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Being herself: natural elegance and charm. Belfast retiree starts fashion model career at 70
A 70 year old woman has shown that age is no barrier to new experiences by securing a modelling contract and preparing for her first fashion show. After feeling ‘absorbed’ by her corporate job and spending most of her life in the public sector, including roles in the Northern Irish civil service, Anne Flanagan, decided to do something ‘more fun’ with her time upon retirement.
Encouraged by her daughters, Julie, 40, and Ciara, 37, she began volunteering at a nursing home. However, a chance encounter on the street led to a dramatic career change. Photographer Christopher Ward, who runs the Instagram page Model Strangers, approached Anne while she was shopping in Belfast. After her photos went viral, she was signed by a modelling agency and asked to model for a local clothing brand.
Revealing her most treasured part of her new ‘career’, Anne stated that it demonstrated life does not come to a halt at 70. “It’s not over as soon as you hit 70,” she expressed, with an air of joy emerging from people of her age offering their support. Expressing her pleasure at the representation, she said: “They say it’s ‘great to see someone our age, who’s been spotted for standing out.’ I just think it’s great that an older woman is getting so much good publicity.”
