Meet the 80-year-old model breaking societal norms
As you grow older, it seems everywhere you turn, you have a shining youthful face beaming in front of you. Whether you walk into a department store and are greeted by cosmetic campaigns showing women in their 20s trying to find the solution to “ageing” or a 30-something lady modelling outfits targeted towards the senior age bracket – the alienation of older woman is alarming.
It can make anyone feel defeated, not seeing enough representation is a societal problem, but there is one beacon of hope.
80-year-old Beate Howitt has started a new career: Modelling.
“It’s sensational,” Beate told the Daily Mail. “I’ve always dreamed of being a model. Of course, part of me was surprised anyone wanted to see this old face. But I’ve never thought of myself as getting older; I always live in the moment. Now a whole new chapter of life is opening up.
“I walked into the bank recently and the cashier said: ‘Weren’t you on the TV?’ as my modelling had made the local news. I quite liked that. It all makes me feel I am worth knowing after all.”
The grandmother was discovered when out shopping in Oxford, where she lives.
Proving that it’s “never too late”, the former teacher who retired 10 years ago was quickly signed by London agency MOT Models.
It was fate that brought her to the glamorous career, but the passion was always there ever since she was young.
Beate first dreamt of working as a model more than 65 years ago, in the ‘50s when she was a teenager.
“I wanted to be a model when I was young,” she said. “We didn’t have much money and I had to make my own clothes, so I was really drawn to glamour.
“The New Look was in fashion then – nipped-in waists and full skirts – and my icon was British model Barbara Goalen. I followed her work and cut out everything I could find about her in magazines or adverts and stuck it in a book.
“I looked at pictures of her wearing Dior and dreamed of being paid to wear beautiful clothes like she was.”
Seven decades on, Beate was given the opportunity to live out her childhood dreams, despite thinking that door was firmly closed.