The new It girl? Us
It comes as no surprise that optimism in the fashion world has been as rare a commodity as a pudgy model on the catwalk. CFOs of big designer brands, who, only a few collections ago, were sipping French champagne atop heaps of euros from their sales of collectible, "must-have" $1,500 handbags, obviously aren't sitting quite so pretty this fall.
And yet, two brave labels are venturing out into this big, bad recession and relaunching with A-list designers at the helm and slick, new campaigns: Isaac Mizrahi, who honed the art of affordable style with his own collection for Target, is now the head honcho at Liz Claiborne. Meanwhile, the enduring Anne Klein is being revamped by Ted Kim, formerly of Donna Karan and Michael Kors, with, in his words, "a facelift, tummy tuck and lots of yoga."
And what do these two lines have in common? Both are well priced, wearable, sophisticated and—drum roll, please—tailored to appeal to women our age.
So cheer up, girls. The way I see it, if there's one great thing to come out of the economic slump, it's that, for the very first time, our age group is the target market.
A brave new era for over-40 fashion
Remember when over 40 meant being invisible? Remember going shopping and never being able to find anything to wear? Well, now it appears those days might be over, and the fashion brands we love to hate for their ready dismissal of our less-than-perfect mannequin forms are taking notice.
Sure, thanks to personal trainers, a lot of attitude and, in some cases, a wee bit of Botox, we may be the finest looking batch of soon-to-be mothers of the bride to graduate the ranks. And true, the mature, polished Michelle Obama is fashion's new It girl. But I wonder whether there isn't another, more compelling reason we former fashion wallflowers are suddenly turning heads. Could it be that in these hard times, compared to the slighter pockets of those who've just landed their first jobs only to lose them, we are the ones with at least some money to spend?
