KEY POINTS:
Sian Steel, managing director of Independent Models, is trying to be realistic. "How likely is it that your average 17-year-old is going to buy a couture dress or a pot of Creme de la Mer at 150 ($395)?" she
asks.
Not very. And that, she says, is
why an increasing number of designer brands are planning to turn to celebrities in their 40s and 50s to sell their exclusive lines this year.
Madonna, 50, Jerry Hall, 52, and models Helena Christensen and Stephanie
Seymour, who are in their 40s, are among the names that have been announced for big campaigns.
Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs wanted to show the "ultimate
Parisienne" in the new Vuitton adverts.
"To carry off all these references and this sophistication, we needed
the ultimate performer - and for me, that is Madonna," he said.
Supermodel Christensen, who turned 40 on Christmas Day, appears in a similarly high-concept ad for Agent Provocateur, a video called "Pirate
Provocateur".
The lingerie label's founder, Joe Corre, said Christensen "fits the bill
perfectly as our pirate queen".
Corre's mother, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, has also turned
to an older model - Pamela Anderson will appear in the campaign for Westwood's Red Label collection.
Actors Jerry Hall and 44-year-old Monica Bellucci are appearing in campaigns for next year's collections - Hall for Chanel and Bellucci
for Dior accessories.
"Advertisements are now more in line with the people that are buying these products. These are real women representing the clothes, women that the people buying the products can aspire to," explained
Steel, whose agency represents Hall and Christensen.
"Jerry and Helena have been very fortunate in that they have worked consistently throughout their careers. However, we have seen a general
increase in interest in models at their level."
Katie Baron, fashion production and bookings editor at Harper's Bazaar,
said: "For a magazine like ours, older women and celebrities offer another dimension, a level of experience and charisma which can sometimes be difficult to parallel.
"It's also worth remembering that the most influential people in the
fashion industry are now women of a similar age to the older models and celebs being featured. They are the figures with whom that successful generation has grown up and therefore to whom they feel a connection."
Seymour, 40, had one of the biggest comebacks of last year. The model was best known outside fashion for her relationship with Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose and her appearance in the video for the band's single November Rain in 1992. This year an issue of fashion magazine Pop was
dedicated to the model and she starred in catwalk shows for top fashion
houses, including Louis Vuitton and Hermes.
She stars in the spring and summer 2009 Valentino ad as "a contemporary
deity", says the Italian fashion house.
The use of teenage models has caused controversy in the fashion world.
Although under-16s were banned from London Fashion Week in 2007, models used by major fashion labels are still usually teenagers or in their
early 20s.
The 2008 British Fashion Award for model of the year went to 18-year-old Jourdan Dunn. So the gradual inclusion of older women in major ad campaigns and on catwalks is a welcome trend for many observers.
The trend for older models seems to have taken off in menswear, too.
At his spring 2009 menswear show in June, designer Yohji Yamamoto sent grey-haired models in their 60s down the catwalk and Louis Vuitton's latest "Legends" advert stars Sean Connery.
The series has already featured Mikhail Gorbachev and Keith Richards, but at 78 Connery is the oldest legend yet.
- OBSERVER