Curvy 56-year-old model proves you get better with age
<p>Nicola Griffin, a 56-year-old single mother of two from Nottingham, is making waves in the fashion industry by embracing her all-natural image.</p>
<p>A buxom size 16, the baby boomer just become the latest pin-up for changing beauty standards.</p>
<p>“It’s not all about being 20 and 5’10!" Nicola says. "We are all different ages and sizes and that’s the beauty of it. We’re real women”.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/lifestyle/beauty-style/2016/02/over-60-supermodels/">Mature models have been around for some time,</a></strong></em></span>with brands such as Celine, American Apparel and J. Crew recently opting for models over 50 years of age. Nicola herself got her start modelling for an English hair brand.</p>
<p>The grey-haird beauty’s bold mission to change perceptions about beauty and age started on a regular day, in line at the bank. A woman from a hair product company asked Griffin, who at the time ran a business organising student exchange trips, if she would be interested modelling for the brand. Her twin daughters, Tabitha and Elly, had recently left home. Griffin told <em>The Cut</em> “I was so worried about the empty nest…and I thought, Oh, why not?” </p>
<p>Three years later, the single mother is an in-demand model, and says she has nothing to prove. In a glorious riposte to those who believe that over-60s should shy away into lawn bowels and conservatism, Nicola flaunts her flaws. She told <em>The Daily Mail</em> "I have a big tummy, but I gave birth to two 7lb babies at the same time," she says. "It is not a flat stomach, it is rounded. This is me.”</p>
<p>Nicola is using her new found body confidence for revolutionising more than beauty standards, but asserting over-60 women's presence in a youth obsessed culture.</p>
<p>"I have had wonderful feedback from normal ladies, who are saying this is a breakthrough," she says. "They think, 'Great, I am not invisible any more. I too can look good – 56, 66, 76, it doesn't matter'."</p>
<p>On her new career, the model says she "feels a new freedom," proving that it’s never too late to aspire to change and development.</p>
<p>“It's funny. I don't think 56 is old. I think 86 is possibly old. Ninety-six is pretty old. I don't feel it — maybe I should. In fact, I feel the best I've ever felt."</p>
<p><strong>Related links:</strong></p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/beauty-style/2016/02/80-years-olds-prove-you-can-be-sexy-at-any-age/"><strong>These six women prove you can be sexy at any age</strong></a></span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/beauty-style/2016/01/favourite-looks-from-advance-style-blog/">The best looks from the advances style blog</a></strong></span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/beauty-style/2016/02/lee-lin-chin-most-interesting-person-on-australian-television/">The most interesting person on Australian TV</a></strong></span></em></p>
