EVERYONE GETTING OLD, BUT SOMEONE DOES IT IN STYLE!!!

 "My name is Ari Seth Cohen. I roam the streets of New York City looking for stylish and creative seniors. Respect them, and these ladies and gentlemen will tell you a secret or two that will teach you how to live life to the fullest." This is how he begins his a blog called Advanced Style the author of truly inspiring photographs. Over the course of several years of this unusual hobby, he has managed to become great friends with all the eccentric and simply elegant heroines of his photographs. And now, when they meet on the street, they chat like old acquaintances, and the old ladies, when he asks them to take one shot, answer: "Like last time, huh?"

The most famous heroine of Seth Cohen's photographs is, perhaps, Iris Apfel. A true American style icon, a perpetual motion machine. At 90 years old, Iris continues to work actively, participate in photo shoots for fashion magazines (for example, Vogue) and famous brands (she was once the face of MAC), create her own lines of designer bags and jewelry, give lectures on fashion and not forget about social parties. "There is nothing in common between the price of things and style. In fact, even something cheap can look so amazing that it can completely change your appearance, and you will be stunning. Everything evolves, but style remains," Iris says in her interview with Seth Cohen.

Red-haired and amazingly elegant Alice Carey is another lady-friend, as Ari likes to call them. The fiery color of her hair is a tribute to the Irish origin of this writer. Her most famous book, “I’ll Know It When I’ll See It,” tells about the life of Irish immigrants in New York, about the feelings they experience when they find their father’s home. The book devotes a lot of attention to her childhood, when her mother got a job as a maid for a Broadway producer. Because of this, Alice involuntarily began to observe the theater life of New York, absorbing its atmosphere, running into Marilyn Monroe and Jed Harris. This left a strong imprint on her sense of style. Carey admits that she loves brightness, Irish motifs, and prefers to buy clothes in charity shops. Her style bible is a tiny book by American actress Arlene Francis, “The Magic of Charm.”

Another red-haired granny in Seth Cohen's collection is Ilona Royce Smithkin. She is also over 90, she is not ashamed of her age, does not like to imitate anyone, always dresses according to her mood and never buys green bananas, because she likes to live in the present. This muse of Ari is an artist, which is why she adores bright colors. You will never find pale or dark eyeshadow in her makeup bag. And she makes extravagant false eyelashes herself from her own hair strands. Today, Smithkin is perhaps the oldest fashion blogger in the world. And she sews all her clothes herself, and follows fashion trends from the windows of her apartment, living one floor above the nightclub The Beatrice Inn.

Dance has become the basis of life and the secret of not only longevity, but also beauty and style for Jackie Murdoch, who also appears on the pages of Ari's blog. Incidentally, this 82-year-old jazz dancer from the Apollo Theater recently appeared in an advertising campaign for Lanvin.

Jackie loves sophisticated glamour, adores Chanel, but tries to remain herself (this is part of her style). She often wears flowers in her hair, and has a sincere smile on her face. “I love trying things on, playing with colors in clothes and accessories. It makes me forget about old age,” Murdoch shares.

The author of Advanced Style calls Christina Viera a master of unexpected combinations. This season's trend - retro and futurism - this lady prefers in life. In her images, Christina easily stands out from the crowd and admits that the older she gets, the less she cares about the opinion of others about her appearance. "I just dress the way I want," Viera comments on her style.

And Linda Zagaria is an absolute devotee of vintage and retro. Her wardrobe contains a large number of hats from the 1930s. Her style icons are black-and-white film actresses Claudette Colbert and Myrna Loy. Ari Seth Cohen himself calls her style of clothing "Old Hollywood glamour." Linda's fashion credo: "When you're young, you dress for others, but as you get older, you start dressing for yourself."

My favorite "specimen" in Seth Cohen is the inimitable Beatrix Ost. In theater and cinema, she is a producer and actress, in art, she is an artist. She is already over 70, and her body has not known a single plastic surgery (by the way, the same story with all the heroines of Ari's blog). Beatrix pays great attention to food. It is with it, according to this woman, that style begins. "After all, there is no better place in the world than your own body," Ost explains.

Another famous subject of Ari Seth Cohen's photographs is Zelda Kaplan. She passed away in February of this year. But how! At the age of 95, Zelda died suddenly while sitting in the front row at a fashion show during New York Fashion Week. She loved traveling, dancing, and handmade clothes. Kaplan always repeated that marble cannot be made into silk, so even in fashion, it is better to always remain yourself.

But Ari also has a lady friend who is over 100. One of them is Rose. Just Rose. She loves Hermes scarves, wide belts, chunky beads, and dinners at her favorite Upper East Side restaurant. The amount of energy she exudes is enviable. Rose tries not to think about her age: “I’d rather think about a dinner date or a social obligation than how old I am.”

The main thing is not to give up! This thought invigorates not only 100-year-old Rose, but probably all the participants of Advanced Style. And looking at the photos of Ari Seth Cohen, it is impossible not to believe that it works. Age inspires, returns to the roots, gives freedom and awakens your own self. However, for all this it is not necessary to wait for the 100th anniversary.