It felt like a defining moment, but the question remains: is fashion really becoming more age-inclusive?

Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino show in Paris this January made waves not just for its dreamy silhouettes and voluminous dresses in eye-popping hues, but because Piccioli’s casting was size- and age-inclusive.

In addition to using 10 in-house models instead of just one to represent fuller, softer bodies not typically seen in haute couture, Piccioli cast several older models, such as Kristen McMenamy, 57, a recent British Vogue cover star, and Marie Sophie Wilson, who is in her 70s. Of the decision, Piccioli simply said backstage that he “thought it was time for a change”.

While just about everything in the show, including the fashion, has had a mixed reception, it was gratifying to see Carrie’s madcap style, including wearing a tulle ball gown for a run to the corner bodega in killer heels, has remained. Sarah Jessica Parker, 56, recently appeared on the cover of American Vogue and in the accompanying profile ripped into the hypocrisies around women and ageing.

“Grey hair grey hair grey hair. ‘Does she have grey hair?’ I’m sitting with [television host] Andy Cohen and he has a full head of grey hair, and he’s exquisite. Why is it OK for him? Especially on social media. Everyone has something to say,” Parker said of the commentary the stars of the show have received online for daring to age. “‘She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles’ …”

Sara Maggioni, head of womenswear at trend forecasting agency WGSN, says there is still a way to go when it comes to true age inclusiveness in fashion.

“Inclusivity and diversity in general have improved a lot in recent times,” she says, “but when it gets to age, it remains a largely untapped area.”

British think tank the International Longevity Centre reports that many people experience feeling overlooked in the fashion realm as they age, despite wanting stylish options. Supermodel Paulina Porizkova, 56, once the highest paid model in the industry, said in a recent profile she, too, is no stranger to feeling “invisible”.

She is also no stranger to posting nude and bikini selfies to Instagram and “clapping back” to those who think she ought to instead be spending more time with her grandchildren.

Porizkova recently starred in a campaign for Australian luxury brand Camilla and Marc. Creative director Camilla Freeman-Topper, who regularly casts older women in her campaigns, says “there has absolutely been a shift, from the large European fashion houses to mass beauty companies, and everything in between.

“Fashion has always morphed and continually inspired, and now there is a shift to celebrating the real world, the human journey, and our day-to-day lives”.

She adds that she has noticed an uptick in women aged 45 and older buying into the brand, too.

Freeman-Topper says she finally feels “comfortable in my own skin”. “The level of confidence and security a woman has, with a few years under her belt, is beautiful,” she says. “The historic idealism of beauty has completely shifted to become about celebrating reality, its positives and negatives.”

“It sounds silly but we don’t think of the age, we just want to see women, and men, who have lived a life and are comfortable in their skin and then that shines through in the image, that they are confident and the clothes are helping that,” says Proud. “We never retouch our shoots and we always ask the models and non-models to come with their hair how they like it best.”

Montreal-based fifty-something fashion influencer Grece Ghanem has starred in a campaign for Raey and is, as WGSN’s Maggioni notes, part of a cohort of women over 50 amassing huge online followings, and lucrative brand deals, for their refined and interesting style.

For Ghanem, shaking off the notion of “invisibility” and wearing what you want is down to confidence and the kind of contentment that doesn’t come from seeking validation.

“I never felt that my age would be a factor stopping me from achieving or doing something,” she says. “I feel that some women, when they reach a certain age, they feel the need to conform to what society has decided to be ‘age appropriate’ for them. Whether it be in the way they dress, the colours they choose to wear, their hobbies.

“I don’t think style philosophy is age-related, that is why my styling ‘rules’ have grown with me through the years,” she says. “I have a penchant for bold colours, elevated basics, power prints. I like to contrast masculine and feminine silhouettes, to mix vintage and contemporary pieces while making it all look effortless. I feel that as I grew older, I started to know more what suited me and in what I feel confident.”