In praise of the 90-year-old woman who shows you can wear a bikini at any age

06 April 2016 - 02:13 By Emma Spedding, ©The Daily Telegraph

Many women when they get past their 20s decide to play it safe on the beach in a cover up or a modest swimming costume, but a 90-year-old woman from Australia has shown that you really can rock a two-piece at any age.Irene Carney bought a red and white retro Seafolly bikini for her cruise, after being encouraged to wear a bikini by her friends and the carers in her nursing home. And now a picture of her wearing this two-piece on her holiday has gone viral on Facebook, with hundreds praising her for her look.Carney purchased the bikini from a shop called Lady Watego in Byron Bay, Australia, and then sent the shop assistants a picture of her wearing it on holiday.Lady Watego then shared this picture on its own page, captioning the image: "The gorgeous 90-year-old Irene on her family cruise wearing her @seafollyaustralia spot on bikini-never too old for a bikini. Love #ladywatego #seafollyaustralia #bikini #nevertooold." Comments on the picture include "If only more elderly people would get out and enjoy the sun and water. I'm calling her Inspirational Irene" and "Loving the attitude of this lady. A great example of loving yourself for who you are. You rock it."The fashion industry is often criticised for being youth-obsessed, and failing to cater for older women.A picture of an over-50 in a bikini is seen as a shock, as proved by the outburst of reaction to the pictures of a then 63-year-old Helen Mirren on the beach."The fashion industry doesn't just forget old people, it forgets middle-aged people," 94-year-old fashion icon Iris Apfel said in an interview with The Telegraph."The fashion industry is youth-obsessed, which is totally insane from a financial point of view so I don't feel sorry for them, they brought it on themselves."Many top designers will make very, very expensive dresses costing many, many thousands of dollars that young people can't afford."She continued: "They make these dresses on 16-year-old bodies that can be purchased by women over 65/75 - those are the women in our country anyhow with the spendable income and the time and money to go shopping and they want to buy beautiful things, but it's very hard to find things that are suitable for them. It doesn't make any sense." ..

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