Fashion Over 50

Watch the recording from the event on April 11, 2025

The over-50 fashion market is surging as Generation-X women join their Baby-Boomer sisters, swelling an already significant economic niche. Yet this cohort, with its considerable spending power, is often overlooked by the fashion industry and fashion media—a problem exacerbated by shrinking retail selections and the shift to online shopping. How can the industry—and individual women—respond?

Fashion Over 50: Women’s Self-Images, Shopping Frustrations, and Solutions will offer insights for creating and marketing to this underserved cohort, featuring experts in fashion forecasting, image consulting, design, media, and retail. We invite members of the fashion industry, academia, and the public to join us in this intriguing discussion.

Sponsored by FIT's School of Graduate Studies and the Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice MA program

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1:00 pm – Welcoming Remarks

Yasemin Jones, PhD, interim vice president for Academic Affairs

1:05 pm – Introduction

Dr. Hilary Davidson, Associate Professor and Department Head, FIT
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice
Kate Mellina, M.A. candidate, FIT Fashion and Textile Studies: History,
Theory, Museum Practice

1:15 pm – Slim Pickings: Dressing Today’s Forgotten Woman

Opening conversation on what women over 50 want and need from the fashion industry and media—and what they don’t find.

Carol Davidson, certified fashion consultant and 20-year FIT Instructor, Image Consulting Certificate Program

Kate Mellina, M.A. candidate, FIT Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory,
Museum Practice

1:40 pm – Forecasting Fashion for Women in the Prime of Life

Trend forecasts about women over 50 and opportunities for the fashion industry in this rapidly growing market

Ann Cantrell, FIT Associate Professor, Fashion Business Management

2:10 pm – Q&A

Audience Q&A with Carol Davidson and Ann Cantrell

2:20 pm – Break

Cookies and conversation

2:40 pm – Digitizing Identity: The Role of Fashion Avatars in Designing for Diverse Bodies

Impediments and practical solutions for designers and manufacturers of women’s clothing for the over-50 market

Amy Sperber, FIT Assistant Professor, Fashion Design–Apparel

3:10 pm – The Self-Made Influence Revolution: How Women over 50 Are Reshaping Fashion Media

Drawing on exclusive data from major online platforms and insights from successful creators, this talk reveals how women over 50 are revolutionizing fashion media and creating communities that brands can’t ignore.

Brittany Hennessy, Influencer author and influencer marketing pioneer

3:40 pm – Q&A

Audience Q&A with Amy Sperber and Brittany Hennessy

3:50 pm – Break

15-minute break

4:05 pm – Keynote Speaker - Let’s Go Shopping, Online and On Trend: Insider Hacks to Find Grown-up Fashions That Fit

So long, shopping malls: Today’s fashion retailers have forced us to shop online most of the time. The upshot: your online shopping cart is now dotted with new labels you've never heard of. And discoveries: like those famous brands that are now sold via Walmart.com. Open your laptop and pull out the tape measure: Teri Agins shows Gen Xers and Boomers how to navigate the online shopping lane.

Teri Agins, Hijacking the Runway author and longtime Wall Street Journal fashion
reporter and columnist

4:35 pm – Q&A

Audience Q&A with Keynote Speaker Teri Agins

4:45 pm – Closing Observations

Kate Mellina, M.A. candidate, FIT Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice

Teri Agins

SESSION:
Let’s Go Shopping: Online and On Trend and Q&A
(Keynote Speaker)

Bio

Teri Agins is an award-winning journalist, lecturer, consultant, and former senior special writer and “Ask Teri” columnist at The Wall Street Journal, where she launched the fashion industry beat that she covered for 30 years. She is the author of Hijacking the Runway: How Celebrities are Stealing the Spotlight From Fashion Designers and The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever. Agins has written for The New York Times, Vogue, Essence, O Magazine, Town & Country, Allure, Elle, Fortune, and Harper’s Bazaar, and appeared on Oprah, Project Runway, The View, Full Frontal Fashion, The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and National Public Radio. Agins also appeared in the documentary films Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons (Hulu, 2022) and The United States of Elie Tahari (Vimeo on Demand, 2021).

Ann Cantrell

SESSION:
Forecasting Fashion for Women in the Prime of Life and Q&A

Bio

Ann Cantrell is both an entrepreneur and an academic. The owner of a modern general store in Brooklyn for the past 17+ years, she has also taught full time in FIT’s Fashion Business Management Department for the past 12+ years. She is an advocate for small, independent businesses, and is often highlighted through American Express’s Small Business Saturday program and has been interviewed and quoted in publications worldwide, including The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, BBC World News, NBC News, MSNBC, ABC Nightly News, Associated Press, and more.

At FIT she recently was honored with the President’s Council on Sustainability's Changemakers Award for 2024, which honors a member of the FIT community for their long-term contributions to the mission of sustainability at the college, through community engagement, educational advancement, and reduction of the campus carbon footprint. She is also a proud Gen Xer.

Carol Davidson

SESSION:
Slim Pickings: Dressing Today’s Forgotten Woman and Q&A

Bio

Carol Davidson is a seasoned certified image consultant, life coach, and educator. For over 25 years, she has helped hundreds of midlife women confidently and stylishly transition into a new role, a next phase, or a different stage.

Whether her work starts from the outside in or the inside out, it’s always a collaboration that empowers her clients to look and feel like their most authentic, vibrant selves. After working with Davidson, clients feel more joy in life, more savvy with style, and more ease and grace with everything in between.

For two decades, Davidson was an instructor in the Image Consulting Certificate Program at FIT. As a respected educator in the private sector, she has spoken at industry and corporate events worldwide. She has appeared in countless publications, including The Wall Street Journal, InStyle, Business Insider, and Best Life.

While she calls New York City home, Davidson consults with clients throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Brittany Hennessy

SESSION:
The Self-Made Influence Revolution: How Women Over 50 Are Reshaping Fashion Media and Q&A

Bio

Brittany Hennessy has been architecting digital influence since before it had a name. Author of Influencer (100K+ copies sold, translated into 6 languages), she built Hearst's first creator department and has managed over $100M in creator partnerships. When brands need creator strategies, they hire her. When platforms need creator insight, they call her. When creators need guidance, they join her. As Director of The Influence Suite, Hennessy provides strategic intelligence to an exclusive society of ambitious creators, transforming them from content creators into industry CEOs. Her expertise spans the media landscape, from legacy outlets (The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Today Show) to industry trades (Business of Fashion, Glossy, Digiday). Based in New York and Paris, Hennessy continues her mission of transforming how we think about, measure, and monetize digital influence.

Kate Mellina

SESSIONS:
Introduction, Slim Pickings: Dressing Today’s Forgotten Woman, and Closing Remarks

Bio

Kate Mellina, the organizer of the Fashion Over 50 symposium, is a graduate student in FIT’s Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice MA program. Over the past four decades, she has managed product and process development teams for AT&T Bell Laboratories, founded a contemporary American crafts gallery, and organized numerous community involvement and improvement projects in Philadelphia and Asbury Park, New Jersey, where she spearheaded a highly successful anti-corruption campaign and served on the city council that kick-started beachfront redevelopment.

A member of the Philadelphia Dumpster Divers found-object art collective, Mellina has documented the Divers’ unconventional homes and studios on her Unexpected Philadelphia website. Her goal is to graduate at age 72 with a natty wardrobe and opportunities in museum exhibition planning and collections management.

Amy Sperber

SESSION:
Digitizing Identity: The Role of Fashion Avatars in Designing for Diverse Bodies and Q&A

Bio

Amy Sperber is a multidisciplinary fashion designer, consultant, and educator whose work integrates innovation, sustainability, and consumer-centered design. An FIT graduate and an assistant professor in FIT’s Fashion Design Department, Sperber’s global career in mass-market fashion honed her expertise in accessible, high-impact design.

Her current research focuses on body diversity and its implications for contemporary fashion design. By employing tools like a 3D avatar database, Sperber aims to authentically represent the breadth of human form and challenge industry norms. This work fosters inclusivity and develops adaptable garment solutions that meet the needs of diverse identities and experiences.

Amy’s practice reflects a commitment to fashion as a transformative tool for wellness and empowerment. Her collaborations with medical professionals have supported healing and treatment, emphasizing the potential of design to improve lives. Through her research, Sperber envisions a future where fashion celebrates diversity and creates meaningful connections between design and identity.