In 2007, I got a T-Shirt from Hudson’s Bay (also known as The Bay) during the Fashion and Design Festival in Toronto.  That t-shirt said, “Sexy has no Expiry date”.  Fast forward to 2014 and American Apparel launches an ad featuring a 62-year old woman as a lingerie model and the caption on the ad says, “Sexy has no expiration date.”  The model is actress Jacky O’Shaughnessy and this ad campaign pushes the boundaries of what the public are used to seeing when it comes to modeling; especially in underwear.

The standards of beauty are continually being challenged with plus sized models gaining a strong following and mature models also gaining more attention.  Last year, TK Maxx hired model Daphe Selfe to do their campaign.  Currently 84 years old, she was dubbed the world’s oldest supermodel. 

Many people are still uncomfortable with the idea of seeing Jacky O’Shaughnessy in American Apparel’s new promo ad.  Seeing a woman this old in lingerie provoked both negative and positive comments on Instagram.  But for the most part, people were thrilled to see a woman of this age being represented in the ad.  Instagram user @meganingramart said “Amazing I have a whole new respect for this brand!!♡♡♡♡ ”  The brand is always trying to shake things up with their advertising and this one has certainly opened up the conversation of how old is too old to be considered sexy?

What are your thoughts?