A few years ago, the idea of ‘Advanced Style’ would have predominantly referred to photographer Ari Cohen’s blog documenting particularly stylish New York women over fifty. However, since Lina Plioplyte’s directorial debut, ‘Advanced Style’ no longer refers simply to a personal blog, but rather a movement within the fashion industry. In the appropriately titled documentary, Advanced Style, the pair combine online journalism and cinema to shine a spotlight on the group of ladies who are challenging mainstream perceptions of aging.

Much like Richard Press’s profile on the illusive photographer Bill Cunningham back in 2010, it’s the individuality of Advanced Style’s subjects that gives the Kickstarter-funded documentary its edge. Although opening with a feature on Cohen, it’s quickly made apparent that this story in fact belongs the women whose fashions he captures. All based in New York and all aged over fifty, dressing is an art form for these seven ladies, and it’s this attention to detail that has made them regulars on the now internationally successful blog.

Despite the diversity of ages, tastes and social backgrounds amongst them, these are women who each possess a similar elegance, which is what caught Cohen’s eye initially. It’s clear that the emphasis is never on fashion for these ladies, but rather on style, a quality that, as one of them explains, “cannot simply be bought”.

All impressive in their own right, the women featured in Advanced Style are proud to reveal the various successes they’ve had in their careers and personal lives, whilst still managing to remain somewhat self-effacing. Equally incredible is the fact that, even for those upwards of 80 years, these women continue to lead active lives. They ride bikes, practice yoga, take long walks and love to dance, and when combined with the impressive energy and joie de vivre they exude, it becomes all too easy to forget how many decades these subjects have in fact lived through.

However, the aging process is a real, unavoidable phenomenon, and what is perhaps most refreshing about the Advanced Style ladies is their complete openness to discussing this and its effects. Through the matter-of-fact discourses of hospital experiences and the realities of age-discrimination, the film moves beyond a mere appreciation of street-style fashions and becomes a thought-provoking social critique of prevailing attitudes towards old age.

Even with this element of openness, the tone of Advanced Style manages to remain as playful and optimistic as the ladies themselves, and this is largely achieved through Ari Cohen’s involvement and support. As he celebrates International Hat Day with the group, escorts them on a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles or simply joins them for tea in their apartments, Cohen demonstrates wisdom beyond his years – likely developed through his close affinity with his own grandmothers as a child. This rapport, and the possibility for intergenerational friendships that it demonstrates, is one of the greatest means by which the ‘Advanced Style’project is certainly helping to debunk the association between getting old and getting boring.

Ultimately, it’s this wholehearted trust established between the subjects and filmmakers that allows for a genuine glimpse into the lives of these impressive individuals and provides the perfect, unobtrusive guide to the ever-growing ‘Advanced Style’ movement.

4/5 stars