At 72, Australian fashion designer Faye Browne is challenging ageist attitudes with a bold billboard campaign featuring her bare chest beneath an open red suit jacket.
The co-founder of Melbourne label Motto Fashions appears on billboards in Sydney and Melbourne as part of a campaign carrying the message: “Wear Your Good Sh*t. You Are the Occasion.”
For Browne, the shoot was a statement about confidence and the pressure women often get to “quietly fade into beige” as they get older, in the fashion culture.
Fourteen years ago, she underwent a double mastectomy following a cancer diagnosis, which changed her relationship with her body.
“Honestly? I was thinking, ‘Faye, you’ve earned this,’” Browne said in an interview with news.com.au
“There was a time I couldn’t look at my own body in the mirror.”
“I was thinking about every woman who’s been told, directly or not, that it’s time to quietly step aside.
“I was nervous for about 30 seconds, and then I felt incredibly free – red helps, red always helps.”
The campaign has attracted criticism as well as support, with Browne saying some people had called her cheap and told her to grow up.
“People are still uncomfortable seeing an older woman who’s proud of her body, and that’s exactly why we did it,” she said.
“For every cruel comment, I had a woman message me saying, ‘I needed to see that,’ and those are the ones I hold on to.”
Her daughter, Lauren French, who runs the family business with her parents, said the reaction highlighted how rarely older women were represented in this way.
“If a 72-year-old woman in a suit can stop traffic, that tells you something about how rarely we let women her age be seen,” she told news.com.au.
Browne said her cancer diagnosis had also changed how she approached everyday life, prompting her to stop saving clothes and other pleasures for special occasions.
“When you’re sitting in a doctor’s office hearing a diagnosis you never saw coming, every ‘one day’ suddenly sounds ridiculous,” she said.
“One day I’ll wear the good dress, one day I’ll use the nice perfume – no.”
“I got some funny looks, but I felt like myself again, and I’ve never saved anything for best since.”
Browne founded Motto Fashions with her husband, John, in Melbourne in 1985. The business has built a following with flattering clothes designed for Australian women’s everyday lives, including its Miracle Pant, which has sold more than 50,000 pairs.
Her daughter said the label’s focus on real customers was central to its success.
“We design for the woman who’s been let down by fashion before, and she can tell,” French said.
Images: Instagram
