Fresh from their pubic-hair-sporting mannequin controversy a few weeks ago, American Apparel have hired a 62-year-old lingerie model to represent the brand in their latest campaign. The controversial company claim they are pushing the boundaries of beauty, but are they simply out to shock?
American Apparel's newest hire, 62-year-old New York model, Jacky O'Shaughnessy, is pictured in the ad wearing a lace bandeau bra and high-waisted underwear. The image has the accompanying tagline 'Sexy Has No Expiration Date'. Despite being seemingly shocking, if you look beyond her unusual age of 62 years old, Jacky is still slim, white and gorgeous, so how diverse is this image, really, American Apparel?
Perhaps I'm a little cynical, but like Diesel's deployment of their wheelchair-bound (still model-beautiful) blogger model, it just seems like brands such as American Apparel are using the 'diversity' tag to try and seem more inclusive, despite all these 'diverse' models still bearing classic model good looks.
Personally, I would be a lot more impressed if American Apparel started using models with more 'interesting' looks to sell their clothes, and I don't mean a model with a few piercings or tattoos. I would be very impressed if a brand like American Apparel used models with facial disfigurements or some other kind of look that isn't deemed 'classically beautiful' but still represents something to aspire to.
I understand that American Apparel need an aspirational model to sell their clothes, but in doing so, they are still alienating a huge percentage of a possible target audience. There is a larger demographic of females who want to wear fashionable clothes, other than slim, classically good-looking people.
What do you think? Are American Apparel making a step in the right direction? Or is this the same old, same old model, under a new umbrella?
Leave your comments below, I'm interested in your thoughts.
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