Christina Belchere selfie
If you’re a follower of the Advanced Style phenomenon – Ari Seth Cohen’s wildly successful blog-turned-book-turned movie; a photographic dotage on older ladies who live for style – you might have been wondering: How about the old men? Aren’t there any aging dandies wandering the streets of NYC?
Turns out, there are plenty; it’s just that nobody was focusing a lens on them, until Christina Belchere came along four years ago.
In her spare time, the former PR coordinator at fashion company Thomas Pink takes pictures for her personal use – people and objects that inspire her.
“I noticed after a while there was quite a collection of grandpas in my photostream that I was using for inspiration,” Belchere told Senior Planet by email. “I am a very androgynous dresser and I love classic/vintage styles.”
The result: an Instagram of her street style photography called Fashion Grandpas. Via Belchere’s Instagram, well dressed older men have been featured in magazines like GQ, Marie Claire and Grazia. Fashion Grandpas has almost 23,000 followers – and counting.
Senior Planet asked Belchere what she’s learning from older men about fashion.
“The ‘older men’ of today came from a very unique generation,” she told us. “From what I can observe there is a priority among these older men to look presentable, to look classy and smart before not only leaving their house, but leaving their bedroom.”
“There are little accents such as dress shoes, waistcoat, hat, glasses, bow tie, suspenders etc. that show extra care and time put into their appearance. Their generation had different values and social standards on how one should look before going into public. It is a sign of self respect to look nice. To look civilized.”
“They also carry an attitude of their generation as the ones that were expected to bring home the bacon, to sit at the head of the table and be ‘the man of the house,’ to go fight in the wars.”
“I love that.”
See more Fashion Grandpas on Belchere’s Instagram.
Also see “Flamboyant Old Men: Where Are the Role Models?” on Senior Planet.
Michael
I’m 77. I wear high-waisted pants, suspenders and a bow tie every Saturday morning and Wednesday afternoon to my swing dance lessons at DanceSport on 34th Street.