One day, we’ll all be old. The fashion industry is partially responsible for establishing a fear and discomfort with aging through the promotion of anti-aging products, habits, and diets. Today, the youthful, skinny body is equated with beauty, leading individuals to believe we become less attractive with age.
That’s where Judith Boyd comes in. For some people picking out an outfit in the morning is an inconvenience, but for Boyd, picking an outfit is much more.
“I feel like it’s my form of art, it’s my creativity. Some people paint, some people garden, but I love to put together outfits,” Boyd said.
Boyd wears many hats, including psychiatric nurse, creator and writer of her blog Style Crone, influencing her 124,000 followers on Instagram. She began modeling at 70 years old, participating in the Neiman Marcus holiday catalog during the pandemic and has had countless collaborations on social media. Boyd is reimagining beauty standards by letting others know that even an 81-year-old can still dress to impress while doing it sustainably.
Boyd has always been interested in fashion, with some of her early pursuits in the industry including co-owning a hat shop in the ‘80s, selling vintage in an antique mall, and then consignment at a vintage shop. Second-hand shopping has always been Boyd’s first choice.
“After I started shopping second-hand, I felt retail was really boring to me,” Boyd said. “I could develop my individual style as opposed to looking like everybody else.”
Second-hand additionally allows Boyd to recycle clothes, acting as her personal project in fighting climate change and keeping fast fashion items out of landfills, while allowing her sense of style to remain “eclectic, experimental and fun,” as Boyd describes it.
Boyd is concerned over-consumption and production of fast fashion have negative effects on the environment by making up 10% of total global carbon emissions. It’s also the second-largest consumer industry of water. Producing one cotton shirt requires over 700 gallons, and making a pair of jeans takes 2,000 gallons of water. These fast fashion garments ultimately end up polluting waterways as up to 85% of these textiles end up in dumps each year.
“The reason I like pre-loved is that, who knows the story of where all these pieces have been before? It’s kind of a clothing rescue, sustainability project that I have because of climate change. Fast fashion contributes greatly to what’s happening to our climate,” Boyd said.
In 2010, Style Crone came into the picture, a few years after Boyd’s beloved husband, Nelson, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
“I found this article about a blogger who was 11 years old,” Boyd said. “I was questioning in my mind whether there was anyone blogging who was on the other end of the continuum, like an older person because I think I was in my sixties at that point, and then I found Advanced Style and some other older women who were blogging, and that inspired me to start my own blog.”
Boyd began writing with full support from Nelson, who even took on the role of her first photographer. Blogging transformed into an outlet for the writer to both process and cope with what was happening in her and Nelson’s life.
“It kind of added a different lightness to our devastating experience at the time,” Boyd said. “I blogged about what was happening in my life and Nelson’s end of life. I blogged through the last nine months of his life about cancer caregiving. I had one series on my blog called ‘What to Wear to Chemo’ and I would get dressed up and he would take photos of me in the oncology exam room before we went to chemo.”
Style Crone evolved into much more than a fashion blog. It became a vulnerable project for processing the good and bad, death, grief, loss, and recovery Boyd was undergoing. Fashion and writing became her safe space, eventually growing into the platform and supportive community she has today as a blogger and influencer on Instagram and TikTok. Style Crone acts as a keepsake of Boyd’s love, marriage, and husband, and will forever be a piece of her she holds close to her heart.
“I really cannot stop because we started this project together—Nelson and I—and I feel like it honors him for me to continue,” Boyd said.
Living in a youth-oriented culture, Boyd believes accepting aging and holding a positive mindset about it encourages a better, healthier sense of life.
“Look at nature—trees are just as beautiful in the spring, and then in the fall, without their leaves, it’s just accepted,” she said.
Self-confidence, for Boyd, comes from within, and fashion simply encourages people to have fun and be kind to themselves.
“I remember in the hat shop, what I would usually say—because people are hesitant to wear hats and it’s been that way for many years–I would help or teach someone how to wear a hat, like how to position it on your head, but then just put it on your head and walk,” Boyd said. “Just walk around the block, it’s just a piece of clothing or an accessory, you can take it off, you can change it, it really doesn’t matter.”
Judith Boyd’s love of fashion has been an important passion in her life and reminds her to have fun and embrace creativity, every day. Her “closet,” made up of a hat room, a basement of vintage and a wall of scarves, acts as a wardrobe of stories, memories, love and possibility, and throughout her life has provided her with an outlet for inspiration and healing. She’s proving to everyone that with a little courage, flexibility, and an open mind, it’s never too late for anything.
