Lifestyle classes keep over 60s stylish

Описание: (31 Mar 2020) LEAD IN:
As more Russian regions go into lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a lifestyle and fashion school for the elderly is looking at ways to continue contact with its students.  
The "Elegant Age" Studio of Style in Novosibirsk offers lifestyle classes, fashion and beauty tips to people over the age of 60.

STORY-LINE:
Ways to tie a scarf – this is one of the many master classes delivered by Studio of Style "Elegant Age" in Novosibirsk filmed before Russia started to enter lockdown.
The studio was set up last year by a volunteer centre to help people over 60 stay on trend, keep an eye on fashion, and care of themselves.
Pensioners are informed about new cosmetic products and catwalk shows and get help to put together a wardrobe of fashion-conscious outfits.
Participant Lyudmila Naumenko thinks it is a great opportunity to stay stylish.
"When you look at girls, you see how nicely they dress up. But we are not girls any longer, we are people of more or less serious age already, but we also want to keep up with the times," she says.
"It is here in this studio that I heard about its programme, that even at our age we can be in line with the time, dress up beautifully, use beautiful accessories, that's what made me come to the studio."
The programme lasts nine months and includes master classes ranging from skin care and make-up to speech, culture and etiquette.
There are courses on dressing up and compiling wardrobes, walking on a catwalk, leading a healthy lifestyle, master classes on table settings and entertaining guests at home, the right way of speaking over the phone, and even writing messages on WhatsApp.
For many participants, the most valuable part is the opportunity to interact in good company.
"To be honest, it is interaction with positive people, this I would call the most important thing," says participant Lyudmila Vaganova.
"We are at the age when many women are widows when children have grown up and grandchildren are not at the forefront any longer, and women are a bit lost, time frees up, but you don't want to get old, and here, there are people who look into the future with optimism, who are set to have some cultural activities."
The programme is in its second year but has already proven very successful.
Last year the programme was only five months long and attracted 52 participants.
This year organisers had to close recruitment procedures when the number of people wishing to enter the programme reached 100.
The programme was initially aimed at women but men are interested in joining it too.
"As I see it, the goal of the studio is to instil permanent desire to take care of yourself, to always look bright, stylish and not be shy about it, and now I think, yes, it is important, but most important is to feel that warmth here, so that a woman feels truly like a woman, beautiful, confident, needed," says head of project Galina Kazaryan.
She believes the programme encourages participants to really widen their horizons.
"They don't attend just our studio, they start doing other things in parallel, some go to art classes, they discover such a gift in themselves, to theatre classes, to journalism classes, there are many options now available to us, many opportunities, and our studio nudges to such things, so people of our age discover such skills that they didn't know about until 60 years old," says Kazaryan.  
The cherry on the cake is the catwalk master class.
After last year, the studio formed a group which now models clothing at various external venues, such as at events for veterans and local celebrations.

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