FIVE MINS WITH LYNNETTE PECK

Not only has Lynnette Peck previously been Beauty Editor of Vogue Australia, Launch Editor of Cosmopolitan Hair & Beauty magazine, Health & Beauty Director of New Woman magazine, Health & Beauty Director of Eve magazine and a sought after stylist and consultant but she successfully established her own online vintage fashion brand, Lovely’s Vintage Emporium (www.lovelysvintageemporium.com) in March 2011 which went on to win the UK’s Best Online Vintage Fashion Website in 2013. Also Fashion & Beauty Director of Saga magazine for six years, Lynnette has been on the front line of the battle for older women to be taken seriously in the fashion and beauty industry.

Lynnette, how do you feel the beauty industry thinks of older women?

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Well, that depends on which sector of the beauty industry we are talking about. The talented executive women I see working in beauty are all ages and are all very positive about the natural process of ageing. Where we need to move, and move quickly, is in the positioning of beauty products and the language used around the packaging and selling of them. Although I was very pleased to see Helen Mirren and not Cara Delevingne chosen as the UK ambassador for L’Oreal recently and Anjelica Huston representing Gap clothing.

Do you see any changes in how women of beauty+ age are being spoken to by the beauty industry?

I think the beauty industry is tentatively taking steps to speak to women beauty+ age in a different way. Brands have only come to me in the last five years, after twenty two years in the industry, and asked how best to target this age group. Just yesterday a well-known spa brand approached me about working with them to launch a competition to find a face for their brand. The age of their ‘face’? She has to be 55+. This would have previously been unheard of. I tried not to shriek with delight down the phone as they pitched the idea to me…

Are the beauty and fashion industries ageist, do you think? We know that chasing youth is what they’re built on, but do you feel they’ve got caught in a time warp with which they think they’re talking to?

No. I think that is now a myth. There are plenty of examples now of brands speaking to their target markets and doing it successfully. Plus, when you walk into Anthropologie or & Other Stories (two recent additions to the UK) you don’t feel that their products are only aimed at a certain age group. They feel ‘ageless’ to me. I shop at both regularly (I am 46) and so does my friend’s daughter (she is 21). Although I have to say that most of my fashion shopping is for vintage clothing so I am guilty of looking backwards in one respect – but in my defense, the quality of the clothing is often better, it is more ‘green’ and I like to look individual.

What are you currently reading?

Worn Stories by Emily Spivack. Women in Clothes by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, Leanne. Shapton & 639 Others, William Helburn Mid-Century Fashion and Advertising,Photography by Robert Lilly and Lois Allen Lilly.

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