Her story has made international headlines and she is now signed to Elite London modeling agency.
A simple lunch date during New York Fashion Week forever changed the life of Fordham University professor Lyn Slater, who found herself surrounded by journalists who had mistaken her for a fashion icon (Vogue Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintor, perhaps?).
The press attracted a crowd of spectators and Slater found herself in the middle of a whirlwind of flashing photography and shouts of “who are you wearing?” She was an “Accidental Icon,” and in the years since the incident she has fully embraced the title. On top of working as a professor of social work, she is a fashion blogger and her Instagram page has over 476,000 followers.
At over 60 years old, Slater was an unlikely person to be discovered in such a way. She advocates for embracing yourself through fashion and ignoring the ageist criticisms of “dress your age.”
“Don’t wear mini skirts, don’t wear crop tops, don’t expose your cleavage, don’t wear low-rise jeans — I ignore them,” Slater told Refinery29. “Age is never a variable I use to make decisions about what I wear.”
“It’s really about my identity, or what I want to convey to the world that particular day,” she continued. “I’ve seen a lot of these stories like, ‘what not to wear’ and ‘what to wear,’ in your 50s or 60s, and, as a rebellious person, I’m automatically not going to do what I’m told. To me, the bottom line is: what am I comfortable in?”
She has appeared in international publications and as of Feb. 2017, she has been represented by Elite London modeling agency where she continues her work to break through fashion barriers.