Who is Caroline Ida Ours, the silver model who is everywhere?

At 62, Caroline Ida Bear had more than one professional life. The first started 37 years ago, when she began her career in the family business dedicated to sporting goods. What made her dream, when she was younger, was acting or dancing, less working with her parents. But earning money and independence take precedence over her desires. At 45, she quit her job and looked for a new job. A quest less easy than she thought, until a recruitment firm calls her for a job in a handbag company. There, she does a bit of everything, but her tasks are gradually dwindling. Until one day the accident. “I had a ruptured aneurysm in my stomach which sent me to intensive care for ten days. When I recovered, I said to myself “Stop, now you do something for yourself”“, tells us the sexagenarian. She then took advantage of a period of unemployment to launch herself into social networks. “At that time, I didn’t see any women like me in the media. Neither on television, nor in magazines, nor in the cinema… This is what is called ageism, discrimination against people who are aging. I told myself that it would be my fight to change this state of affairs and to try to promote inclusivity, diversity, body positive“. After a brainstorming session with her daughter, she comes up with a name catchy to his Instagram account: @fiftyyearsofawoman. Its good, his new life can begin.

Fifty Years of a Woman, a fashionable influencer

Between her selfies and her inspirations, which she picks up on Pinterest, Caroline Ida Ours quickly gathers a small community around her. In one year, it federates 10,000 subscribers and is exported internationally since it only posts in English. This is when modeling entered her life, almost five years ago, almost by chance. “An influencer friend had been contacted by the international lingerie show, which was organizing a body-positive parade after its traditional underwear parade. On the podium, there were mainly young girls, and then we, women over 50“. The show was a real success. So much so that the following year, the international lingerie show called Caroline Ida Ours back and asked her to participate in its main show. “It was the first time that brands wanted a body like mine to appear in their creations”, says Caroline Ida Ours. The young model even becomes the face of the event and is found on all the media that communicate it. And above all, she is spotted by two underwear brands, Maison Louve and Darjeeling.

First steps in modeling

Like all beginners in the profession, Caroline Ida Ours signs in modeling agencies. But it’s his Instagram account and his personality that really appeal to brands. As the Darjeeling lingerie label and its artistic director Anna Lemoine, who asks her to a nationwide poster campaign. Caroline Ida Ours poses there in small lace, proud of her white hair and her sexagenarian body, leaning on the fence of a field. Placarded throughout France, this photo arouses hundreds of reactions, and on her Instagram account, the model receives compliments galore. “The women thank me and explain to me that thanks to me, they accept their bodies. Some men too. People recognize me in the street and they say “Cheer !“, I am encouraged“. Other Internet users, more rarely, leave hateful comments to express their outrage at seeing women over 50 show their cellulite, their bellies and their bulges.exist in the public space, ultimately. The fault of, despite a body positive movement which continues to grow, a still glaring lack of representation. “There is no woman or model over 50 who is invited to a shoot if she does not have white hair, is not a 36 or 38 and is not 1m70 tall“, remarks Caroline Ida Ours.”And few brands are interested in us. Because there is always this representation of the hyper-sexualized, eroticized, smooth female body“. So the silver model continues to advocate body acceptance as a means of doing good to oneself and honoring oneself. Values ​​that she found at Afibel, which highlights the unique beauty of each. “This is exactly the message that society as a whole should send to us.“, comments Caroline Ida Ours. For several years now, she has worked with the brand of the Damart group, a specialist in women’s clothing and large sizes. Caroline Ida strikes a pose in the brand’s clothing and is also involved with stakeholders. She met the brand’s management committee and presented one of the latest collections to the press at an event.

The final word: dare

“It is by daring that we manage to do new things and get out of our comfort zone.“, says Caroline Ida Ours. What the sexagenarian repeats in her book Generation Silver: without taboos or limits, released in April 2022 by Kiwi editions. She gives beauty and well-being advice and tries to convey an important message: “A wrinkle is beautiful. It shows the story of a life.And concludes:We must look at the woman we are today with her story. This is what I want to say to women“. Post passed