- Title: RUSSIA-MATURE FASHION Russian designers show off fashions with mature models
- Date: 9th October 2015
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 8, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WOMAN IN PINK TOP ON CATWALK WOMAN IN GREY DRESS ON CATWALK AUDIENCE WATCHING WOMAN IN BLUE TOP ON CATWALK
- Embargoed: 24th October 2015 13:00
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- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAAIQOWYG1SVWOPB41749URYVMU
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A group of Russian designers and retailers held an unusual fashion show in Moscow on Thursday (October 8) - an event dedicated to showcasing designs aimed at older women, with mature models taking to the catwalk.
The women, aged from 45 up to over 60, strutted along the catwalk in a variety of designs as an enthusiastic crowd clapped along.
The head of the project 'Fashion Podium' and director of the retail website 'babadeda.ru' (grandmother grandfather.ru), Anastasia Laziybnaya, said older people are poorly represented in fashion media.
"Women, our users, constantly write asking why they only see illustrations of young women and models in magazines. They ask: where are our contemporaries? And we understood that women older than fifty, approaching or at pension age, really don't get enough images of their contemporaries in mass media and on magazine pages," she said.
The participants were in high spirits ahead of the show as they had their hair done and donned their outfits, which were donated by a number of Russian fashion designers.
"I want to say loudly that fifty-plus is not so old and women don't want to look younger, to look twenty but want to look good at fifty, sixty, eighty, ninety. A woman always wants to stay a woman," participant Nadezhda said.
"I want to walk beautifully, not fall over," fellow participant Nina laughed. "That's a joke of course but I really want to show this dress how it should really look. I want to be beautiful at any age, you know."
"I was curious, it was a good experience to have, which I didn't manage to have in my youth. We decided to try it as adults. Since I work in human resources, we would be happy to show our employers how young a 45-plus women looks," another model for the day, Elena Alexandrova, said.
The organisers and fashion brands behind the show were keen to challenge stereotypes of older women, especially as they make up a significant part of the Russian clothes market. One of the companies backing the show was Russian fashion brand Elena Shipilova, which has a line of clothes in the medium to extra large range.
"We have a wide selection for the 46-54 size range. It's a conscious policy, at the company we were always oriented towards that segment because Russian women - and they are the ones we work for - are usually stately women and so it would be stupid to miss such a market segment," the brand's executive director Gennady Suvurov said.
It was the second edition of the mature fashion show in the Russian capital, with nearly twice the number of participants as last year and plans already underway for the next edition. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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