Splendour

When I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents' house near the sea. In the summertime my parents had to work, so they took my sister and me to that pretty house covered in ivy, and we loved it. In those sunny, fresh mornings, I used to watch my grandmother as she dressed up for the day. We had lovely conversations even though I was only about 6, and I was fascinated at her enormous multi-coloured Christian Dior make-up palette and her silk foulard collection. To me she looked prettier than Grace Kelly. She was about 65 at the time, but she was still really active: she taught Spanish literature and still managed to find the time to cook lovely meals, play with us and invite her friends for tea... and always with a smile. My grandfather was the same: at 70 he still worked as an architect, taught us magic tricks and showed us classic Hollywood movies. Maybe it was because thanks to them my childhood was magical, or maybe because I thought of them as the most stylish, cute couple ever; in any case, I grew up loving elderly people. And I used to think I was the only person my age who did.
It's incredible how society's obsession with (fake) youth has found its way to so many people's DNA. I can't tell you how many times I've had to hear sentences like "I'd rather die young than grow old" or "OMG I'm turning 20, I'm like so depressed!". I even had one ex-mother-in-law suggest that I behaved like an old lady because I'd rather read a book than go out clubbing. Old people are exclusively associated to "boring", "negative" behaviours. Yet my adored grandfather, who is 85, is still travelling the world (actually right now he is in the Canary Islands waiting for the nice weather to come back to Northern Spain and following a detox diet). I'd like to see many 20 year-olds as energetic, positive and active as him! To me, there is a mysterious charm and an enormous wisdom to people who have lived for long and learned a lot from life.
So when I came across Ari Seth Cohen's blog Advanced Style almost 2 years ago, I was really thrilled to find I was not at all the only one fascinated by older people and their style! Ari reflected my thoughts exactly on wisdom and age, and he did it in the most stylish, genuinely chic way I could imagine. All these ladies in his blog look otherworldly, and I must confess sometimes they make me very jealous, as they have something I won't be able to obtain until I have lived much more: true self-confidence and deep self-knowledge. That reflects in their ideas, in the way they live their lives and... in their style. They are unique because they know who they are. And they embrace the moment they are living.
When I look at Advanced Style's photos, I do not see the "old". I see the splendour. I just wish my grandmother was here so she could also see the blog. She'd love it.