Gray is the new black

The profile of grandmas is changing with more and more elderly women adopting a fashionable lifestyle in keeping with the times, writes Yao Yuxin

In Sanlitun, a popular destination for shopping, dining and entertainment, and a fashion landmark in Beijing, four women in cheongsam strutted across a paved path to the accompanying beats of music as if they were models on a catwalk.

With straight backs and slim figures, they wore delicate make-up and flounced with confidence and grace in high heels. They looked more like young belles only that they were all above 60.

The grandmas, complete with their gray hair, were shooting for their debut modeling video. The video shot three months ago attracted more than 2 million likes on shortvideo app Douyin and has won the ladies the title of "internet celebrities".

"We had never thought the video would become so popular on the internet," said 61-year-old Liu Dongfeng.

Easing the anxiety of getting old

More of their videos have been uploaded online, and they have garnered more than 3 million followers. Liu, who used to be a bank executive in Beijing, began attending modeling classes after retirement like the three other team members.

The four met at a model show last year and decided to form a team after realizing they stood out in the crowd as they shared quite a few traits including gray hair. The four are familiar with fashion trends, wear make-up, stylish clothes and stilettos up to 10-centimeter high on stage even though their average height is 170 cm.

Netizens seem impressed by the four "model" grandmas, and comments such as, "I wish to live the life like the grandmas when I grow old" are doing the rounds of the internet.

"We live in a society that adores youth and hates getting old," said Xiao Lijun, the founder of Letuizu, literally meaning a group of people that wants the elderly to live a healthy, fashionable and happy life after retirement. "The confidence and elegance of the four grandmas have somewhat eased many people's fears of getting old," Xiao said.

Discovering beauty anew

After years of being committed to work as a senior technician in a State-owned enterprise, Fan Qiyang, 69, the oldest in the team of four, discovered anew her beauty when she began taking catwalk lessons twice a week nine years ago. She would stuff a suitcase with high heels, three suits of casual clothes, cheongsam, an evening dress and other modeling accessories every time there was a show.

"Beauty was repressed when our generation was young," said Zhang Shuzhen, 65, who used to be an executive at Beijing airport. In the age of material deprivation, there was little choice for style or color of clothing when they were young. Zhang still remembers that the height which makes her competitive as a model today was once a drawback as it cost the family more cloth coupons to make her new clothes.

The grandmas said they totally understand why dama, a disparaging term for middle-aged women, have turned to bright-colored clothes today, even though some of them may go to the other extreme and dress up too gaudily sometimes.

Fan is happy that society has become more tolerant now and people sincerely compliment senior citizens who like to dress up, instead of calling them indecent as was the case in the past. Those were different times, and society expected the elderly people to behave like, well, typically elderly people. That is, do some household chores, run a few errands, take care of children and attend occasional events dressed "decently".

"We want to set an example, to encourage more aged people to appreciate their beauty," she said. "Senior citizens have the same rights (as the young) to look beautiful."

Changing lifestyle of senior citizens

Paying close attention to the lifestyle of elderly people for over a decade, Letuizu founder Xiao has seen plenty of senior citizens in good health and with enough savings slip into depression after retirement because they couldn't find anything meaningful to do.

As families are becoming increasingly nuclear, many elderly parents who grow old caring for their children fail to adapt to the new parent-children relationship and therefore decide to live the rest of their lives differently, he said.

And children, after they grow up, get married and have their own nuclear family, should not meddle in their parents' life too much; in short, they should not try to "kidnap" their parents' lives, said Xie Yunfeng, one of the grandma models, who used to be a researcher in aerospace before retirement. "Everyone has the right to live the way they want to."

The point is not to judge which lifestyle is better, Xie said. As long as it is in accordance with the wishes of the elderly and does not violate the law, it should be encouraged.

At the show for nationwide model teachers from colleges for the elderly, the four women were surrounded by the participants for a photograph in Beijing in mid-September, which reflected their rising popularity.

Like the four grandmas, a growing number of retirees are enjoying their post-retirement life, learning new things that they didn't have time to when they were young or in their middle age. A 60-year-old model teacher from Baiyin city of Gansu province, who only gave her surname as Zeng, said she was happy that her family supports her choice to run modeling classes. Her son even jokes that it is better to have a hobby that keeps you active than to sit idle and become vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease, she said.

Zeng, who learnt modeling after retirement, runs two classes a week, which are much sought after by aspiring grandma models. She gets too many applications from grandmas who have a lot of time to spare, especially from those whose grandchildren have grown up, to accommodate them in her classes.

Zeng admires the elegant disposition of the four women, which she said was accumulated over the years thanks to their high educational background and professional life, and is hard to imitate.

"Fashion has nothing to do with age," said Xie, who values the inner spirit. She likes to practice calligraphy and painting accompanied by classical music in her spare time.

Aging society creating a new type of economy

Since their videos have gone viral, the grandmas check the Douyin app more often than before, and love to go through the comments and interact with their fans.

According to the 44th China Statistical Report on Internet Development published in August 2019, the percentage of netizens aged 50 or above rose from 12.5 percent in 2018 to 13.6 percent in June 2019. With the spread of the internet, many senior citizens have learnt, or are learning, to surf online, and some of them are turning into creative artists like the four gray-haired models.

China's aging population is rising but the "gray-haired economy" is showing huge potential for profits. The purchasing power of the aging population is expected to see a 25-fold increase from 2014 to 2050, accounting for a third of China's GDP, according to the data published in the development report of the national working committee on the elderly.

Ma Fang, 58, another model teacher at the show from Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, said she spends about 20,000 yuan a year on the hobby.

Unlike the past, when she used to wear a black wig to keep up with her teammates, Zhang said that, thanks to regular exercise and a good frame of mind, she is no longer bothered about her gray hair.

"Gray hair makes me special," Zhang said. "I'm proud of it.

Contact the writer at yaoyuxin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Global 10/25/2019 page16)