idle gaze 031: selling future aspiration.
Some people say 30 is the new 20. But, if you’re the business of selling clothes to dudes, you’re likely thinking that 50, 60, or even 70 is the new 20 given the spate of famous elderly pitchmen being tapped to rep luxury clothing brands and streetwear labels.
Boomers and Gen-X-ers, clad in their comfy walking shoes, quietly strode to the... See more
Boomers and Gen-X-ers, clad in their comfy walking shoes, quietly strode to the... See more
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This is a different kind of aspiration than the one found in closet tours of young influencers and celebrities. Many of those figures seem focused on stockpiling luxury brands and reacting to trends. Part of why Rockmore and Woodall feel so reassuring is that, like all cool older people, they seem comfortably past all that, as though they’ve... See more
New York Times • The Rise of the Over-50 Fashion Mentors (Published 2022)

And yet what they offer is not simply a fantasy of wealth itself. It is the fantasy of a well-lived life — the sense of having reached a place of power and inhabiting it comfortably. In a landscape where women their age are portrayed as either powerless and pitiful or powerful and despised, this feels revelatory.
New York Times • The Rise of the Over-50 Fashion Mentors (Published 2022)
With Gen Z, we're seeing a shift away from conspicuous consumption to conspicuous participation. Fashion brands are becoming a critical part of social movements, serving as a form of expression. LGBTQI+ issues are becoming increasingly mainstream, partially driven by a more fluid conception of gender amongst the young. A recent survey found that... See more