of aspiring teen models who adopt unhealthy lifestyles while striving to achieve the perfect body figure of the models they see in magazines. Older female models have been a source of admiration for many women who are otherwise self-conscious about their looks. Older models have influenced and encouraged more women, both young and mature, to embrace their bodies in various sizes, shapes, and ages, instead of being hindered by these factors.

Undoubtedly, mature female models have been a strong force in influencing opinion change in the fashion industry. Thanks to the older women models, women over 50 years old are no longer invisible in the modeling industry like they were some decades ago. You could even say that mature women models have remodeled the modeling industry.