Vice Style

Andrée Putman

Fanny Karst is 26 years old, but her label Old Ladies Rebellion is a range of clothing designed exclusively for pensioners who haven't resigned themselves to invisibility. Dressing an older lady isn't easy, because it also means having to do a lot of hiding, shaping, and flattering, but Fanny maintains that doesn't mean the clothes have to boring, unsexy, or stupid.

VICE: What is so great about designing for old ladies?
Fanny Karst: I woke up one day and realized that was what I wanted to do, even before I started studying fashion. It was a calling that came from my admiration for older women, especially the way they hold themselves. My grandmother was fantastic in the way she posed and sat down. She also had a lot of attitude. Most of my clients had a crazy youth in the 60s with rock 'n' roll and as they got older they just didn't change. Jean Cocteau once said that youth comes with age and I find that this is true—they become more disobedient and more eccentric. Being elderly gives them the freedom to say everything they want and to get away with it. It's a privilege, really.

Name an old lady you would really like to design for?
Andrée Putman, a French designer who designs beautiful products and interiors. I was really inspired by her during my last year studying print at Central Saint Martins and she's an incredible muse. I was obsessed and started madly cutting out pictures of her. They're hard to find so I'm always hunting. The great thing about Andrée is that she's kept her style all the way through—she still dresses as beautifully as she did when she was twenty. In England I'd like to dress the Deborah Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, but she said no.

Fanny Karst.

I hear you have plans to design casual wear as well as tailoring for old ladies?
I'd love to. I have a thousand ideas for shoes. For example, I want to design elegant sneakers with a little bit of a platform so they can run. There's a lot to do for the older ladies. In two weeks I'm launching a sportswear line for old ladies who don't exercise. It's all made in France and really good quality - very casual and very elegant. It's going to be called Canne de Combat. The direct translation from French is "the stick" and it was a sport at the beginning of the century. It's kind of like boxing, but you hit each other with a stick instead.

Fanny is also the winner of Vice Style's Visionaries competition, for improving the future for fashionable grannies.

TAGGED: Old Ladies Rebellion