Advanced Style, a photo blog by self-described “old-lady expert” Ari Seth Cohen, celebrates the stylish older
women he encounters and photographs on the streets of New York. This simple yet
subversive preference has made Cohen a leading light in street-style
photography, and has brought a measure of celebrity to some of his favourite
photo subjects. Seven of them appear at length in Lina Pliopyte’s documentary, Advanced Style,
which gets its world premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival on Tuesday. Here
are a few images of these women, for whom getting dressed is a pursuit that lies
somewhere between a calling and an art form.
Photos by Ari Seth Cohen
Three boldly different looks in one image: the playful, bright-coloured patterning of
93-year-old cabaret singer Ilona Royce
Smithkin, the elegant pointed
contrasts of former Cosmo editor
Joyce Carpati, and the monochrome
magic of Lynn Dell Cohen, reigning priestess at her New York vintage shop, Off
Broadway Boutique.
The watercolour flowers on Smithkin’s coat have the same soft edge as her
pencil portraiture - shown briefly in the film - and give figurative expression
to the lightness of all materials in this outfit. The whole thing conveys
freedom, springtime and fun, in a palette grounded in the reddish-orange of her
hair.
Everything here is huge: the hat, rings, bracelets, glasses, earrings, dress,
scarf and scarf pattern. Dell Cohen is great at playing with single qualities of
scale, texture and colour. In this case she sustains her essay on fabulous
bigness within two primary colours and a few secondary blends.
“Most of my wardrobe is thrifted
or gifted,” says Debra Rapoport,
who also makes dramatic fair-weather hats from dyed paper towels. A streak of
punk sensibility runs through her DIY fashion ethos, which also favours dazzling
bracelets made from toilet-paper rolls and furry-torsoed ensembles like
this one.
Carpati’s jacket is cut as loose
as a housecoat, with a big shawl collar and a playful butterfly pattern.
Double-breast buttoning and black edging give it a more formal look, enhanced by
the pendular gold earrings. She
looks both cosy and regal, with her hair in
the rustic pinned-braid style many of us associate with Ukrainian politician
Yulia Tymoshenko.
Jacquie “Tajah” Murdock was a dancer at Harlem’s fabled Apollo
Theatre, is now a model for Lanvin, and
wears outfits that emphasize her slim build and dramatic bearing. Here the
84-year-old strikes a characteristic pose in linen trousers and a soft-edged
patterned jacket in robin’s-egg blue.
Former suburbanite Zelda Kaplan made her outfits from hand-woven textiles
she found in Africa, including the striking red and black fabric used in this
four-piece ensemble. The 95-year-old was wearing this outfit when she collapsed
in the front row of a New York Fashion Week runway show, leaving this world in
what her friends called a fitting style.
Smithkin had trouble finding
false eyelashes that suited her, so she made some from clippings of her own
hair. Definitely not a look for those who want to get lost in the crowd, but
that’s what Advanced Style is about: mature women who don’t accept the
invisibility foisted on them by fashion’s obsession with youth.
Tziporah Salamon is a real virtuoso in the art of layering
and mixing patterns, as this energetic composite ensemble shows. The mannish,
slightly military style of her patchwork jacket gets a boost from the oversized
watch, the heavy double necklace and the bead-embroidered fez.
Salamon is a determined
vintage-store shopper who says it can take years to complete an outfit. She
varies pattern, texture and drape throughout this bold yet harmonious ensemble,
from the soles of her shoes to the top of her beanie - a characteristic choice
for someone who prefers hat designs that stay close to the head. Note the
painted bicycle tires.