Beauty+: Grey Model Agency

grey model agency

I’ve been intrigued by the Grey Model agency ever since I spotted them on Twitter – I needed a quote from founder, Rebecca Valentine, for another publication, but ended up knowing I needed to blog this. With ‘grey’ now being a fashion thing, and the beauty industry realising that older women hold the key to their on-going success with spending power, you’d think that Grey would be over-run with brands looking for women and men who represent the most important customers of their lives. While there is no doubt that Grey is a success (having just placed grey bearded, tattoo’d Matthew Morris in the upcoming autumn Esprit campaign), Rebecca has a battle on her hands with brands determined that the correct advertising position for an older woman is looking carefree with a Tenna Lady or gazing across the horizon in a waterfall cardigan on a cruise ship.

But, the very fact that Grey exists is testament to changing times and with rumours of brands street-spotting older women to star in beauty campaigns (actually, it’s not a rumour, it’s true) this thing is looking like it might truly swing into action.

But, change doesn’t happen overnight – the thought that the over 50’s can be as diverse as the 20’s category is something that’s still a mystery to brand creative teams. People like me (and Rebecca) can shout from the rooftops as loud as we like but your average beauty creative still won’t hear that peer to peer is the very best recommendation. Blogs are so successful because it’s women just like you and me, talking to women just like you and me.

Aspirational beauty is something you grow out of, I think. You start to be more concerned with other things in life – there is nobody I aspire to look like but me because I know that no matter what creams or potions I’m using, I will always look like me! I want that to be a good version, obviously, and I love (as you know) beauty products, but it’s not in the hope of looking years younger. It’s partly the pleasure of it, and partly that good skin maintenance does, in the long term, keep things fresher for longer. Fresh is good at any age.

I try and write about beauty in an age neutral way unless it’s a highly specific product – for a lipstick, it’s utterly irrelevant how old you are, and I hope I will love gloss as much at 77 as I did at 17 – but the beauty industry is determined to box us into categories because that suits them, not us. The only influence that tells us we must look younger than our real years is the beauty industry itself; and they’re the ones promising to fix it for us. We don’t need fixing.

Commercially, I’ve had some interesting offers because I’m 50. When they mentioned anti-sagging, I was out, but there is definitely an upsurge in interest because of my age. Conversely, I’m obviously excluded from many, many campaigns because I’m the ‘wrong’ age which is all kinds of skewed thinking because women of every age read my blog! Older women in the social media sphere (and there aren’t that many of us) are watching these turns of events from inside, so we are very well placed to make good commentary based on experience. We are talking daily to women like us. Are brands asking us? No, they’re still relying on 25 year old boys in the marketing department.

You could really just cry, except it would make your eyes puffy and age you overnight. If you think you have what it takes, head to the Grey site. If you think you know what fifty+ looks like, head to the Grey site, and if you’re a beauty brand who thinks they’re talking to the right women, head to the Grey site. It’s HERE.

 

 


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13 responses to “Beauty+: Grey Model Agency”

  1. Wonderful post, Jane. My personal bugbear is the photos illustrating articles about the over 50s that are of people who are 80 if they’re a day! I can only assume the pics are chosen by interns who think everyone over 30 is equally ancient and looks the same.
    I write for High 50, a website that understands this audience, and I was delighted to find out about the Grey Model agency. Less delighted to hear progress is so slow.

  2. So glad to read this post about modeling over 50! I modeled for eleven years internationally and felt compelled “at a certain age” to move from in front of the camera to behind the camera. That hasn’t been a bad decision at all, and I am happy to be still involved in an industry that I love, but in the past few years I have been offered bookings again, much to my surprise – and delight. I am dipping my toes back into the modeling world again and it feels great! The perception of models out of the main age bracket of 16 to 30 is changing by the moment and is indeed being reflected in traditional and new media. I don’t feel the need or the pressure to look any younger than I am to model again. I just need to be my best possible self. A Parisian agency, Silver Model Management, also offers models over 40. Older models have so much more to offer through their personal style, their life experience, and their confidence in their own skin. Let’s hope the trend continues!

  3. tigerbabe68

    There is a gorgeous older lady (who is grey) who models most weeks for Guardian magazine in their style for all ages section. Admittedly every woman in that section is also slim and tall so not totally representative of the wide range of “normal” sizes out there. It bewilders me that beauty companies and the media tend to think once you hit a certain age your looks, taste, skin and hair needs immediately change and you become a homogenous mass with all these other women despite having been “allowed” to have different looks and needs the year before. One example is that I am told I look a good 10 years younger than my age and several years ago (early 30s) had a skin analysis with Roc in Superdrug. The assistant showed me all the products suitable for my skin analysis result, all of which were in the teens/20s type ranges. She then asked my age and said based on that she should have shown me the anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle products so it goes to show I was right to have the analysis to use skincare for my skin’s needs not for what Roc presumed someone of my age should have needed.

  4. Tracy@Beauty Reflections

    This is SO COOL. Totally going to check out the site. I’m 48 and made the decision 2 years ago to stop dyeing my hair and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. I love my grey hair, and love adding some fun colours on the ends now. And it’s hilarious when younger girls ask me what I use to dye my hair grey hahaha! They all want to be grey now. Wish this trend was around in my 30s I would have stopped colouring my hair a lot sooner!

    1. Anna

      Tracy, you´ve just blew up my brain! (Sorry!) I can not keep quiet, I MUST thank you for an answer to the question I stopped asking myself and stopped to search around. Silver+colored ends – that is a magic formula that will keep “grams-look” at bay. Meanwhile I dye my hair (truly hate salt-n-pepper on myself), but you just gave me idea for times when\if I get tired (or my hair will get tired) from the situation. Thank you!

      1. Tracy@Beauty Reflections

        Hahahaha! You are most welcome! I honestly love my grey hair. It’s so freeing to not have to go every month to touch up my roots anymore. I just decided to let the roots go and deal with it. I thought I’d look unkempt, but you know what? Most people thought again that I’d done it on purpose-that it was one of those ombre dye jobs HAHAHAHA. It took about a year before I had enough grey length to cut of the colour at the end and that was that. And I STILL get carded occasionally when ordering a beer. 😉

        1. Anna

          🙂 Well, in my case no visiting hairdresser, but spending some time with putting stuff on and sitting in a funny turban made of plastic and towel for another half an hour, it lightens the burden. And I still have about half non-silver, so the mix does not look really cool in my opinion. But now I’m much more relaxed anyway – “Future is bright: future is silver “:)

  5. Love this post. As a 49 year old that has some pretty great personal spending power and a little blog that I love, this is the voices that need to speak the loudest! Go Grey Modeling!!!!!

  6. Alison

    Hopefully the age issue will start to evolve into a non issue, like the one about sexuality has been doing lately. You are who you are. Off to have a peek at the Grey Agency!

  7. Jane have you been to see the Iris Apfel documentary that has just been released into UK cinemas? She is a role model into how to live the later years.

    1. Jane

      Not yet, but it’s on my list of to do’s!

  8. Grey is such a brilliant idea. If an advertising campaign featured women from a range of ages I’d be far more likely to trust it than if it was 3 flawlessly, smooth faced 20 year olds.
    Megan x
    London Callings

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