When it comes to advertising campaigns, the fashion and beauty industries don’t exactly have clean copybooks. Blighted by lack of race and age diversity, in recent years brands have tried to do better, but only after being shamed into doing so by public opinion. 

Which is why news that Charlotte Tilbury has just cast Twiggy, 72, as the face of her expanded and well-loved Pillow Talk collection, is so positive. The fabled 1960s British model joins a roster of older women including Helen Mirren, 76, and Jane Fonda, 83 – both ambassadors for L’Oreal – who prove that beauty brands are finally recognising that it’s good business sense to appeal to their vast army of loyal older customers. Tilbury might be adored by Gen-Z, but her cult products are equally coveted by their parents. And even their grandparents. 

Happily, when it comes to the representation of older models in fashion, things have improved since 2017, when Calvin Klein received criticism for casting Lauren Hutton, then 73, in a video campaign for its underwear, only for her to appear for two scant seconds near the end of the clip. The public quickly cried “tokenism”, and any impact was lost.

Given that older women are pretty much the only ones with any disposable income these days, it feels puzzling not to allow them to see themselves reflected in the ad campaigns of the brands they love and covet. Designer clothes and handbags have never been more expensive. Who do we think is buying them? Clue: not the teenage or twenty-something models fronting so many of the campaigns.