I was at a conference recently when I heard someone say that once a woman turns 50, she starts to disappear. Not to herself, to her friends and to her family, but to the crowds of people walking among her – those better known as “society”. Advanced Style debunks this myth entirely.
In 2008, Ari Seth Cohen moved to New York and began photographing some of the city’s more stylish elderly ladies and listening to what they had to say about fashion. His subsequent blog, Advanced Style, became a universal hit. A book with the same title followed. Now this documentary.
When you’re on to a good thing, go with it, right? Well, Advanced Style, in all of its many forms, is a good thing, and this documentary is an absolute cracker.
Cohen focuses on seven women, aged 62 to 95, who use the streets of New York as their public runways. They love fashion. They live for it. They see themselves as true artists and their clothes and accessories are their works of art. As one woman says: “Good style improves the environment. It’s good for everyone.”
It’s definitely good for these women. Not only is their sense of unique style inspiring, their sense of self is empowering. In finding ways to ensure they are visible and will certainly not disappear from society’s eyes, they make ageing – the physical and psychological process of it – look spectacular.
One speaks about how much she has to offer others now that she has fully learned to accept herself (this fabulous woman makes her own inch-length eyelashes with her own bright red hair); another speaks as if her life is only now beginning, children (though someone else’s and probably grown) still a dream.
This is an incredibly uplifting film, layered in colourful textures of verve and spunk. It’ll make you want to grow up, tall as a skyscraper, rather than grow old, brittle as a winter branch – and it’ll make you want to go out and buy yourself a fancy hat.
