Older models: who hires mature models and how to start after 40

Not long ago a modeling career looked like a short window between fifteen and twenty-five. Then look at a bank, pharmacy or skincare advert today: more and more of them show grey-haired, grown-up faces. Brands have worked out something obvious. Their customers are getting older, they have money to spend, and they want to see people like themselves, not only their grandchildren.

This guide covers what older models are, who books them, what clients expect and how to start at 40, 50 or 60. At the end you will find a table of the best-known mature models and the story of the oldest working models in the world, which Jurgita first told more than ten years ago and has now brought up to date.

What older models are

Agencies use several names for this group: classic, mature, timeless, silver, or a "classic board". There is no fixed starting age. Some agencies move models onto a classic board at 35, others at 40 or 45. There is no upper limit, and the people still working in their nineties prove it.

It is a booking category, not a judgement. Agencies sort models by the faces their clients need. If the job is a pension fund, a cream for mature skin or a holiday for couples, the client wants a model whose age matches the buyer. The short definition is also in our modeling glossary.

Like younger models, mature models split by type of work. Some work mostly in commercial and advertising modeling, some in fashion shoots and on the runway, others in catalogues and online stores. All the categories and how they differ are in our guide to types of modeling.

Why demand for older faces is growing

The first reason is demographic. According to Eurostat, on 1 January 2025 people aged 65 and over made up 22% of the European Union's population. In Lithuania the share rose from 13.9% in 2001 to 20.9% in 2025, so one person in five is over 65, and a larger group again is between 45 and 65.

The second reason is spending. The International Longevity Centre UK, in its 2019 report "Maximising the Longevity Dividend", found that older people spent £2.9 billion more on clothes and accessories over 2011–2018, a rise of 21%. The authors expect people aged 50 and over to become fashion's key customers by 2040, with their spending on clothes and shoes growing by another 60%.

The third reason is trust. People believe advertising more easily when they recognise themselves in it. Skincare brands show creams for mature skin on twenty-year-old faces less often, and clothing brands mix generations in one campaign. Calvin Klein's 2017 underwear campaign, shot by Sofia Coppola, cast women aged 18 to 73. The same year, 69-year-old Maye Musk became a face of CoverGirl.

Who hires mature models

Mature faces are booked wherever older people buy or use the product. The most common clients:

Area	Typical jobs	What the client looks for
Skincare and beauty	Creams for mature skin, hair colour, makeup, beauty shoots	Clear, natural skin, good hair, calm expression in close-up
Fashion and clothing	Catalogues, online stores, campaigns, sometimes the runway	A neat figure, posture, ease of movement in clothes
Health and pharmacy	Vitamins, hearing aids, glasses, clinics	A lively, trustworthy, warm presence
Finance and insurance	Banks, pension funds, insurance, real estate	Calm, solid, believable "family" scenes
Lifestyle	Travel, food, home, cars, telecoms	Acting ability, natural movement, energy
Stock photography	Photo libraries used by thousands of companies	Everyday situations, many frames in one day

Most of these jobs are commercial, so they need acting as well as looks: playing a grandmother with her granddaughter, a couple at breakfast, a manager in a meeting. What commercial modeling involves and how it differs from fashion work is covered in our guide to commercial modeling.

Fashion books older models less often, but each appearance gets a lot of attention. Runway requirements are stricter, yet designers increasingly put older faces in their shows, especially when a collection is about time or heritage.

Requirements: height, measurements, skin and hair

The good news is that the rules for mature models are more flexible than for young new faces. In commercial work there is often no height limit at all, because in the frame people sit, cook, laugh or walk down the street. For fashion, height still matters, especially on the runway, but the limits are softer than for twenty-year-olds.

What clients care about most

• A natural, cared-for look. Clients want a real person, so visible lines are no drawback. Heavy cosmetic work hurts more often than it helps, because the face no longer reads as any particular age.
• Hair. Grey and silver hair is an asset today. Daphne Selfe said herself that she became famous once she went grey.
• Posture and figure. Agencies do not ask for runway measurements, but a straight back, ease of movement and a neat figure help a lot. Your measurements must be accurate and current.
• Teeth, skin, nails. Beauty and hand close-ups need a tidy smile, clear skin and well-kept hands.
• Reliability. Mature models are often booked again because they arrive on time, understand the brief and keep up with a long shoot day.

Mature plus size models work too, because advertising needs every kind of figure. If that is you, see our guide to plus size modeling.

How to start modeling after 40, 50 or 60

The first steps are much the same as for a young new face. The difference is that agencies pay more attention to your personality, your life experience and your ability to act out a situation. The general plan is in our guide on how to become a model; here are the steps adapted for older beginners.

1. Take plain photos. Agencies want digitals: face from the front, profile, half and full length, in daylight, with no or minimal makeup and simple clothes. You do not need an expensive shoot to start.
2. Measure yourself. Height, bust, waist and hips, clothing and shoe sizes. Give real, current numbers.
3. Find agencies with a classic board. Look at agency websites: do they represent models your age? How to judge an agency is in our guide on how to choose a modeling agency, and agencies in the Baltics and Europe are in our agency directory.
4. Learn the basics. Posing, working to camera, walking. Many mature beginners feel shy in front of a lens, and a few sessions make a big difference. The Supermodels model training in Vilnius and Kaunas covers this, and at home you can follow the online Supermodels Masterclass (77 €, in Lithuanian).
5. Read the contract carefully. Before signing, check the commission, exclusivity and usage rights. A checklist is in our guide to the modeling contract.

Agencies that scout young new faces usually have clear age limits. The Supermodels open call, for example, takes women aged 14 to 22 and men aged 16 to 25. Older beginners do better with agencies that represent commercial and classic models, and with advertising and acting castings.

How much mature models earn

There is no special "older model" rate. Pay depends on the type of job: a fee for the shoot or filming day and a fee for usage rights. Much of the income often comes from usage, when an advert runs for a long time or in several countries. How fees are calculated is in our guide to modeling rates, and the bigger picture is in how much models make.

For most mature models this is extra income rather than a full-time job, with a few bookings a month or a season. The exceptions are famous faces with long-term beauty contracts. One of the first was Lauren Hutton's 1973 contract with Revlon: $250,000 a year for 20 days of work. It changed the industry, because until then models were paid by the hour.

Old stories in the Jurgita archive mention that around 2010 Daphne Selfe earned roughly 4,000 litas (about 1,160 euros) per working day. Rates like that belong to international stars, not to the market average.

The best-known older models

These people showed that a modeling career does not end at thirty. Some have worked since their teens, others only started in their seventies.

Model	Born	Known for
Carmen Dell'Orefice (USA)	1931	First Vogue cover as a teenager in 1947; at 91 she covered Vogue CS in 2023. Regarded as the oldest working model in the world.
Daphne Selfe (UK)	1928–2026	Named the oldest professional model by Guinness. Relaunched her career at 70 and worked with Dolce & Gabbana, Vogue and Marie Claire. British Empire Medal in 2019.
Lauren Hutton (USA)	1943	The 1973 Revlon contract that changed how models are paid; at 73 she appeared in Calvin Klein's 2017 underwear campaign.
Benedetta Barzini (Italy)	1943	A 1960s Vogue model, later a journalist and lecturer; subject of her son's documentary "The Disappearance of My Mother" (2019).
Maye Musk (Canada, South Africa)	1948	A face of CoverGirl at 69 in 2017; Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model at 74 in 2022.
Wang Deshun (China)	1936	Walked his first runway at China Fashion Week in 2015, aged 79; listed by Guinness as the oldest male model.
Iris Apfel (USA)	1921–2024	Interior designer and style icon who signed with IMG in 2019, aged 97.

Big magazine covers now go to older celebrities as well as professional models. In 2023, 81-year-old television host and businesswoman Martha Stewart became the oldest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover star, ahead of Maye Musk. Covers like these show how much the age barrier in fashion has weakened.

The oldest model in the world: Carmen and Daphne

Jurgita wrote about the oldest models in the world more than a decade ago. Both women's stories still inspire, so we have updated them and brought them together here.

Carmen Dell'Orefice: more than 75 years in front of the camera

Carmen Dell'Orefice was born in New York on 3 June 1931. At thirteen, on a bus on her way to ballet class, she was approached by a photographer's wife who asked her to sit for pictures. Soon, with help from her godfather, she was working for Vogue, and her first cover came out in 1947. Her early rate was $7.50 an hour.

She has worked ever since, with no long breaks. In recent decades she has shot campaigns for Sephora and H&M, closed a haute couture show for the Chinese designer Guo Pei and walked for Thierry Mugler. In April 2023, at 91, she covered Vogue CS, photographed by Albert Watson, and in November 2025 the book "Carmen Dell'Orefice: The Ultimate Role Model" was published about her work from her sixties to her nineties.

Her life has had hard moments too. She lost her savings twice, the second time in 2008 when Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme collapsed. She kept working and became the model with the longest career in fashion history.

Daphne Selfe: a career that started again at 70

Daphne Selfe was born on 1 July 1928. Her way into fashion began in the 1950s: encouraged by colleagues at a department store, the young Daphne entered a beauty contest and won it, then walked in a fashion show at a shopping centre on the spur of the moment. After three months of training in London she worked in the studios of clothing makers and furriers and in advertising. After marrying and having three children, she went back to the runway and modeled collections for older women.

The real comeback came in 1998. A year after her husband's death, the 70-year-old was spotted walking in a Red or Dead show by a scout from the agency Models 1. She went on to shoot for Vogue and Marie Claire, work with photographers Mario Testino, Nick Knight and David Bailey, and appear in campaigns for Gap, Nivea, Olay and Dolce & Gabbana. Guinness recognised her as the oldest professional model in the world.

"My comeback was unusual and rather ironic. I became famous when I got older and went grey. My look became more distinctive and expressive than before, and white hair is my advantage," Selfe said. She credited daily yoga, plenty of fruit, vegetables and fish, and water, and in later interviews joked: "Nivea, broccoli and the odd glass of champagne." Her measurements were 91–65–91 cm, and she said nobody ever asked her to lose weight. She criticised very thin models and argued for models of every build in fashion.

Daphne's last job was in June 2025, at a Vogue luncheon on Royal Ascot Ladies Day. She died on 21 March 2026 at the age of 97, which leaves Carmen Dell'Orefice as the oldest working model in the world.

Older models in Lithuania and the Baltics

Lithuania is a small market, so dedicated classic boards are rare and most work is commercial. Mature faces are usually cast by advertising agencies and film and casting teams for a specific advert: banks, pharmacies, retail chains, telecoms, TV commercials. Part of the work comes through acting and extras castings, so those are worth following too.

A Lithuanian model working abroad usually has a mother agency that places them in other markets. For mature models the biggest markets are London, New York, Paris, Milan and the German and Scandinavian catalogue markets. Working there takes a strong portfolio and a flexible schedule, because jobs can come up a few days ahead.

What to avoid: scams aimed at older beginners

Older newcomers are often targeted by scammers, because they know less about the industry and may have savings. The most common schemes:

• A registration fee. A professional agency does not charge to sign you. It earns commission from your bookings.
• A compulsory expensive shoot. "We will sign you once you pay for a portfolio with our photographer." That is a sign the agency earns from you, not with you.
• "Talent contests" and courses with a guarantee. Nobody can guarantee work. Training is useful, but it should never be a condition for joining an agency.
• Fake scouts on social media. A message saying "You are perfect for a campaign, send a copy of your ID and a deposit" is almost always fraud.

More warning signs are in the glossary entry on modeling scams. If in doubt, ask the agency which clients it has worked for and look at its models' work.

How to prepare for your first job

A first booking often comes with a fitting, or at least a check of your measurements. On the day, arrive on time with clean hair and no heavy makeup unless asked. Bring nude and black underwear, nude and black shoes, water, a snack and a book: a model's day involves a lot of waiting.

Do not be afraid of the camera. Photographers and art directors tend to work calmly with mature models, who usually take direction easily. If you feel unsure, practise in front of a mirror, watch how your favourite models move, and rehearse a few poses before the shoot.

FAQ

At what age is a model considered an older or mature model?

There is no single line. Agency classic boards usually start somewhere between 35 and 45, and there is no upper limit. What counts is the faces clients need, not the number.

Can you become a model at 50 or 60?

Yes. Daphne Selfe's real career began at 70, and Wang Deshun walked his first runway at 79. Most work for older beginners is in advertising, skincare and lifestyle campaigns.

Who is the oldest model in the world?

The oldest working model today is regarded as Carmen Dell'Orefice, born in 1931. Daphne Selfe, once named the oldest professional model by Guinness, died in March 2026 at 97. Among men, Guinness lists Wang Deshun as the oldest male model.

Should I dye my grey hair?

Not necessarily. Grey and silver hair is in demand, and for many mature models it has become their signature. Talk to your agency before changing your hair.

Do I have to pay an agency to join?

No. A professional agency does not charge a registration or representation fee; it earns commission from your work. If you are asked to pay up front, look for another agency.

How much do senior models earn?

Pay depends on the type of job, not on age: a day fee plus usage rights. For most it is extra income with a few bookings a month; large sums come only from long-term beauty or fashion campaigns.