British Vogue’s editor-in-chief Edward Enninful has said he thinks “age really is a non-issue”, and that the experience that comes with it should be celebrated.
The fashion publication will release a special edition magazine to celebrate women over 50 in a bid to combat age discrimination.
Featuring 81-year-old Hollywood actress Jane Fonda as its cover star, it is called the “non-issue” issue.
Enninful, the first male editor of the fashion publication, said: “For me, British Vogue has always been about diversity of perspective, whether that was ethnicity, gender, age, it’s been very important to me and for me age is not an issue.
“Yet there’s still so much discrimination in the fashion and beauty industries so that’s why the non-issue is dedicated to these women over 50 who may feel left behind because of their age”.
The special edition magazine, created in partnership with L’Oreal Paris, will run alongside the May issue of British Vogue and also features names such as Dame Helen Mirren, 73, and French actress and singer, Isabelle Adjani, who is 63.
Fonda said: “It’s important to understand that older women are the fastest growing demographic in the whole world. It’s time to recognise our value.”
Ghanian-born Enninful said: “British Vogue will continue to celebrate and profile all of these women over 50. In the past we’ve put the spotlight on Vanessa Redgrave, Oprah Winfrey, Kristin Scott Thomas, Diane Von Furstenberg, the list goes on and I feel now really, in this age, it’s a time to give a voice to women who feel voiceless.
“We have to be inclusive to women who feel excluded and really to challenge the industry head on”.
In the magazine’s foreword, Enninful said that in 2019 “women over 50 remain conspicuous by their absence in the beauty and fashion industries, and the wider media landscape.
“Age discrimination still exists, consciously and unconsciously, leaving many women feeling excluded and invisible”.
British Vogue presents the ‘non-issue’ issue in partnership with L’Oreal, and is available on April 5.
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