The parent company of the shopping centre no-go zones for most teenagers Katies, Millers and Noni B, is seeking advice on restructuring and Witchery has shifted gears to target an edgier, thinner and younger demographic. What’s happened to the mature-aged shopper? Scratch the polyester surface of this unsettling activity, and it looks like the older women’s appetite for fashion is shrinking – but beneath the lining is a more layered story. Despite structural issues, on the shop floor, Mosaic Brands – the owners of Katies, Millers and Noni B – reached more than half a billion dollars in annual revenue in the past two years.
Baby Boomers are engaging enthusiastically with fashion and refuse to retire from dressing to impress. Melbourne fashion enthusiast Shona Grant says that shopping doesn’t have an age limit. “Style is forever,” Grant says.
Credit: Simon Schluter Shop till you drop “I will never stop looking for something that will make me feel stylish,” says Melbourne fashion enthusiast Shona Grant. “Sometimes it feels as though the shops have given up on us.” “There’s nothing worse that walking into a store to be ignored by a twenty-something or, even worse, have them tell you that the dreadful top you just tried on looks amazing.
” Grant answers questions about her age with “I’m b-old and g-old,” preferring to focus on the brands she likes. “I’m not afraid to trawl through the racks at Zara and H&M, or to go online to buy Bella Freud .