Dressing just like your mum used to be an insult – but not any longer. Now over half of women say their mums are style influencers.
Cash strapped teenagers and young women are raiding their mother’s wardrobes because their clothes are more stylish and better quality than their own, new research has revealed.
Designer dresses, tops, handbags, coats and shoes are just some of items borrowed regularly by daughters keen to make an impression at work and with friends, with 71% of mothers surveyed claiming their wardrobe is regularly raided by their daughter, says online retailer JD Williams.
The move is being fuelled by a new generation of British mums who now have the confidence and the money to dress in much more youthful styles.
So great is the trend that fashion experts now have a name for it – “Pacemaker Mums” - because despite being older, they’re setting the pace for fashion in every home – with 52% of young women considering their mum to be their biggest style influencer.
Said JD Williams spokesperson Carie Barkhuizen: “It is now impossible to tell a woman’s age, simply by looking at the clothes in her wardrobe.
“British mums regularly wear the latest fashions, as well as shorter skirts, slim line suits and figure hugging tops. It’s a revolution in the way older women see themselves.
“We estimate that the average mum now dresses in styles which, just a generation ago, would have been seen as being more suitable for women who were twenty years younger.”
A new-found refusal to fit in with traditional views of older women in society, as well as exercise and better diets, are some of the factors behind the move, says JD Williams.
An increasing divorce rate, and the desire to form relationships later in life, by looking good also play a significant part.
Continues Carie Barkhuizen, “This new breed of fashion forward women in their fifties was something we celebrated with our recent Spring Summer ’15 campaign, which featured five mothers of successful well known women styled by body image activist Caryn Franklin MBE.”
Appearing in the campaign were Deborah Leng, mum to model Tigerlily Taylor, Melissa Bell, mum to former X Factor star Alexandra Burke, Janet Ellis, mum to Sophie Ellis Bextor, Karen Clancy, mum of model and designer Abbey Clancy, and Ruby Hammer, mother of Urban Retreat founder Reena Hammer.
Melissa Bells says: "I think a girl's first and biggest fashion icon will always be her mum because that's the first thing she sees as she’s growing up.
“Alex and I do have the same style up to certain extent however she is very adventurous and likes to try new things. I do too, but believe in dressing appropriately for my age so what she chooses to wear isn’t always appropriate for me - whereas she is certainly no stranger to my wardrobe!”
Continues JD Williams’ Carie Barkhuizen: “Few women now regard age as a barrier to being at the forefront of fashion.
“The era when British women marked their fiftieth birthday by suddenly having a blue rinse and changing into clothes which made everyone look like Barbara Woodhouse have gone.
JD Williams customer research shows that the top five items of clothing most frequently borrowed by daughters from their mum are:
- Handbags
- Dresses
- Shoes
- Jeans
- Coats
For more information, please contact the JD Williams Press Office: [email protected] or call 0161 238 2756.
