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Amid the swarming chaos backstage at New York Fashion Week, I thought I'd seen it all as far as hair goes – poodle-worthy bouffants towering toward the ceiling, metallic slick-backs that shimmered as though the hair was spun from gold, styles adorned with everything from pearls to fishnets to flowers to piercings. But something incredibly simple had been missing from that catalogue: grey hair. It took Batsehva's fall 2024 show on 13 February to make me fully realise it.
To showcase her signature whimsical styles with loud patterns and funky silhouettes, New York City-based designer Batsheva Hay exclusively cast women over the age of 40. She didn't approach any modelling agencies with this request; she approached women she happened to see out and about on the street. She even cast a few of her friends.
What resulted was a statement-making show that unashamedly put the features that naturally accompany age on display. Smile lines framed lips painted in bright colours. Winged eyeliner perched atop and between crow's feet. And grey hair made a multitude of cameos — 14 to be exact. One model's straight, pitch-black hair was swept back into a ponytail to highlight the white strands along her hairline. Another's tightly coiled hair served as the perfect canvas for her blended mixture of charcoal and silver tones. And in a moment of encouragement for every woman committed to the awkward transition away from dye, One gorgeous model's glossy waves showcased grey roots overtaking the blonde highlights that lingered from midshaft-down. (Turns out, under those runway lights and atop a leopard print dress, there's nothing awkward about the look at all!)
For most fashion shows, there is a hair look. It is discussed and debated in the days before the event, then executed with precision — high, sleek ponytails; crisp chignons; cascades of curls. For this season's Batsheva show, however, hairstylist Justine Marjan gave each model “a different hairstyle that showcases their unique personality,” which only added to the show's diversity (and, in a way, reflected the element of organized chaos in Hay's designs).
Street casting, using models over 40, and personalizing hair on the runway are all things that have been done before but in smaller and less impactful ways. It's a rare, impressive, and much-appreciated feat that one designer could combine all three of those methods to give their fashion show a sense of authenticity and relatability — something that runway fashion has been increasingly lacking as diversity wanes and consumerism booms post-pandemic.
All of these “real women” that Batsheva cast in its show are, of course, incredibly beautiful in a way that most people will find aspirational or maybe even unattainable (if you had told me they were professional models, I would believe you). And I do have to point out that, for all its wonderful age and race diversity, this show was lacking when it comes to representing everyday body types, especially bigger ones or disabled ones.
However, the importance of positioning mature beauty as something to admire at this current moment in time is not lost on me. Young people across TikTok frequently cower in fear or laugh hysterically when looking at older versions of themselves mocked up by ageing filters. Red carpet events feel more baby-faced than ever, regardless of the average age of their attendees. Even my dentist is offering Botox these days (and not for jaw tension).
For context, I'm 29. That's a sticky age when it comes to self-image and ageing. Despite having the rigorous skin-care/hair-care regimen and a plethora of cosmetic treatments any beauty editor has access to, I can't control the fact that my face is changing and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Or the fact that my dark hair is likely going to be streaked with white sooner rather than later. Despite what internet youths will tell me, I'm still very young. But teetering on the edge of 30 makes you think about ageing in a new way, and for me, that applies especially to the ways I see women older than me represented (or not represented) in different industries.
When you no longer identify with the images of plump cheeks, textureless foreheads, and smooth undereyes that seem to be in every advertising campaign, on every popular album cover, and, of course, on every runway, you realise just how infrequently you see women over 40 represented in media in a way that values their aesthetics, not just their “wisdom.” Women of all ages deserve to be respected for their characteristics beyond the physical — but society often approaches younger women with unabashed, leering desire. Meanwhile, older women are met with either a back-handed sense of pity about their loss of beauty or an ass-kissing attitude that suggests their cumulation of life experiences compensates for their lack of youthful appearance.
What Batsheva said at their show last night is that older women are worthy as they exist. They're beautiful. They're fashionable. They're cool! They just are.
That in and of itself seems to be Hay's motivation for casting the show this way. “Since turning 40, I have felt a real shift in my place in the fashion world, which is so obsessed with youth, as well as in the way I like to dress,” she tells Allure. “I wanted to create an environment on my runway where ageing and grey hair were out on display and where that was fun and cool and aspirational.”
Though the emotional impact of the grey hair itself wasn't totally intentional, it was certainly a pleasant surprise. “When the models arrived, we were all surprised at how amazing it felt to see so much grey hair — we all remarked on it,” Hay recalls. “We told the hair team to amp up each woman’s hair as it was. It was truly the most fun backstage I have ever had.”
Rather than saying, “Let's make a statement about diversity to sell clothes,” it seems Batsheva Hay simply wanted to make her runway feel like an accurate reflection of her own life and personality. That's why it doesn't come off as ungenuine or like a marketing ploy, as hyper-diverse runway shows sometimes can. (It did successfully sell the brand to me, though; I went poking through Batsheva's website right after seeing this show.)
It all begs the question: Why is the fashion industry so afraid of letting naturally grey hair or faces with fine lines shine on runways? Why does an instance of an older cast of runway models have to be a rare one? As Hay says, “Fashion doesn’t have to be mean and exclusionary.” Clearly, when it's not, the results speak for themselves.
This feature was originally published on Allure.
