We are now 2 ½ years on from launching Grey Model Agency ltd and indeed it has been a steep learning curve; not only for us but the international fashion, beauty and advertising industries too.
While we have received much coverage and some great commissions; including runway shows such as Youjai Jin at London Fashion Week to global hair campaigns (Aesop Haircare), and changed the face of many high-street windows (Primark, Ahlens, H&M, M&S and Selfridges) there is still much work ahead to change the perception of mature models - both male & female. To harness the potential of mature models, casting must include A-typical models as well as Classic looks. It is time to move on from lazy briefs that seek carbon copies of Helen Mirren, George Clooney, or when they are daring to tread more boldly, Iris Apfel - fulfilling a stereotype of what eccentric ageing must look like - and represent the strength, vigour and attitude of this 50+ demographic.
All the above are of course great role models but when signing models to Grey boards we seek faces, personalities and identities that are exceptional, different and above all memorable; to place a brand into a new and exciting genre that not only embraces age but also diversity within age.
Italy seems to be a forerunner in recognising this strength. Grey Italian male model, Alessandro Bodio, being the choice for the forward-thinking clothing brand, DOPPIAA.
Doppiaa Clothing, Italy
Happily DOPPIAA replicated their approach the following year including two Grey models, Zvona and Sanjay.
Doppiaa Clothing, Italy
Likewise, Vogue Italia are biting the bullet and including a variety of less Classic mature models within their fashion pages featuring Grey models, Alex Bruni and Zvona Vuckovic:
Timeless Issue, Vogue Italia, Oct 2017
And Swiss style magazine, Encore! Embraced Alessandro Bodio once more for their front cover and fashion feature last month.
Encore! Magazine, Nov 2017
Which is fabulous, if only this style of casting was the rule rather than the exception. Grey has built its reputation on providing #NextGenerationGrey - the gritty, elegant, eccentric representation of the 40+. We sign arresting looks over pretty faces, strength of character over neighbour-next-door. Sheilah, Stefanie and Donna-Marie are the sum of this and for some time now I am querying why we are not 'set-upon' by brands and their marketers or advertising agencies to scoop up the horse-at-water and make them drink.
This year I was asked to sit on a panel session at London Fashion Week SS18 to discuss the embrace of diversity within fashion. Our remit was to evaluate if current fashion diversity was tokenism or a change in attitude and approach by the industry. Age was not the only 'minority group' under discussion, also represented were transgender models, plus size models, non-Caucasian models, with disabled models being mentioned but not represented. While such a discussion on the first day of London Fashion Week is indeed a development on previous years, the very selection of panel members smacked of tokenism and, despite those who attended the discussion being very positive about the insights and progress all panel members had displayed, there was a great feeling that we were preaching to the converted. In anticipation, Grey's Special model (former bastion of androgyny in the 80's, muse to Jean Paul Gaultier and famed for her kiss with Madonna, Justify My Love) Amanda Cazalet's response to my protestation,
I feel like carrying a placard with the words 'I can't believe I still have to fight this shit!'
said:
Why don't you just wear a t-shirt saying 'Unfuck Yourself'
- so I did and thus a minority movement of 60, 70 & 80+ rebels, influencers and disruptors was spawned, both male and female, requesting their copy of said t-shirt.
BBC World Service, JD Williams, Grey T-Shirt - Amanda Cazalet
The press, internationally, has been consistently supportive of what Grey stands for (BBC World Service - Breaking Boundaries, Sky News - The Rise of the Mature Model, HuffPost of course, UK Telegraph, Times, Guardian and the Mail, Brazilian press, Milan magazines, Chinese Times and Sydney Morning Herald all carrying the baton. But why are brands stalling? Where has the courage, the avant-garde, the art and creativity gone in fashion, advertising and PR that seemed so burgeoning thirty years ago? This year at LFW only Vin & Omi pushed the boundaries leading their catwalk show with 70+ Debbie Harry - a big fan of their work. There seems to be no NextGenerationWestwoodOrGaultier currently.
That said, it is the graduate stylists, photographers and fashion designers who are calling the shots and coming to Grey with diverse and inclusive briefs that seek to bridge the gap between youth and age in a positive way. For two years now the ID Magazine Diversity Now competition that calls upon graduates to produce short films and photos to illustrate diversity have become some of our strongest creative thinkers.
Teeth Magazine, Huff Magazine, Material Girl Magazine
Harper's Bazaar UK continue to push boundaries where other fashion magazines fall behind and boutique fashion periodicals like Hunger and the Violet Book follow suit.
Harper's Bazaar UK, The Violet Book, Hunger Magazine
Let's hope that the #NextGenerationGrey supporters rise swiftly and influentially so that brands meet their consumers desire for the magnificent, the bizarre and the elegant-eccentric agers of today.
They are certainly making their voices heard through social media and other platforms like the public vote at the London National Portrait Gallery for 85 year old Grey model, Frances Dunscombe's beautiful nude portrait by Josh Redman that won last year's John Kobal Foundation New Photography Award, and the likes of fashion veteran, Caryn Franklin, who continues to push boundaries directing a short film for Age of No Retirement featuring Grey models, Anthony Fitzgerald and Anna von Rueden wearing the most progressive fashion of the now.
Josh Redman John Kobal Winning Portrait, AONR, Caryn Franklin
Grey was founded on breaking boundaries, disrupting fashion and advertising and the shock of the new. Even the agency name was given ironically with our A-Typical models launching the agency wearing confrontational slogan tees challenging, "Am I Grey?". It was never going to be a smooth and easy ride and goodness me it has been fun! But the answer to so many consultants' questions, journalists' interviews and TV news coverage on how to reach this New Generation Grey is simply shown across the pages of Grey's website and social media. Our choice in A-Typical models shows far better than interviews tell the answer to this much-asked question. So, from the horse's mouth: take to the water and drink!
Rebecca Valentine and Grey models, Alex Bruni & Stefanie Lange discuss the shift towards A-Typical mature models in the feature-length documentary, Timeless Beauty, due to premier at the Chinese Shenzhen Film Festival, November 24 to December 3, 2017.