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4646 marieclaire.com.auPHOTOGRAPHY BY INSTAGRAM/@TUTTIFRUITTY1.The compliments are
endless for flamboyant
Sydney grandmother
and Instagram
sensation Tutti
Bennett, who regards
her “revitalising” new
social media hobby
as a way to make the
most of the moment.That’s certainly the case for 67-year-old Syd-
ney grandmother Tutti Bennett (@tuttifruitty1)
who says her new social media hobby has revital-
ised her life. “Followers get the message that age
doesn’t have to be boring and fearful and that’s
great but, for those of us on there, it’s just a feeling
of, ‘You know what? I don’t know when my last
breath is coming so I might just run with this
while I can and have some adventures’,” she says.
To Jenny Darroch, author of Why Marketing
to Women Doesn’t Work, it makes sense – both for
the women behind the accounts and the brands
that leverage their appeal. “Many are mortgage
free, no longer supporting children, and often
outliving men, so they end up with the cashed-in
insurance policies,” she says. “But also, consumers
relate to other consumers who are just like them,
so for a marketer to appeal to an older woman ...
there’s little point showing a 20-year-old model.”Sure, money talks, but there could be a bigger
shift that’s spurring older women into the spot-
light: age doesn’t have to define women in the way
it used to. In the Western world, women are mar-
rying, buying homes and having children later
and changing careers almost as fast as we change
cars. Is it any wonder our role models and Insta-
gram crushes are getting older, too?
When Sarah Jane Adams posted her first
photo on Instagram in 2014 – egged on by her
daughters – she hoped to promote her jewellery
business, and maybe work up to a grand ambition
of 300 followers. The world had other ideas. Her
first photo captured the attention of Advanced
Style’s Ari Seth Cohen, who featured her on his
blog. Tens of thousands of followers, a deal with
IMG Models and dozens of brand contracts later,
and Adams has found a whole new way to express
herself. And it’s not about the money, sheREAL PEOPLE