Karen has been following my  “Make It Possible Campaign” about why wearing jeans and being 50+ is fabulous.    Karen  is 53 and loving life her life.  She has found  empowerment, sharing with us positivity, laughter and love after experiencing a traumatic physical attack that could have ended her life.  These are her words:

” I am a woman of faith. I am a Mum, daughter, sister, Aunty, Grandmother, friend and work collegue.  I am also a survivor of a particularly violent domestic violence assult.

My tattoos are a self-expression.  At the time, I wanted something beautiful on the outside as I felt darkness on the inside and they are part of my journey.

In the past 15 months, I have moved on physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Domestic violence  can impact many women and  men too, any age and any creed.  Life can be a beautiful thing and it is never too late to start again.

..And older ladies, wear your jeans and wear them proudly.

I would like to thank Shar for her creativity and having a platform for women to both celebrate us, as older women and to share our stories.

Karen.

I had the privilege of photographing Maxine for Mothers Day and my Make it Possible campaign  .. we had a blast..  and 62 can she rock a pair of jeans??  She has very kindly shared her words for us and some meaningful quotes.

• “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission”. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote this.
  

I’ve worn jeans all my life. I remember buying a pair of Wranglers in Akaroa from Drummond’s Drapery men’s wear store about 50 years ago. They looked ridiculous on me but they were almost long enough in the leg.
I’ve always had trouble with leg length and have had to shop around for styles I liked in longer length. A disadvantage of being 179cm tall.

Being a tall woman has had its advantages for me though as I was selected for the NZ Netball Team when I was 18. I played in the Lois Muir era 1974-1982 and was a member of the 1979 world Champion Team that tied with Australia and Trinidad for the title. I have 3 children, 4 grandchildren…..and a dog that my youngest named then left for me when he left home. He proudly named the dog Maximus!

I still wear my jeans.. I Wear them proudly. Tight / skinny leg/ wide leg/ preferably not too short…been there done that many times…..I survived….so will you. “Your life lies before you like a hidden path of snow.
Be careful how you tread it for every mark will show”.
My Mum wrote that in my primary school autograph book. She taught me to be strong determined confident and always positive.

As a shy introverted child it took me a long time to believe I could do anything well.
“Believe that you can and you are half way there”.

My daughter recently won a photo shoot for me with Shar Devine and before going I had a Cloud9 Float experience that my two sons and daughter in law had given me…..62 is just a number….i know I can’t run and jump like I used to but I can still have fun.

Thank you Shar for making me look and feel beautiful.

Maxine.

Welcome to my new blog and website.. this has been a while in the making and I would love your feedback.  The intention is to share with you my work, my beautiful clients, their stories,  the funny quirky things that happen along the way.. and an insight behind the scenes, of me and my business.  

Some of you may have seen my post about Lyn Slater.. the Accidental Icon. Did you watch it? She is 64, she is a bit of a rebel and in her own unique, stylish way she is changing how we think about ageing. I love that she has an Instagram following of young people that are inspired by her and now not scared of growing old. What a role model. I love that to her, age is irrelevant. I had always thought to myself, that I would still be wearing jeans at 50 and be a bit irreverent. Im glad that now I”m there (51 auctually) I have made good on that promise. Society dictates how we should look and act.. you know the old saying “act your age”, we owe it to ourselves and those that look to us for guidance to be accepting of who we are, to express our individuality, to share our wisdom, to have value and be the best possible version of ourselves. 

Through my portrait work, I get to meet amazing people. The all have their own story and I love how they unfold in front of the camera. Recently, I had to replace my phone, poor thing it was exhausted. On the inside cover of my new phone is written “Make it possible” and I thought wow..what could I make possible? I could build a campaign around this!!  So here it is “Make It Possible”, featuring women 50+, who wear jeans and have something they want to say.

Liz Jones, has just turned 60.  We had so much fun during her birthday photo shoot.  Husband Graham joined us and it warmed my heart to hear that they didn’t have a nice recent photograph of the two of them.  Graham, has an incredible eye for detail.. and all credit to him for choosing the feathers and silk sequin top for Liz’s jeans image.  Liz has very kindly shared with us, her thoughts on turning 60.. it’s a great read.

Turning 60

Well I must say I was feeling a bit daunted about turning 60 as its really getting up there in the age stakes!!!

Turning 40 was great fun and 50, well that was quite a blast too as it felt like I had all the time in the world to enjoy life and all that stuff, so reaching the ripe old age of 60 has been a bit scary!!

After all that means that I could be dead in another 20 years??

Well if I abstain from everything I enjoy, like wine and fatty foods and sex, hang on a minute who has sex at 60?, I might make it to 80!!

Then I thought, what the hell, it’s just a number and in my head my number is still around 45ish.

A wise person said to me recently that 60 is the new 50. Im going with that thought.

And who the hell said that women over the age of 50 shouldn’t wear jeans? Their time will come and I bet they are still trying to drag their sagging arses into a pair of denims.

When I bought my first pair of “skinny leg denims” 3 weeks ago I asked the young sales assistant if I was too old to wear them and the usual trick question “do they make my bum look bigger?” and her reply was genuine, I hope.

She said the trick is to wear these fabulous curvaceous ones that are tight on your waist and hug around your curvy hips. And no they definitely don’t make you bum look big!! She made the sale.

And you know what, I feel great in those jeans and I’m going to wear them till I’m 80. Or until they wear out cos they have a lifetime guarantee so I’m told. Whose lifetime I want to know??

So pearls of wisdom for those not quite at the ripe old age of 60.

Don’t knock it till you get there and enjoy the trip cos its still fun and if bits fall off or travel south forever don’t worry cos those sexy jeans will hold it all up and in and if all else fails try surgery.

And definitely celebrate being able to get a cheap pool pass at Hanmer pools…..you see there are perks.