Marie Helvin, 63, leads models with a combined age of 700 on the catwalk for the first Fifty Plus Fashion Week
Former Vogue cover girl and muse Marie Helvin, 63, has taken to the catwalk with other mature models for the first ever Fifty Plus fashion week.
The fashion icon, who has been modelling since the age of 15, opened the show launched by retailer JD Williams in London this afternoon.
Closing the show was Daphne Selfe, who is the UK's oldest working model at the age of 87.
On the eve of London Fashion Week, women with a combined age of 700 made history by walking in the first show to use a full cast of models over the age of 50.
Models were styled by 70-year-old fashion expert, Caroline Barker.
Opening the show, Marie stepped down the catwalk in a black belted jumpsuit with a flared legs.
Photo: mermaid prom dresses 2016
The sleeveless number showed off her enviably toned arms and complimented the slim figure that she has shown off in lingerie shoots even after hitting 60.
She first started modelling for Vogue in the early 1970s and was made famous by nude shots taken by photographer David Bailey, to whom she was previously married.
The oldest working model, Daphne Selfe, 87, was given the prestigious role of closing the show.
Daphne was discovered as a model aged 21, when she won a local competition to feature on the cover of the Reading & Berkshire Review, but fell out of favour in the Sixties.
She was rediscovered as a model aged 70, when she was cast to walk the catwalk for Red or Dead, which led to her being photographed by Nick Knight in Hussein Chalayan for Vogue.
Aged 83, she posed in a corset for an Oxfam campaign for people to donate old bras a
The ten participants showcased designs by students from the London College of Fashion as well as pieces for the JD Williams AW16 collection.
Taking to the catwalk was Elsa Turnbull, 51, a silver-haired model who stepped out in a pink floral boho dress with a brown suede belt.
She also a patchwork shift dress with fur sleeved coat, designed by Rita Cardoso Dos Santos.
The event was attended by fashionistas in their 50s and beyond, such as TV personality and former model Jo Wood, 60, actress Susan George, 65, and Jean Wood, 77, a glamorous grandmother who reinvented herself as a fashionista after being widowed at 70 and appeared in Channel 4's Fabulous Fashionistas documentary.
Second year design course students from London College of Fashion took part in an industry project to create designs specifically tailored to women over 50, taking into account market research and physical changes that result from ageing.
Half of women over 50 don't feel their age group is well represented in TV or magazines - a minimal growth of ten per cent on the findings unveiled in the first ever study of its kind over a year ago.
The top 20 pieces were shown at the event, but five were shortlisted for the honour of winning design.
These were the 30 Way Coat by Menge Wu, a Floral Boho Dress by Oliver Lamoury, Huong Nguyen's Oversized Poncho, a patchwork shift dress with fur sleeved coat, designed by Rita Cardoso Dos Santos and a retro printed jacket with bejewelled batwing dress by Sarah Shaw.
The overall winner was Meng Wu's trend led coat that can be worn in 30 different ways.
The design will be put into production and sold online at JD Williams for AW16. And Meng has also been offered an internship with the retailer.
'JD Williams customers have varied needs and tastes,' Meng said. 'They want formal, casual, neutral, colourful, long, short, comfort.
They also want clothes that flatter and enhance their figures. I designed my "30 ways to wear" coat with these needs in mind. My coat is also warm, easy to clean, waterproof and durable.'
Ed Watson, spokesperson for JD Williams, commented: 'Age should be no barrier to style and we're breaking convention with our cast of fabulous 50+ models.'
'Partnering with the London College of Fashion for Fifty Plus Fashion Week allowed us to combine the best emerging talent the UK has to offer with some of the most experienced and inspirational models of our generation.
'JD Williams has led the charge for championing the 50+ woman for over 140 years and this collaboration will allow the next generation of designers to do so too.'
The partnership is a first for the retailer and for the college students, who until now have focussed their work on traditional sample size and younger models - and hadn't explored the mind-set of a 50+ shopper.
The event was also used to launch a YouGov report that revealed more than half of British women over the age of 50 are not confident about how they look.
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