Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen

It’s an accepted norm that women in middle age and beyond become invisible to all but dutiful grandchildren. The great appeal of New York photographer Ari Seth Cohen’s new book Advanced Style is that it places ‘women of years’ right in the vanguard of fashion. The way Cohen sees it, these women have been at the style game longest and know exactly what they are doing. The book, like Cohen’s celebrated blog, features women who, rather than retreating into a sea of defeatist beige and comfy flats, have progressed toward ever bolder colour palettes and a ‘more is more’ approach to accessories. Cohen’s fabulous subjects, with their raffish hats, mighty jewels and slashes of vivid red liptstick, are both knowing and as uninhibited as young girls playing dress up: invisibility be damned.