The Forty Plus Modeling Troupe is truly a dream come true for founder and President Marilyn Bradford-Evans.
In an exclusive interview for the CaribPress during her recent fashion extravaganza at the Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport, Bradford- Evans talked about where she has been, and where the troupe is going.
Bradford-Evans was born in Amoral, Arkansas. Her parents moved to the farming town of Madera located in the San Joaquin Valley of central California when she was seven. Her mom and dad loved the stage and screen, which exposed her to fashions and glamour. In high school she was told she had flair.
Bradford-Evans came to Los Angeles in 1986 and started attending many fashion shows throughout the city. She said that she noticed the majority of the models were in the 18-to-20-year-old bracket. There were no models over the age of 40, whereas many of the members of the audiences who attended these affairs were over the age of 40. Bradford-Evans said she decided that there should be models over 40 on the fashion runways. People over 40 also have glamour and grace, too, she reasoned.
Bradford-Evans got some training from her sister, an experienced fashion model. By 1988 she had staged her first show, and the over-40 lineup proved to be a hit. The idea on what to name her troupe was suggested by her brother. Forty Plus stuck, and people began asking about her next show.
Her modeling troupe traveled to Beverly Hills and she had her own fashion magazine "Forty Plus Lifestyles" that featured such notables as Frank Sinatra, Phyllis Diller and other Hollywood stars from stage to screen and music. In 1995, her success in the fashion industry was coming full circle when her marriage came to an end. A devastated Bradford-Evans stopped doing shows for 11 years.
Bradford-Evans said that the need for over-40 fashion models still existed after all that time. In 2006, she got back in the fashion game with a reprise of Forty Plus.
She's busy recruiting members for an advisory board for the fashion troupe, with hopes of taking the 40 Plus concept around the world.
All of this comes as Bradord-Evans enters her 70s — and she doesn't mind talking about her age Indeed, she says she is proud of her silvery grey hair.
Indeed, Bradford-Evans has a way of taking a different look at things. Consider what she says to ward off worries about age: "If you're over the hill that must mean the hill is behind you."
That's enough to keep Bradford-Evans moving on.
Visit www.fortyplusmodelingtroupe.org for more information on Forty Plus.
Wilfred Phillips is a writer for Carib Press
Photos from www.fortyplusmodelingtroupe.org
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