We’ve come a long way since the sickly, analogue representations of adult girliness of the 90s; the Vicar of Dibley‘s delightfully dippy Alice, Ab-Fab’s brilliantly brainless Bubble and Drew Barrymore’s somewhat disturbing portrayal of virginal Josie Geller in Never Been Kissed. The perpetual use of pink feather boas, hair clips and My Little Ponies on fully-grown women signified a jarring aesthetical juxtaposition often to comic effect. Increasingly such severe comparisons are difficult to draw, evidence seems to imply that the borders between generational expectations are becoming blurred and that girlhood is becoming more of an attitude than an age bracket.
New York trend forecasting group K-hole recently released a report suggesting that society ceases to be divided and categorised by age but instead by an outlook they call “Youth Mode”. “Youth is a mode. It’s an attitude”, it states. Girlhood no longer depends definitively on your demographic; instead it’s a decision and a perspective with which to approach everyday life. Take Sue Borne’s Fabulous Fashionistas for example, a documentary exploring the art of ageing in the company of six extraordinary women with an average age of 80. Bridget, Daphne, Jean, Gillian, Sue and Lady Trumpington each flip the bird at the expectations of the ageing process by continuing to attack life with bon viveur. Jean styles-out purple DMs, a Toni & Guy mullet-chop and works in Gap to help cope with the grief of losing her husband, Lady Trumpington speaks hilariously of her fear that the hairdresser she’s had for 30 years will retire before her, while Daphne, Britain’s oldest model at 86 still cleans up at castings – all without fillers or plastic surgery, I might add.
It’s not about being ridiculous or reliving previous versions of yourself, it’s about being present, being engaged with newness, most of all about having fun no matter what age you are.
Injecting youth goes far deeper than a jab of botox. Sure it’s difficult to tell the difference between Donatella and, well, any of the high-hairlines and turgid trout pouts that stumble out of The Sugar Hut, but beauty isn’t the defining factor here. It’s not about adults looking as childlike as possible or vice versa. Youth doesn’t come from baby North West, ears pierced, wearing a broach and clutching a miniature Chanel in Carine Roitfeld’s CR Fashion Book, and it doesn’t come from Madonna’s nostalgic yearning of another time portrayed via a steady stream of sexually charged grill and crotch shots. It’s not about being ridiculous or reliving previous versions of yourself, it’s about being present, being engaged with newness, most of all about having fun no matter what age you are. Anna Dello Russo does it right, a fashion week favourite at 52 she shares the street style pages with the likes of Cara, Suki and Edie. Experimental, playful and painfully on point, you won’t find her perusing the Peruna section of M&S.
Today, teenage girls are marketed to more directly than ever but online giants such as ASOS and Nasty Gal struggle to define exactly who they’re shipping to. Tumblr is awash with girls wearing the same Levi’s cut-offs and Supergas whether they’re 13 or 30. Your little sister might want Alexa Chung’s wardrobe but your mum’s got the Mulberry. Thanks to the internet, trends transpire as quickly as our Instagram feed loads, choice is the buzzword of the century and consumers can buy into whatever or whoever they want to be. Faceless OOTD, TIW and FWIS selfies make it impossible to guess a number, after all a thigh gap’s a thigh gap and your handbag looks the same regardless of how old the hand holding it is.
What do Tavi Gevinson and Anna Wintour have in common? A willingness to be adaptable. Letting go of defunct customs allows us to remain relevant, you can be anyone you want on the internet, pick a career, a persona and an age.
Changes in the terrain of business also mean we’re seeing women of all ages successfully trailblazing the career ladder simultaneously. The tools of the 21st century are available to all ages, not discriminating against college dropouts or late-life route changers. Although it may require more online cunning than ever, neither youth, nor old age need be an object. At 18 I blagged a job at a top advertising agency by applying virtually and concealing my true date of birth. I used Google to quickly crack every skill I’d lied about on my CV and by the end of the first week I was a Microsoft Office extraordinaire. When was the last time you looked in the newspaper for job vacancies? Fashion royalty Anna Wintour was recently appointed Editorial Director across all Condé Nast titles at age 63 to “ensure that content and culture remain at the forefront of our industry”. While 18-year-old Tavi Gevinson who started Style Rookie, a blog in which she showcased herself stern-faced and styled in technicolour at the tender age of 11, already lists writer, magazine editor, actress and singer on her well-Googled Wikipedia page. Her fresh outlook made her a high-school hero for many girls and fully-grown fashion-folk alike. What do these two role models have in common? A willingness to be adaptable. Letting go of defunct customs allows us to remain relevant, you can be anyone you want on the internet, pick a career, a persona and an age.
For previous generations life was defined by a socially determined timeline, a catalogue of landmark events that should occur within certain time frames. Once, a doctor in Soho told me that a person’s mental wellbeing is determined by how fittingly their ideals, life experiences and aspirations match up with preconceived categories based on age. At age 15 you should be spending time away from the nest, by 20 considering your career, by 25 thinking about a family and by 30 actively pursuing both. He also guessed my favourite colour to be purple based on the length of my fingers. It’s not. But that’s beside the point. Living life in Youth Mode is “an emancipation from boredom, from prescription, from tradition. It’s the fullness of potential, the ability to be the person you want to be”. Says K-Hole. With the pressure to adhere to generational-expectations slipping into past tense along with visions of 30-somthings wearing knee-high socks and clutching cuddly toys, women are free to embrace the less tangible characteristics of youth. It requires an emotional maturity to abandon the rigidity of practiced patterns, to embody the light, rebellious innocence of girlhood at any age.
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Text Leah Garwood-Gowers