On Friday 17th February, the JD Williams team
organised a protest, titled #GrowUpLFW, to campaign against age discrimination
on the catwalk at London Fashion Week.
Standing outside Fashion Week’s main venue on The Strand,
five models over the age of 45, including former models Jilly Johnson (63) and
Janie Felstead (65), called for a wider use of older models on the runway.
With the current average age of
models at LFW being 17, our five models challenged this and asked why
models workload decreases with age, particularly on the runways of the
capital’s renowned fashion event.
The models stood with placards featuring slogans including
‘Grow Up LFW’ and ‘Fashion Has No Age Limit’ and encouraged the press and
public to join in.
Jilly Johnson was quoted: “Women don’t suddenly stop wearing
or buying clothes after their twenties, so why isn’t this reflected in the
models used in fashion shows? We’ve started to be more inclusive when it
comes to ethnicities and disabilities on the runway – which is fantastic – but
why not all ages?”
The atmosphere before, during and after the protest was
fantastic, especially as the models really believed in what they were
campaigning for. We hope that this had an impact on the fashion industry and we
will see a wider use of older models on the SS18 catwalks.
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