How Dame Maggie Smith became a fashion muse at 88

Maggie Smith photographed by Juergen Teller for Loewe — Maggie Smith in the latest advertising campaign for the Spanish fashion house Loewe

Credit: Loewe/Juergen Teller

She was an Oscar winner at 34, a Dame at 55 and now, aged 88, Dame Maggie Smith has become a fashion muse.

The Harry Potter and Downton Abbey star features in the latest advertising campaign for the Spanish fashion house Loewe. She is shot by cutting-edge photographer Juergen Teller wearing items from the spring/summer pre-collection, including a brown and khaki shearling coat, a navy silk shirt and a white ruffled skirt. She carries a selection of the label’s cult handbags, including a bottle-green version of the bestselling Puzzle design.

Maggie Smith wearing items from the Loewe spring/summer pre-collection

Credit: Loewe/Juergen Teller

The images, in which Smith appears to be wearing minimal make-up, were shared on social media by Loewe’s Northern Irish creative director Jonathan Anderson ahead of their official release later this week.

Smith becomes the latest national treasure of a certain age to be recruited by a luxury fashion brand to give its designs widespread appeal. Burberry recently photographed Dame Mary Berry, also 88, wearing one of its scarf designs; Vanessa Redgrave, 86, is a regular guest of honour at the fashion shows of London designer Roksanda; and Sir Ian McKellen, 84, modelled in the SS Daley show in February this year.

As the world of celebrity becomes ever more polarised, household names with the gravitas of a long and successful career can lend their glow to labels in a way that no younger star could ever hope to emulate. For Smith in particular, older generations – who tend to have the disposable income to spend on luxury purchases like a £2,000 handbag – will appreciate her entire stage and screen oeuvre, perhaps especially her turn as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, or as the titular character in Alan Bennett’s 2015 film The Lady in the Van.

Smith as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey

Credit: Alamy

Meanwhile, younger people expressed excitement online at seeing Professor McGonagall, her role in Harry Potter, as the new face of Loewe. Or as the Cosmopolitan website put it, “the surprisingly large intersection of Harry Potter-obsessed high-fashion fans are absolutely losing it”.

Lucy Owen, the founder of boutique talent agency Lucy Owen Talent, says: “Brands using women’s age as a point of diversity in our youth and celebrity obsessed culture is not a new concept. We’ve seen this in previous seasons at Céline, Dolce & Gabbana and Saint Laurent, among others.”

Younger people expressed excitement online at seeing Professor McGonagall, Smith's role in Harry Potter, as the new face of Loewe — Younger people expressed excitement online at seeing Professor McGonagall, Smith’s role in Harry Potter, as the new face of Loewe

Credit: Film Stills

Céline arguably began the trend in 2015, by photographing then 80-year-old writer Joan Didion in a pair of sunglasses and a black polo neck jumper, ushering in a new era of appreciation for older people in contrast to fashion’s usual youth obsession. Dolce & Gabbana work closely with Dame Helen Mirren, 78, while Saint Laurent used Catherine Denueve, then 77, in a 2021 advertising campaign. These fashion projects also reframe old age as a time to have fun and take risks, rather than a period to slip out of the limelight.

“We have an emotional response to Maggie Smith as a woman approaching her 90s who exudes talent, dedication and a life that has been lived,” Owen explains. “Typically the customer that has the money to buy luxury is older and yet the industry largely continues to choose to be represented by the very young. Brands like Loewe and Burberry are cleverly tapping into women with a life story to tell that they can weave into their own brand message and narrative. A woman like Maggie Smith is perfectly positioned to represent a collection of luxury pieces destined to become heirlooms with their own sense of timelessness.”

“At my age, one must ration one’s excitement,” Lady Grantham once said in Downton Abbey. But this seems like an occasion even she would raise a smile for.