The age-positivity model who won't let grey stand in her way

She's found her silver lining

The 53-year-old model and advocate for age visibility on questioning beauty standards, having fun with fashion and why strength training is more important than ever. 

 You decided to embrace your greys after getting sick of touching up your roots every two weeks and documented the process on your account @thesilverlining_1970. How did going grey change how you feel about ageing?

I felt like I was on a treadmill that I never realised I was on and it made me examine ageing with a different mindset. [I asked myself] was this how I really felt about ageing or was this what beauty magazines said I needed to be ashamed of and to hide my wrinkles at all costs? When I realised there was life without all of that, I felt so much healthier in terms of how I viewed my ageing.

Will I look at my face every morning and love it? I think it's hard for anyone to do. Asking women to love their wrinkles or jowls is a very challenging place to get to when we're trying to unpack years of conditioning. So for me, it's about age neutrality: getting up in the morning, putting on sunscreen, not criticising myself and just embracing this chapter of my life. 

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After working as a photographer and in marketing, you decided to go back into modelling to represent the change you wanted to see in the industry. What prompted that move?

It wasn’t long after I started going grey. At that point, I needed to make a decision about how I was going to turn up in that industry: was it going to be as someone that 40-year-old Me needed to see [who embraced ageing]? I decided it was. It's really important that all types of ageing are represented and we’re not just platforming a very smoothed-out, glazed doughnut look, and we're looking at women who aren't apologising for their bodies getting older.

I'm not having Botox and all those things; for me, it doesn’t represent what the skin of a 53-year-old might look like. I have dynamic wrinkles and they show up in photos. It’s why I got involved with Ella Baché’s In My Own Skin campaign, which promotes the idea that healthy skin looks different on everyone. I love any opportunity to work with a brand that’s inclusive. 

53-year old model and age visibility champion Luisa Dunn. Image: Google.

What’s your approach to fitness in your 50s and how has it changed over time? 

I've walked my whole life. It's my exercise, but that doesn’t help my upper body. It doesn't help my strength, my fall risk – all those things that you want to ensure yourself against. Now at my age, I need to do more strength training because the science is black and white that you need it to protect your muscles and bone density, so you retain as much independence as you can as you get older.

 have a gym buddy and we're making strength training fun by also incorporating boxing and other things. I’m five weeks in and I’m loving it. 

Lastly, in what ways do you feel younger than your age?

I love to encourage people to not give up on fashion. A lot of women collect clothes over the years, and there's no reason to be dumping 15-year-old dresses just because we supposedly “age out” of the style.

Fashion has no expiry date. Same goes for make-up. I’d always thought, ‘you can't wear sparkles because that enhances your crinkles’, or ‘you can't use bright colours because that draws attention to your hooded eyelids’, but that’s only if your priority is to look younger.

I didn’t want to live in Beige Land because I was scared that I’d make my wrinkles stand out. So I have fun with makeup and I like to experiment with things. I brought colour back, and hope more women will.

Rapid fire round

I look up to: Annie Lennox

Go-to way to relax: Walking

My happy song: Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden

Fave treat meal: Ice-cream 

The book I re-read: Face by Justine Bateman

Fave time-waster: Playing with dogs

Originally published as The age-positivity model who won't let grey stand in her way