Does anyone else feel disenfranchised by models?

Plenty of older women models around. They are almost as essential to ads and magazine articles as models from other ethnic groups.

When it comes to size and shape, garment companies want to show their clothes off to best advantage and in a way that makes it easy to see the main features. There are standard sizes clothes are cut to fit and it makes sense to display them on models of the right proportions.

The problem is real people come in so many different sizes and shapes manufacturers would have to make clothes in hundreds of different sizes, all in short runs. This would mean that the cost of clothes would rocket up.

Surely all of us, as we reach adulthood know the vagaries of our shape and size and we filter out all clothes that we know in advance are unflattering.

I have no waist, my hips are almost level with the bottom of my rib cage, so I try to avoid wearing clothes that fit to the waist. They make me look huge, even though I am not over weight. I know what colours suit me and what styles I like wearing. So if I see a model in a coat with a tie belt in a fetching shade of black, my eye moves on, the style and colour will look awful on me, so my eye moves on.

I am quite happy to see clothes on a slim model. It makes it easy to see the garments features. I rarely look at their faces, so do not notice how old they are. It is the clothes I am looking at.

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as a result of this thread I have spent over £20 on snag tights

How many people out there with a sad and lonely sewing machine in the back of a cupboard, in the garage or in the loft? The Palmer/Pletch Guide to Fitting will answer all your non-standard shape needs! Give it a go but beware! You'll get hooked!

I have received several catalogues which tell me the sizes of any particular garment are available for sizes 8- 24.

I have written to them offering to buy IF they can guarantee that the design was scaled down from the largest available, rather than scaled up from the smallest ( I am size 18-20)
Strangely, I have never received an answer to this so must assume that the scaling is entirely inadequate for someone my size
Young models with their hand tucked into the waist band do not help me assess either. I do not need something where the cut-off point is around the widest point of my abdomen

Another odd point is the changes firms make whilst maintaining the same size coding. I can still wear a couple of pairs of trousers in a particular size but the replacements, apparently same firm , size and fit, are entirely unsuitable

As I had to queue for an hour the last time I tried to return stuff ( queue full of women on the same mission), I certainly do feel disenfranchised in this sphere

M0nica I'm the opposite of you, I have a long body and find it difficult to get trousers that come to my waist. Thank heavens for M&S high waist jeggings, the only ones I've found that sit comfortably on my waist and also reach beyond my ankles. Swimwear is a nightmare too.

My complaint is that as I am just under 5’ I’m not able to find anything in the petite range. I used to get clothes at Wallis, but online they don’t have much for the older woman. I take a size 10 and trousers are miles too long and dresses just hang on me.

I am slightly shorter than you GrandeTante and weigh a few kilos more, but I can assure Lucca that while I do not have any difficulty in finding clothes in my size that should, theoretically, to fit me in normal ranges, it doesn't stop one having all the idiosyncracies of figure that one has had all one's life. In my case I am very short between waist and crotch. My hip bones and ribs almost meet, so I have no waist and most trousers are a comfortable fit around the armpits and anything waisted makes me look fat and overweight.

Bonmarche advertises itself as catering for the older generation yet hard to spot one model that looks over 60 years of age. Is an order generation now 30 years old? M & S occasionally has an order looking model but still at least 5'7" and size 10. Don't know about catalogues, haven't look through one for decades.

I did write the word disenfranchised consciously, not in the sense of being unable to vote but in the sense of not feeling part of society. Being unable to see people like ourselves could make you feel that you aren’t part of the world, or not valued by it. That is how I feel when the vast majority of images I see in the fashion media are of women aged under 30, tall, thin and pretty. I don’t think it’s as bad for men. Just as an example, I like Joe Browns clothes but their male models are so much more diverse than their females..you know, proper silver foxes, there is no one remotely like me in their catalogue nor on line. What’s the female equivalent? Silver vixens! Lovely.

I normally dress like the Queen, but my crown's in the wash!
Seriously, though, it amazes me how she looks so good in clothes that I wouldn't dream of wearing. Especially some of the really bright colours.
Good luck to you, Ma'am, and I hope that you shake off the Covid quickly.

I bought one of these recently, and a conker one, after seeing a children's dress I loved, my DIL found it online in the sale and I bought that and a conker one for myself, don't care if they are aimed at young Mums

No I don’t feel disenfranchised by anybody. In fact I like to see attractive models of any age modelling clothes, hairdos, makeup etc. Then I can kid myself I can look like that ?

the scrawny, tall models

I wonder if people used to describe me as 'scrawny' when I was a size 8 and 5 ft 9 in tall ? My DM used to tell me I was too skinny, but then she also said that when I was size 10, 12, 14 and she still says it now I'm size 16. And still 5 ft 9 in tall. And I've never dieted in my life.

I find I look at the clothes rather than the models, who are just glorified clothes hangers. What does make me feel 'disenfranchised' is the limited choice of sizing in women's clothes compared to men's. Men have trousers in a choice of lengths and flat or pleated fronts, shirts in many collar sizes and different fits. I struggle to find trousers that are long enough in a mature fit i.e. waist larger than hips, dresses that have a waistline that isn't riding up to my armpits and tops that don't hang longer at the front than the back. And don't get me started on getting a bra that fits!

AreWeThereYet

^Lordy, the day I dress like the queen will be a long time coming!^

?? Does anyone else dress like the Queen??

Perish the thought.

grandtanteJE65

I am not really bothered about who models the clothes.

I would just like to see some clothes for sale that are suitable for a woman of my age and build, which is 70, 1 m 62 and 56 kg

They don't exist, as clothes for my height and build are meant for 14 year old girls!

I can’t see why not ? You are very petite lucky lady so plenty of clothes out there for size 8 etc. skinny jeans for example, Zara dresses etc

FannyCornforth

Have you seen the ladies who model for Snag tights?

I have several pairs of snag hold up tights as I can’t wear the normal ones since my surgery. I only wear snag tights if we are going out somewhere special. I can’t bear the restriction.

I mainly buy 95% cotton/wool wherever possible to avoid over-heating and tend to stick with about 5/6 companies within my price range. Most of what I buy isn’t for fashion so I often wait for the prices to be reduced and/or vouchers.

I’ve also got more hair than I know what to do with! I was planning to get it tidied up before my hospital admission on Tuesday but I have to self isolate instead.

If you spot a 5’ tubbyish unfashionable lady with a haystack on her head. It will be me!

Models with long hair so you cannot see what the collar is like or how wide the straps are on a top is my bugbear.

AreWeThereYet

If I'm honest I don't care what the model looks like or how old she is. I look at the features on the clothes, check the length and sizing, and the colours. If I still think it would suit me I buy it. If I see something that looks good on a larger model I'm likely to ignore it because it probably won't suit my shape as I won't have the curves to fill it out.

I see an opportunity here for a business opportunity for the entrepreneurs amongst you - set up a blog and model the clothes yourselves to let others see what they look like on your shape and colouring.

My problem with the scrawny, tall models is that you really can't see the fit/shape of the clothes because they're often pinned back to make them fit the unnatural, pre-pubescent shape of the girls modelling them.

No way!

Lordy, the day I dress like the queen will be a long time coming!

?? Does anyone else dress like the Queen??

coastalgran

Just keep watching the Queen, a great model throughout her life and especially since Angela Kelly started advising her and being her dresser. The model for the Tena advert is another good advert for an older lady with curves who says that you can wear what you want and are never too old for lovely clothes and earrings, I love the gold ones she wears in the ad.

Lordy, the day I dress like the queen will be a long time coming!

lizzypopbottle there are loads of them, but as you say, most in the US. There are also dozens of blogs outside of YouTube as well, with women of all shapes and sizes trying things on. I'm sure it would be cheaper for M&S to sponsor a blog than do millions of photo shoots with models of all shapes and sizes and skin colours and ages ?

If you go to Walkers-Style.com (I might have got that slightly wrong but it'll be easy to find), the business owner Anne often models the clothes. She's a good +++ size. Other models on that site are also simply those who work there rather than agency professionals.