When I first started blogging as That’s Not My Age nine years ago, I was as a last resort banging on about the lack of older models, my Grey-dar forever on high alert. But whereas in the past, the older model was limited to a healthcare or life insurance gig (cue woman strolling jauntily down the seashore in a lilac waterfall cardigan and stretch chinos), now nearly every week there’s another glorious silver-haired model in an advertisement for a fashion brand. While this age-appreciation is fabulous – it is wonderful to see women such as Daphne Selfe, 88, Maye Musk, 69, and Lauren Hutton, 73, looking lively and stunning, I still can’t help wondering: where have all the fiftysomething fashions gone?

Although the shape industry has finally woken up to the power of the Silver Spend (in the UK, the 50+ person accounts for 47% of consumer spending), advertisers appear to demand resorted to a kind of “diversity checklist”. Model with colourless hair: tick. That’s age sorted then. But the view of the older missus we’re being shown is signified by someone in her 60s, 70s, or beyond. It’s slow; it creates an age gap and we still end up with extremes. Young and sexy or old and fetishised – impose upon your pick.

“When it comes to advertising to older being, age myopia really kicks in,” says Kevin Lavery, a marketing and advertising adept for the 50+ cohort and vice-chairman of the Mature Marketing Association (MMA). “Either that or the artistic director reaches straight for the blue-rinsed grannies from primary casting.” We’ve moved on from invisibility to stereotype, and this be of diversity makes age feel like just another the go fad.

“It does feel tokenistic,” confirms Rebecca Valentine, the go lame of Grey Model Agency. “When my fiftysomething models go for castings, we oftentimes get reports back that they look too young.” We’re be absent from out on mid-lifers, which is a shame given that Valentine’s roster classifies attention-grabbing women such as: Sara Stockbridge, 51, the ex- Vivienne Westwood model and i-D magazine cover star; Amanda Cazalet, 52, who excellently kissed Madonna in the Justify My Love video and was Jean Paul Gaultier’s be absorbed in thought in the 1980s; and grey-haired, 51-year-old Beverly Clark, who is regularly bid that she looks too young to represent her own age group.

“Part of the problem is that people who create the ads don’t look feel attracted to the people who buy the products,” adds Lavery. “The average age of an ad agency account leadership or creative is 28. It’s the same in marketing departments and, believe me, a 28-year-old can’t imagine like a 50-year-old. Unconscious age bias is a proved academic to be sure.”

Social media has enabled us to look beyond appearance and demographics to lifestyle, headliner and psychographics. Like-minded people interact online via style blogs and Instagram, and low-down relating to their interests and attitudes is essential for marketing sphere of influences to consider. “Brands are scared,” continues Valentine, “because they’ve under no circumstances had to pitch to people who were revolutionary and rebellious in the 1960s and 70s rather than.” Whether you’ve grown up with rock and roll, or still press that punk attitude, you’re never going to accept listless stereotypes.

What’s needed is multitudinous variety, more diversity. Women over-50 come in drawings of different shapes, sizes and ethnicities and we want to see images of bit of fluffs who reflect that and look like us. As the online comments I regularly away with on That’s Not My Age demonstrate: “I’m a slightly chubby woman in her very delayed 50s with short (periodically dyed) dark hair,” weights actor Maureen Casey, “I don’t relate to whippet thin women in their 70s with extensive grey hair any more than I relate to skinny teenage mannequins with long flowing hair. Unfortunately, I feel that the production is simply creating a new character in its lexicon of acceptable women (the old, fancy haired thin one).”

“In three years’ time, the 50-plus superstore will make up more than half the adult populace in this country – over 20 million,”says Lavery, “they’re bending the preside overs, defining the ’new old’ and they hold an estimated 80% of the country’s assets.” As the last few years have shown, when there’s in money involved, things will change. We have seen the restoration of 1990s supermodels – 43-year-old Amber Valetta on the compensate for of British Vogue’s May issue, a wonderful array of lates 30s and 40-somethings walked on the catwalk for Outs Van Noten’s 100th show – as well as older models Jan de Villeneuve, 72, and Benedetta Barzini, 73, on the catwalk for Simone Rocha autumn/winter 2017 and Lauren Hutton for Bottega Veneta. Harper’s Bazaar’s behindhand diversity issue (July 2017) has a beautiful, inspirational model shoot featuring ‘women of all sizes, nationalities and ages’. Don’t get me inexpedient, this is the kind of fashion story I want to see – but there’s a two-year-old, a heap of 20-something models and 38-year-old Jade Parfitt and then it jumps to de Villeneuve and Frances Dunscombe, 84 – so there’s that age gap again.

L’Oreal’s Big Mascara ad (for the American market) earlier this year, featuring Diane Keaton, Debbie Harry, Julianne Moore and marks Hari Nef and Soo Joo Park, covered age, ethnicity and gender in a cool way. A innumerable diverse idea of beauty has to feel authentic and relatable – as the trans-model Hari Nef observed in an interview with Business of Fashion: “Just bringing man in and including them is not inclusive in a sustainable way.”

This takes commitment from shape brands and advertisers, as well as continued pressure from consumers, most agencies and influencers. “It could take six months it could palm two years,” suggests Valentine. “We do need to see more diversity, profuse wrinkles, more curves, more black models. But so far, so tranquillize.”

You can follow Alyson on Twitter here.