Paying attention to older consumers is predicted to be one of the top 10 fashion trends in 2017. That’s right, we are trending.
“The State of Fashion 2017” is the first-ever, comprehensive industry analysis that The Business of Fashion has released. The website is the style world’s Wall Street Journal. One of the conclusions is that brands should strive for a key relationship with consumers over 60, since this demographic will grow by more than one-third over the next 15 years. Data indicates that relationship will be driven by serving the values, attitudes and behaviors of plum age buyers.
…why shouldn’t she see the clothes
on a woman her own age?
This idea has been gaining speed–maybe because the over-50 crowd reportedly controls nearly 70 percent of the disposable income in the U.S. In 2015, Joan Didion was featured in a major ad campaign for Celine, Joni Mitchell starred at St. Laurent, and Debbie Harry was the face of a limited-edition Paco Rabbane fragrance. Vanessa Redgrave is starring in major ads for Gucci, Spring 2017.
At the last fashion week in New York, older models got more than the token nod to style inclusion. In fact, The Cut, the online fashion arm of New York Magazine wrote an article about the phenomenon and asked, “…why shouldn’t she see the clothes on a woman her own age?”
Guess who the second most important demographic is? Millennials. Fashion 2017 –the new sandwich generation.
Above Photos: Eckhaus Latta Spring 2017/Cover Photo: Tome Spring 2017. Vogue
Top Photo: @isr4el
More photos at The Cut