14 May, 2012
in fashion
by admin
Brand boosters … Sarah Murdoch for Bonds, Michelle Obama in Peter Soronen and Cate Blanchett in Armani Prive. Photo: Agencies
In an industry obsessed with youth, Kellie Hush discovers there is money to be made in catering for older consumers.
The fashion industry is in for a rude shock. It has always been obsessed with youth. Always. It’s an easy age group to talk to. It’s new, it’s fabulous and you need it now. Hand over your hard earned and ring it up. But the youth market is shrinking globally and older consumers are growing in number and spending power. In Europe, consumers aged over 55 will increase by 60 per cent in the next decade, according to trend forecaster WGSN, and the story is similar here in Australia.
Last month Chanel presented its Cruise collection in both Sydney and Melbourne. Invited guests were the fashion media and important clients. One look at the front row and it was obvious the Chanel customer was not born in the 1980s; in fact, she would have already been a Chanel customer back then.
Marketers are trying to speak to this powerful consumer and smart fashion businesses are slowly changing tack. The use of older models is a growing trend that has permeated most sectors, with fashion one of the last consumer categories to make change. The return of the true and now older supermodels – Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer – was a signal that the luxury fashion houses had realised they needed to relate to an older consumer. A beautiful model named Jessica, Lily or Daria was not going to cut it any more. Even America’s Next Top Model now has competition from the over 35s with She’s Got the Look. The W channel reality television show sees women over 35 battle it out to win a mature-age modelling contract with the winner of series one a 45-year-old mother of five.
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Some women will choke on their coffee when they read that a “mature woman” in the marketing world is defined as a consumer 35 and older, with the sweet spot being 35 to 55. Think Gwyneth Paltrow, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Obama and Michelle Pfeiffer. They want fashion in “real world” sizes and don’t want to dress like their daughters or their mothers. They don’t want to be excluded or patronised. They want to be made to feel important and catered for.
Michelle Obama is the poster girl for fabulous and over 40. The First Lady is a modern-day fashion icon at 45. She is lauded for her interplay of high and low designs having the ability to wear a Target dress one day and Michael Kors or Thakoon the next. Designers globally are falling over themselves to dress her as every sartorial choice she makes is commented on. A successful website, mrso.org, launched by blogger Mary Tomer chronicles her style and Tomer’s new book Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy takes a closer look at the US’s modern style icon. “I think Mrs Obama has opened 40-plus women up to brands like J.Crew, Gap and H&M that they may have previously dismissed as being too young,” says New York-based Tomer, 28. “Generally speaking, I think Michelle Obama has shown women over 40 how to give their wardrobe a modern and youthful [but always appropriate] update.”
According to leading New York-based consumer research analyst Dana Telsey, one of the biggest communication hurdles is the lifestyles of mature women vary so greatly. Basically, it is impossible to sell one message to all, which is an important factor to consider when in the US alone the mature women’s apparel market is worth over $46 billion.
“Most people think and act 10 years younger than they really are,” Telsey says. ”Basically, companies should target the interest levels of the consumer personality type, rather than the age. Age is just a number; lifestyles are a mindset that morph into the ability to sell goods and services to different target markets.”
Telsey believes the solution is not to toss all the “mature women” into one big basket. “There is money to be made from the young and old; it is all about featuring the right product, for the right person at the right price.”
Providing an inviting and non-exclusive retail message can also help a brand. Sydney-based designer Mela Purdie’s label is stocked in 250 stores across Australia and New Zealand with the branding message ”building blocks for a modern woman’s wardrobe”. ”My label is designed for women re-inventing themselves. They may be going back into the workforce after maternity leave or saying goodbye to the powersuit as they retire,” explains Purdie, who is in her mid-40s. ”I want to take the work out of getting dressed but still create garments that are figure-friendly but fashion forward.” Purdie also uses her own staff as house models to fit her range, which is available in sizes 8-22. ”My staff range from 19-60 and we’re all heights, sizes and shapes – like real women,” she says.
The face of a brand can also send a strong message to the consumer. Several so-called former Australian “nanna brands” have been given a face lift in recent times by way of a new brand ambassador . Actor Georgie Parker, 45, joined Katies earlier this year representing a new direction for the budget fashion chain with its new “style, fashion and value” message designed to entice a new customer.
Sportscraft’s hiring of Kristy Hinze in 2007 has proved a re-branding success story. Hinze may only be 29 but she appeals to an older consumer.
Sarah Murdoch, 37, is the queen of the brand ambassadors. She has been with Bonds for a decade, turning Cottontails into a sexy must-have. The soon-to-be-mother-of-three is also the face of the new Bonds Supershape bra.
Bonds’ new hero collection is called Youth but Murdoch says when she looks at the new campaign she looks beyond the young model’s face.
“I look at the outfit separately from the model and see a way in which I can make it work for me. I will definitely wear those pants but I would I wear it with the cropped sloppy? No, I’d team it with the longer one.”
Murdoch does concede “there is an age when you do walk into the shops and think, ‘This is not for me.’
”Hemlines are too short. But I have always dressed simply anyway. I have never been into mini-skirts, so it’s not like I have ever felt as though I needed to start dressing for my age.”
Country Road has been very careful not to overtly label its new label, Trenery, as an over 40s label even though it is. Head office hopes consumers perceive Trenery as a new lifestyle brand. “We let the clothes, the stores and imagery speaks for themselves; it’s up to the customer to decide whether or not it’s right for them,” says the creative director of Country Road and Trenery, Sophie Holt.
“Intuitively it was the next step for us since we believed this was almost the forgotten market.
”I think as you get older you know who you are and what you want out of life. There is also a factor of an increase in confidence. They feel that they know themselves and, unlike when they were younger, they can make up their own minds.”
Nicole Richie has already Twitpic’d hers and Mary-Kate Olsen was spotted wearing hers on the way to JFK. The latest iteration of the studded leather jacket, that is—this one from Katie Nehra’s Simone label. The L.A.-based designer is picking up left-coast fans, as they say, left and right. But the latest admirer of the Fall ‘10 style ($1,080), a cropped moto jacket with exaggerated lapels, is none other than Patti Smith. After hearing that the singer-turned-Just Kids memoirist was lusting after the jacket (spotting it on one of Nehra’s friends in Manhattan), the designer made sure to rush a jacket for Smith into production. “You can custom-order the jacket any way you want,” Nehra said, pointing to the exaggerated studs and last name emblazoned on the back of hers. “But for Patti, I’m going to leave all those decisions up to her.”
We already knew that Tommy Ton is the king of street-style photography, but last night, he was given the official crown at the annual Bloglovin’ Awards. While Tommy’s JakAndJil blog won for best street style at the event, organized by blog update alert site Bloglovin’, he was joined in the winners circle by the likes of ManRepeller’s Leandra Medine (who took home Blogger of the Year) and Olivia Palermo (named Newcomer of the Year). Congrats to Tommy Ton!Photo: Phil Taylor / Courtesy of Tommy Ton
