It was difficult coming up with a title for this post because I wasn’t sure if I’d come across as condescending towards middle-aged men or if it would sound cheesy so I opted for a generic headline. This post is to highlight the under representation of a market that the fashion industry really should be paying attention to, men over the age of 40. As David says the industry is “blind towards a large affluent market” and I agree completely, in fact it makes sense to pay more attention to this market considering most of us are living in an aging population. I recommend you check out David’s fantastic blog Grey Fox if you want to read more about menswear through an older man’s perspective.
We’re sold an image of youth, height and gifted facial features on the runway and ad campaigns yet there needs to be a greater engagement towards the majority of men who are not like that. I simply think there needs to be a nod towards other demographics like older people or maybe even shorter people who still care about fashion and style.
Prada have taken a step in this direction by allowing an Academy and BAFTA award winning actor Christopher Waltz to front their menswear campaign among Ben Whishaw who was in ‘Skyfall’ and Ezra Miller from ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’.
It’s great to see someone over the age of 50 who has a sense of style being part of the Italian label’s autumn/winter campaign. If we can get to observe more diversity from well known designers like Prada then I think the fashion industry and society in general will slowly become more in tune with the fact that a lot of older men are concerned with their appearance.
