Step aside Peter Pan, we want to grow up

Hero image: @Greceghanem

Gone are the days where we get scared of our first grey hair and Google ‘Botox’ after not sleeping well the night before. All over TikTok I’m seeing iconic older adults posting their own content, or younger generations featuring their parents or grandparents.

In the comments? ‘I want to be you when I grow up’.

Aging is in, and the chic brigade have been jumping right into it for a while.

Feeds are filled with brands hero-ing mature models, from Meshki melting our hearts with a beautiful love story and Loewe giving iconic status, to Willem Defoe and Miu Miu navigating a ghost love triangle and a Refy campaig celebrating timeless beauty.

It’s not just models, I’ve been following mature influencers for a while and recently their collaborations have been bigger than ever before. My favourite duo Aki and Koichi have been working with Sézane, Ugg and Chevrolet. The glorious Grece Ghanem has been working with Marks and Spencer’s, Hermes and Reiss.

Amy Bell, originally The Little Magpie, always posts the most lovely content of her family and partner, but one person is always the star of the show – her Gran. Whether it was her idea or Barbour’s to include her grandparents in their latest collab, it was genius. Bringing relatability and style straight to the audience who loves her authentic family stories. This is the perfect application to navigating the algorithm, where we are rewarded for telling a story, bringing emotion into our content rather than just aesthetics.

What can we learn about the continuing rise of older icons?

Brands have noticed this cultural shift in celebrating an older generation. They resonate with audiences because they embody lived experiences, rather than filtered perfection. They are acknowledging that aging isn’t the end, and in fact it is an influence, an act of optimism.

The benefit? Using mature models and influencers bridges a gap in audiences, it gives different generations an idol to aspire to.

For an older audience they see their age being celebrated and someone just like them showing confidence in who they are.

For a younger audience, they used to idolise agelessness, and now, they are idolising aging well. It adds to the wider conversation that right now they are struggling under the weight of the cost of living, student loans and an uncertain political climate to name a few. This isn’t just an aesthetic, it’s emotion. It’s joy, and proof that life doesn’t fade. They are looking to see that their future is bright, and who better to look up to than an iconic older model.

If aging is now an aspiration, maybe it’s time to rebrand youth as an attitude?