78-YEAR-OLD VERUSCHKA STARS AND STUNS IN ACNE STUDIOS’ NEW LOOKBOOK

If the latest fashion weeks can be anything of an indicator, there finally seems to be quite the shift happening in the age spans defining the professional careers of models. Simone Rocha booked 70-year old Jan de Villeneuve for her London show, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of The Row worked with 46-year-old Kirsten Owen and 39-year-old Alek Wek in New York – and now Acne Studios chose 78-year-old Veruschka to face its newly released Cruise collection lookbook.

The now iconic model and actress rose to fame during the 1960s in front of both photography and film lenses. After being first discovered in Florence, Veruschka quickly landed various covers and editorial spreads and simultaneously made a name for herself in the fashion world, becoming the muse of acclaimed industry photographers like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. Starring in Michelangelo Antonioni’s cult-classic film “Blow Up” in 1966, Veruschka also managed to not only establish herself as one of the first supermodels, but also left her mark way beyond modeling – to this date.

Teaming up with Acne Studios the German born model was shot for 10 pictures, dressed in the Swedish brand’s Cruise collection, a typically eclectic mix of denim, patterns, and oversized cuts. Jonny Johannson, creative director of Acne Studios, explained: “This is a collection of Acne Studios archetypes, iconic and real, so I wanted to work with an icon for the shoot.” Selecting models that stand out in the flood of campaign images constantly on display has become something of a theme for Acne Studios, with the famed Swedish brand choosing Jonny Johannson’s then 11-year-old son Frasse Johansson to face the brand’s Fall / Winter 2015 campaign and dogs sporting a variety of accessories for Spring / Summer 14. A string, hopefully continued in the future – as should be fashion’s new approach to turn the still widely used synonym for models from “girls” into “women”.

Images courtesy of Acne Studios.