The fashion industry might be known for celebrating youth and throwing up trends that look ridiculous on anyone over the age of 21, but as London Fashion Week kicks off tomorrow, one brand is trying to change all that. This afternoon saw the launch of 50+ Fashion Week - a 25-minute catwalk show at the Café Royale in London designed to prove that it’s about style, not age.
But 50+ Fashion Week wasn’t just a publicity stunt. The idea came about after JD Williams commissioned a piece of research that showed older women feel they’re being ignored by the fashion industry. In a survey the retailer conducted via YouGov, 58% of the approximately 12 million females over 50 in the UK (four million of whom are between 50 and 64) said they felt woefully under-represented on the high street. 50+ Fashion Week then was designed to rouse that audience to flex their spending power and demand more from fashion brands and retailers.
It also makes economic sense. Figures from the Centre for Economics and Business Research show that 50+ women spend £6.7 billion a year on women’s wear, over 4% of the market and growing at a rate of 1% a year. Meaning JD Williams - a retailer that’s been selling clothes for women since 1875 first from catalogues and now online - are tapping into quite the new business opportunity.
