Trend Watch: The Over-40 Market: Women Are Telling You What They Want

Perhaps the recent spate of editorial reports on the subject started with Sharon Stone, quoted in the October 2007 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. In asking what “Hollywood’s hottest 49-year-old” thinks about aging, she offered the following: 

“Okay, I’m going to wear a little less makeup and more jewelry. I’m going to wear bolder pieces: huge earrings and bracelets and necklaces.” She referenced women she admires, Carmen Dell’Orefice and Paloma Picasso, “women that have these really powerful looks. I might as well just go with it.”

   [Photo of Sharon Stone by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images from Harper’s Bazaar.]

And then there was the wonderful little editorial comment in the same issue of the magazine regarding what’s in and what’s out. IN: bold earrings. “Youthful hoops get you noticed.” OUT: “Unadorned ears or minute studs. What’s the point?”

What’s the point, indeed? The woman of a certain age, who knows what she wants, knows that she wants statement-making pieces of jewelry. She wants jewelry that reflects her presence and her power. 

The November 2007 issue of More magazine, which targets the 40-plus age group of women, published the results of a survey of 1,578 readers inquiring what they are “buying, wearing and craving now.” As More notes, what emerged from the survey is “a new fashion manifesto for over-40 women.”

One of the ten conclusions from the survey should be no surprise to retail jewelers: Women buy their own baubles. Readers report that they “frequently add an irreverent fashion touch in the form of big, bold jewelry, especially necklaces.” In addition, four out of ten women report that “statement earrings are their soft spot.”

More concludes: “Designers, listen up!” Retailers, are you listening too?