Advanced Style

Advanced style: the older you get, the better you know what looks good on you and how you can express yourself. And that’s just what the ladies of do. They don’t spend their days at home staring out the window, and they certainly don’t mince words. The concept of “overdressed” is not in their dictionary. The film follows several women who became famous because of the eponymous blog by Ari Seth Cohen. Cohen, himself the grandson of a stylish dame, roams the streets of New York in search of beautiful and creative older ladies. There is 80-plus Jackie, who once danced in the famous Apollo Theater, and the self-proclaimed “countess of glamour” Lynn Dell, another octogenarian. In the words of 90-something fashion icon Iris Apfel, “More is more and less is a bore,” and the quote fits all these fragile-bodied ladies like a glove. Thanks to the success of the blog, the women have become celebrities. They are being booked for TV shows and ad campaigns, from K-Mart all the way up to the chic French fashion house Lanvin. With their independent, dynamic and colorful way of life, the women provide an unconventional look at beauty and age, and they sweep aside the cult of youth: “I don’t want to look young at all, I want to look great!”