40 is the New 30
Current mood: sassy

This article, published in the International Herald Tribune ("the world's daily newspaper"), epitomizes the sentiment that pervades the 40-something set, of which I recently became a member! In fact, I even had "Forty is the new thirty" printed on the invitations to my fortieth birthday party! Read the article below for more insight into this new mindset. Is 40 the new 30? Stars redefine age

By Jessica Michault International Herald Tribune FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005

A celebrity celebration is on the horizon for Sarah Jessica Parker, Linda Evangelista, Elizabeth Hurley, Brooke Shields, Gong Li, and Diane Lane.

And this is one party invitation which none of these glamorous women can refuse: Their 40th birthday.

The big four-O is hitting a generation of beauties who are set to become role models for what used to be called middle age. It may still be the moment to turn a svelte tanned back on the miniskirt. But the old ideas about spreading waistlines, desiccated skin, and matronly clothes have been banished by the gym and the spa - and by a new dynamic attitude.

As Diane Von Furstenberg, inventor of the seductive and ageless wrap dress puts it: "Being 40 today is what 30 used to be, and 50 is the new 40."

A milestone birthday is a time to take stock of life achievements - not just personal style. But significantly, many of the stars who turn 40 this year built their careers by taking advantage of a fashion moment.

There is Parker's Sex and the City obsession with Manolo Blahnik shoes, Hurley and her safety-pin Versace gown, Shields's commitment to her Calvin Klein jeans, and Evangelista's evergreen modeling career. But now, riding on the coattails of the baby boomer generation (people born between 1945 and 1964), these iconic fashion celebrities and their contemporaries will be taking on a new responsibility. They will become high profile emissaries for how society defines what getting older looks like and, more importantly, be role models on how best to dress the part.

The telltale signs of a shift in outlook are already showing up in Hollywood. The overwhelming success, both in ratings and awards, of the new prime time dramedy Desperate Housewives, about a group of 40-something suburban housewives, is just one example of the power this aging generation is welding.

Add to this the greenlighting of shows like Fat Actress starring Kristie Alley (54) and Comeback starring Lisa Kudrow (41) about a one-time sitcom star trying to resuscitate her career, reveal a trend celebrating grown-up actors and their television-viewing counterparts.

If 40 is the new 30, how will designers handle this fashion-savvy demographic, which has at least 20 years' worth of in-the-trenches shopping experience? This wealthy group of women will not easily part with their hard-earned disposable income on a one season wonder or flight of fancy.

With most of the top fashion designers well ensconced in the over 40 age bracket, what works for the growing "gray" market is already familiar territory. Therefore, to a certain extent, fashion designers will continue to create collections as they have always done, building looks that they could see themselves or their close friends wearing.

"I have always been about designing for women," says Donna Karan, whose arrival 20 years ago on the fashion scene transformed the working woman's wardrobe. "It is not about losing the sexy and sensuality, but about gaining sophistication," she says.

Another reason there won't be any radical changes in the way top fashion houses put together a collection is they don't see a need to woo a 40-year-old woman who already know which designers she looks good in. It is the 20- and 30-something fashion novice that designers are looking to bring into the fold, creating new lifetime customers.

"By 40 we know what works for our body type," says Lois Joy Johnson, fashion director at More, a glossy magazine for women over 40. "We have learned about personal style, it is more about appreciating yourself and less about persecuting yourself."

While women over 40 might be better in tune with what clothing works for them, they are also breaking all the age appropriate fashion rules set out by their predecessors. Women are no longer letting society dictate what they can wear, and clothes that once identified one generation from the next have fallen by the wayside.

"We are seeing that everything is being postponed: kids, marriage, adult life and old age." says Dr. David Metz, co-author with Michael Underwood of Older, Richer, Fitter, a user's guide on how to market to the gray generation.

As each passing year pushes the end point of middle age farther away, a new vocabulary is taking shape.

Metz sees the future as a more ageless society, where "a person's capabilities, goals and lifestyle will define people more that any number." And with the technical advances made over the last decade to help slow or mask the aging process, the old adage "age is a state of mind" seems to gain credence by the minute.

For Joy Johnson this comes as no surprise: "Women over 40 have never looked so incredible. We work out, we watch our diet, we take care of our skin - we look hot!"