With marked expression lines on her face, wrinkles on her neck and completely white hair, Pino Montesdeoca appears in front of the camera wearing an orange bikini and half-covered in a black woven dress. Serious and upright, you can see how, barely emerging from a giant eggshell, she poses for an editorial photo that luxury clothing brand Simon Miller posted on its social media a few days ago. In other photos from the same shoot, the Spanish model gracefully and elegantly displays an outfit worn by women who appear to be only a third of her age. Pino, meanwhile, is 60 years old and has completely taken over the modeling world in recent seasons in Spain. With countless shows and campaigns for prestigious brands and designers, the model from the Canary Islands has turned her teaching career upside down and is dedicated to modeling as an older woman.

Two concepts that used to be mutually exclusive – fashion and old age – are now coming together as, it seems, beauty standards are finally expanding to include not just other body types, but also women in other ages. In Chile, the brilliant career of Mimi Bick This is a reflection of this trend which is spreading all over the world. At 64, Mimi -like Pino Montesdeoca- has made a shift in her career as a consultant on education and teaching issues, to dedicate herself more intensely to modeling. Although she never gave up on her other professional endeavors, today she is a constant model. And he appreciates that.

The Canadian first came to Chile in the 1980s with a Chilean she had met in England while studying philosophy and politics. Although she was willing to stay, she never thought she would end up marrying a Chilean, let alone a model almost 30 years later. And it is that this new facet more linked to the creative world took her by surprise. “The first time I did modeling was in 2016, in my mid-50s,” she says. “Modeling was a surprise and it wasn’t on my to-do list in my life,” she explains. Despite this, when they approached her after leaving a restaurant in Santiago to offer her the possibility of working for a salesman, she decided to accept. He had no previous experience, even as a young man, he had not been actively involved in the world of costume design or advertising, and his closest connection to the creative field was the influence of his mother. . “My mother was an architect and she always had a great interest in design, she had an innate sense of beauty, she had a great appreciation for art, but she had nothing directly related to the design industry. fashion,” says Mimi. Despite this, he clarifies that having spent most of his life occupied with other things, he never thought of being part of the modeling world.

“When they first told me about modeling, it seemed strange to me that someone would offer me this. Several months passed during which I forgot about the subject, but they called me and it made me curious,” he explains.His first experience was during a photo shoot with other models, she was far from the stereotype of the most exploitative and competitive dynamic that is usually shown when one talks about being a model. “It was a very nice experience,” recalls Mimi. But, despite the fact that senior models are a growing phenomenon, the visibility of old age in the world of beauty remains an exception and Not the rule.”Except for one time when a magazine did a feature with me and another older model, I’ve never had to work with other older models,” Mimi says. he experience she recounts, the notion of beauty in the world of fashion is indeed in full expansion, but the changes are still slow. “Working with senior models is something that doesn’t normally happen,” he says. Despite her short career, in the past 7 years she has been in this industry, she has seen changes. “There are definitely more older women and graying women in advertising today. I wish I could have contributed a drop to it,” he comments. This confirms that the inclusion of older ages in fashion has been a progressive cultural phenomenon.

Mimi is convinced that today there is certainly a greater interest on the part of certain brands for inclusion and which also considers old age. “There’s a kind of commercial interest in diversity,” he explains. And she points out that while fashion is still an industry that values ​​youth much more than experience and age, beauty paradigms have slowly developed. “Products and campaigns are always about looking young and that’s the way to take care of yourself,” he says. “I don’t think those messages are any less powerful or frequent today.” But while the focus remains on keeping people young, Mimi believes that momentum can co-exist with a greater focus on diversity. “I don’t think there’s a great acceptance or love of getting older. Because aging itself is not such an easy process for anyone”.

When we talk about beauty, the model believes that it is an issue that is in the eyes of the beholder. And, in this sense, there are people who see beauty in old age. “There are people who see older faces as beautiful. There are other people who don’t like it at all,” he explains. In her personal case, the reception of her work as a model has been almost entirely positive. In general, he explains, the public welcomes the exhibition of wrinkled faces and older bodies. “There is a group of people who appreciate these openings, but there is also ageism. The amount of one and the amount of the other depends on who is talking and what you are exploring.

Mimi explains that, in the end, modeling became for her a banner in the fight for inclusion. “It’s a cause I believe in. I think it’s healthy for people to see people like them reflected in the media,” he explains. It doesn’t matter what it looks like in practice. “It’s important for children to see children like them, for teenagers to see others like them so that they don’t feel alone in the world,” he says. And that same premise applies to older women. Because, for many years, old age has been a taboo in the fashion industry, which has perpetuated the social condemnation that prevails on aging in societies like ours. However, the work of role models like Mimi shows a paradigm shift that, while slowly developing, is definitely moving in the right direction.