Comments

When I was last in London I read an article that said that a British fashion house had experimented with using models that looked more like a normal woman. The clothes didn't look as good on them, especially the sheer looks. They went back to the normal (!) models.

That being said, some catalogs like JJill, who specialize in selling to middle aged women with disposable income are using older models.

Posted by Cathy at February 28, 2006 9:45 AM

Prefer the 25-45 ready to have babies look - unsure why the TV Neilsen ratings stop at 49 years!?

Posted by Sean at February 28, 2006 9:45 AM

Well, nobody in reality looks like those models (not even the models - without the make-up, special lighting and posing.) So, speaking as one of the boomer/geezer women - we stopped looking at such things a long time ago, other than for maybe 5 minutes of chuckles over our morning coffee. Which comes to a chicken and egg scenario. Perhaps they don't cater to us because they know we're not interested.

Or, much more likely - it's a habit for fashionistas/media to create a highly artificial environment that us real folks could never have, and often don't even want. We humans hate to change our habits (even in the face of irrefutable data and undeniable change.)

And, lastly - on behalf of all boomer/geezer women everywhere - Thanks for the compliment, Tom! We know we're in our prime too! Susan has certainly done a good job with you. ;-)

Posted by Mary Schmidt at February 28, 2006 9:55 AM

Dove experimented with "normal" models and it turned out they were not as effective as "perfect" youthful models. Ads that portray unreachable levels of beauty STILL appeal to normal people, because of some unconscious aspiration effect.

-Ben Casnocha
Entrepreneur, Writer, High School Student

Posted by Ben Casnocha at February 28, 2006 10:13 AM

I suppose that it is done for the same reason that many artists use abstract or surreal forms to convey their message. Non-realistic images can illicit an emotional effect on a large audience, because each viewer makes a personal and emotional response to the surreal - something that they feel.

In terms of fashion, the fluid, long legged form of a model sculped slightly to not detract from the garmet will allow viewers to focus on the garmet rather than on the imperfections of the human form. The less body mass, the fewer visible imperfections to take the eye away from the form of the garment. They'd probably use hangers if they could walk, but until such time that they can, thin models will serve that purpose.

And, let's face it, many women have been brainwashed into thinking that they want to be thin - the thinner the better. That's why the diet industry is so huge. Sure, many of us wiser folk know that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes - but many women really would love to be thin and waif-like. And, I would imagine, if plastic surgery growth is anything to go by, many boomer-geezer women would like to look younger, too. 'Tis a shame, but that's the monster we created.

Just a guess.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at February 28, 2006 10:30 AM

Thank you, Tom. I feel the same way.

Posted by Liz Strauss at February 28, 2006 1:49 PM

or worse! i'm now a 25 yr old girl... who can afford buying BMW 6 series or the Mercedes CLS in cash, and all i can find in the showrooms are males inspired colors! why cant i find shades of pinks, purple, yellow, or wateveR! why it's limited to the standard male inspired color palates, even if i'm willing to pay extra bux it still not possible,cz those automative leaders just can get that women can afford such cars, and women have thier own pereferences...but who cares.. i guess they are still living in yesteryears!

Posted by crazyshame at February 28, 2006 1:59 PM

Before I try on your stuff, you must capture my imagination. Make me believe I will be beautiful...then I'll see if it fits! If I am not beautiful in it, the fault most likely lies with the garment, manufacturer or the advertiser! Hurrah for over 40!

Posted by beth at February 28, 2006 2:12 PM

Perhaps the editors just wanted to appease the high end clothing advertisers - for which it just continues to be the industry standard to show in-accessible fashion on in-accessible bodies. ("It's the way it's always been done," I can hear them say)

Dove and Nike can use realistic looking women because it makes sense for lotions and athletic wear, but I bet the fashion industry really won't ever be able to take the leap.

I do realize that much of fashion is about aspiration, but even a just over 40-year old woman like myself is likely to linger very much longer over the J.Jill catalog, as Kathy says - or the wonderful Eileen Fisher ads. The looks, poses and variety of those J.Jill and Eileen Fisher models reflect the women I see as I go about my life.

If high end fashion brands and the NYT want to spend dollars and paper respectively just to get speedy page-throughs or immediate drops in the recycle bin by boomer/geezer women, it is indeed their loss.

Posted by Andrea Learned at March 1, 2006 10:22 AM

And yet, in the end; boomer-geezer women with the dosh will certainly still buy designer labels, regardless of the models used to show them off at fashion shows or in print.

Let's not fool ourselves that boomer women with money won't buy designer clothes because the models don't represent them. The models represent a brand of clothing that is not attainable by lower classes in society - and that is the drug for women with money, for self-made boomers and trust-fund teens. It is rare to see a well-to-do boomer woman without designer duds in her walk-in closet. Unless she is a granola-type free-spirited, eco-friendly campaigner for just causes (which I find more attractive than any designer-clad, superficial, look-at-me I've got money to spend and I'm somebody important pity the poor black babies in Africa while I drive my '06 jaguar fund-raising socialite.)

It is the inaccessibility of price, rather than body type, that makes the high end attractive to those with money to burn. To have something that others can't afford.

Me, I don't buy clothes too often. A good quality pair of shoes for 200 dollars will last several years. I only have 3 pairs of shoes at any time. One pair for casual wear (Catepillar boots), one pair for dress, and one pair for tennis.

The fasion industry represents wealth and social status more than it does body type. Thus the glitzy shows, flowing champagne, parties, events and cocaine.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 1, 2006 10:45 AM

'Brand You'!

I think every single advertising study will show, that no matter what target market, 20-25 year-old female models is the best billboard.

Men want them. Women want to be them ... or something.

Look inside, Tom. You, yourself spend time on this blog talking about your jogging route. Think back for a while. Did you ever see your father go jogging? Your grandfather?
Likely not.

Age is a no-no in this modern world. We excercise like mad to stay fit and young, and if it doesn't work, we add silicone, botox, laser surgery etc. etc.

Age is bad.

Even among the ultra-cool, money-laden 'boomers-geezers', pointing out your age is not a good thing.

When your grandparents were in the 'boomers-geezers' age group. Did they spend like we do today? Back then, as you got older, you were respected more. Today, the opposite. You constantly need to be on the attack, or fear having evolution run you over.

If you spent hours every day on the ab-shaper du jour, get your monthly botox treatment etc to look and feel younger, would you then accept being branded as 'old'?

No - so you instinctively prefer to identify (or at least lie to yourself about it) with a younger generation, and the advertising business knows it.

Posted by Lars Olufsen at March 1, 2006 10:51 AM

The truth is women like looking at younger beautiful women. The people who are most enamored with the up and down drama of Jessica Simpson, Katie Holmes, Britany, etc...are women. And it is not because they interesting people, it because they are young and beautiful.

Posted by Marty at March 1, 2006 11:48 AM

Well, Marty - I must admit that I thumb through my wife's mags at times to steal a glimpse of Jessica Simpson et al. Of course, it's just to keep up with the fashion!

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 1, 2006 11:57 AM

Tom O & Marty - Jessica is so boring - amazingly thin voice and "talent" and yet big in celeb ranks especially now - I actually have her on a Google alert and am getting 5 average articles on her per day - MSM loves her demographics?

Marty - I think the "beautiful" part of celebs is possible as allure - yes they tend to be better than average looking.

Maybe the real deal on celebs seems to be that they become somewhat "immortal" and fun to check out because they are leaving a lasting mark in culture for better or worse - and immortality is a game most like to play.

Posted by Sean at March 1, 2006 12:40 PM

I like to look at younger, beautiful women, but I like to look at older, beautiful women more. Racquel Welch was on TV a couple of weeks ago. She was stunning. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Katherine Zeta-Jones is another. She's not exactly model age anymore.

Tom, you sure found a way to invite women into your comment section. :)

Posted by Liz Strauss at March 1, 2006 12:47 PM

Liz. I agree. Oprah had an episode recently that demonstrated just how older women can remain youthful in appearance without plastic surgery. They exuded fitness and healthy lifestyles. The 45, 52 and 62 year old guests on that show would put any young, unfit woman, celebrity or not, to shame. Beauty goes far beyond age. And the before and after photos clearly showed that they looked 100 times better now than they did when they led sedentary lifestyles in their 20s and 30s. Oprah herself is an example of that.

But, again bringing it back to the orignial discussion, attitude has a lot to do with it. And one thing that the high-end models have plenty of is attitude and oozing confidence. That's what's so attractive about them. It's not the weight, it's the pout, the strut and the independent life-style that makes the clothes have such an allure.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 1, 2006 1:23 PM

Sohia Loren! http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22sophia+loren%22

Posted by Sean at March 1, 2006 2:14 PM

Meryl Streep.

Posted by tom peters at March 1, 2006 5:32 PM

Thank you, Mr. O'Leary, sir, for making my point so eloquently. I felt kind of weird pushing too hard on the issue. I've got a son in college and I feel like I've never looked as good as I do now. I think you're right, Tom. A good part of it is attitude.

Sigourney Weaver. Jodie Foster.

Rene Russo. Jane Seymour.

Ironically, they're all also smart. :)

Posted by Liz Strauss at March 1, 2006 8:47 PM

Rock on Liz! There is a lot of coverage in the magazines here in Europe about all of the 'yummy mummy's' out there today. Women who have re-invented themselves and repelled the expected withering of their spirit and soul with age. Sexiness is ALL about attitude.

It doesn't surprise me that women who rock on beyond their teens and 20s are intelligent. I think that there's real substance to the correlation. But even more than intelligence, wisdom and self actualization are real turn ons, because those qualities cut through any plasticity - and plasticity gets old in time.

And who was it that wrote the book, When I am old I will wear purple? Was it Maya Angeleu? Great stuff.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 2, 2006 5:23 AM

Tom O - a simple Trevor mantra appeals tho - tend to prefer a fellow tight body feminine creative type simple playful energetic lifestyle - low body IQ brilliant mind gets a pass.

Posted by Sean at March 2, 2006 11:14 AM

I agree Sean. The allure is in the complete package. I would pass on either without the other. Maybe not in my college days - but as I matured I expected my female partners to do so with me. Creative types generally have high enough IQs though, and I have always somehow been drawn to mysterious creatives more than obvious intellectuals.

My wife is a creative type. She has struggled with her weight after giving birth to our two daughters, and is frustrated. But to me, she's as beautiful as the day I met the model-figured Irish lass - especially when I see her loving our children! Her attitude has remained sexy all all along.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 2, 2006 11:24 AM

Let's hear it for those PrimeTime Women! And, let's start asking not just why they are absent from the pages of fashion magazines but why they are so hard to spot in most magazines. This group has the disposable income and the time to spend it. Companies who speak to them are going to see results. Companies who don't are going to be left in the dust!

Posted by Marti Barletta at March 2, 2006 11:56 AM

Hear here for older women, who have their stuff together . . . body, mind and spirit. Infinitely more interesting than a mindless great body. I frankly can't even imagine where they get those fashion models from the NY Times Fashion supplement. And somebody is on drugs if they are supposed to be representative of any market other than those creatures who supposedly endlessly wander through the night and disappear at first light. Let's get real, I personally like the women in the Eileen Fisher ads, real women.

Steve C.

Posted by Steve Clayback at March 3, 2006 2:41 PM

Prefer the Sports Illustrated swim suit - athletic and active curvy and smart look.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/2006_swimsuit/

Posted by Sean at March 5, 2006 10:31 AM

Wow. Boomers, geezers, women, aging, health good looks . . . Just spent the last week proving why my wife should not give up a nursing career to chase after a MLM networking company claiming to be in the right place at the right time. Arbonne. Now I'm wondering why I'm chasing a career change from Database Architecture to corporate Project Management. I would love to hear comments on this one. Emails welcome. frank_j_foti@keane.com “Health” not “Health Care” is the best slogan I’ve heard in my life. I’m 45, back to running (jogging) and eating well. Tom is an inspiration. Cya

Posted by Frank J. Foti at March 7, 2006 3:05 PM

Regards to Tom's notice of models and the baby boomers...
Several companies do cater to the 35+ woman. Stores such as Cold Water Creek, JJill, Christopher and Banks, CJ Banks, and Chadwicks, though their media models are always on the younger side. And sometimes their designers just don't get the age bracket. There is a lot of money to be made by these companies if they just would dress their target market as if they weren't twenty years old. I don't want to look matronly, but I do not want to look like a bimbo either. Just because they make an item in a large size ( say 14/16) doesn't mean women that size will look nice in it or even want to wear it. One example out right now in many stores is the frilly prairie skirt. When I was in high school, many years ago, I would have bought it, but not now after three children and a few extra pounds. Those skirts might look good on a supermodel, but put an average women in her 40s in it and it is too long, it hits at unflattering points, and it just looks silly. What are these designers thinking?

A target market overlooked today is the petite baby boomer. These women don't want to look matronly, or like a grandmother of the 50s, or like a little girl. If you go to the big department stores, their petite sections are small and the clothes lack pizzazz. And, 3/4 sleeves are not the end-all answer either. I think the clothing makers think that by making 3/4 length sleeves the petite woman will be able to wear it. They are dreaming. I think the baby boomer woman wants comfort and good garment construction with easy care fabrics. They are on the go and don't have time for trips to the dry cleaners. They want to be stylish without being silly. I guess after years of seeing how the designers have tried to dress young teens and tweens to be mini-hookers, I guess it was just a matter of time before they thought the mature woman needed to look silly too.

Posted by May Wake at March 13, 2006 3:13 PM