I have seriously had a half-finished post on the whole phenomenon that is Advanced Style for a couple of months now.  It has been bubbling along all on its own and has made me quietly smile to myself on a regular basis.  If I am ever feeling a bit low re the whole ‘aging’ thing, I put on the trailer for their documentary and I instantly feel a lot better.  Advanced Style blog was started by the wonderful Ari Cohen who grew up admiring his flamboyant and elegant Jewish Grandmothers. After starting a blog that would ‘pay homage to my Grandmother’s style and spirit’ he has in the process, highlighted a rather overlooked demographic. The gorgeous, devil-may-care Women over 60. Some of the ladies are in their 70s and 80s.  One, Rose, is 100. And still looking fabulous. In the process of all this, the Advance Style Ladies have all given us something to think about what it means to move into the ‘platinum years’.

After the blog came the book Advanced Style, then there is continued talk of a documentary, and now there is the collaboration with Karen Walker’s new Eyewear collection Forever.  With Forever being a ‘celebration of eternal optimism’ Karen Walker has again done the most captivating of campaigns and continued the conversation on what it is to grow old gracefully/disgracefully!  The four models are the flamboyant Ilona Royce Smithkin, Linda Rodin, Lynn Dell and Joyce Carpati.  At eighty years of age, Joyce sums it up beautifully “You know, for an old woman I don’t go for style, I go for elegance. That’s what I go for. It is always elegance.” It seems like she could be the most perfect model for a Karen Walker campaign ever.

Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen is published by PowerHouse Books and retails for $59.  I got my copy from Flotsam and Jetsam in Ponsonby.

Ilona Royce Smithkin for Karen Walker Forever

Joyce Carpati fro Karen Walker Forever

Lynn Dell for Karen Walker Forever

Linda Rodin for Karen Walker Forever

The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas

Lubi