Advanced Style

I’ve had the immense honor of spending the weekend with 97-year-old yoga master, model, and all around wonder woman Tao Porchon-Lynch. Tao was in Montenegro for the Age of Happiness Festival where she gave an incredibly moving presentation on her life and work with yoga. She was born on the English Channel to an Indian mother and French father. Her childhood was spent in Pondicherry, India where she was brought up by her uncle who was responsible for building a lot of the railway system in India.

Tao has just released her first memoir chronicling her extraordinarily adventurous life.
She joined Gandhi during the Salt March, danced in the streets of England during WWII, modeled for Lanvin and befriended Marlene Dietrich and then Marilyn Monroe during a stint in Hollywood.
At 97, Tao has more energy and vitality than anyone I have ever met. When it comes to aging Tao remarked,”People say that I am old, but I think of the trees and how they are hundred of years old. They recycle themselves each winter. I recycle myself like the trees every winter to get ready for the spring so that I can dance my way through life.” Check out Tao’s wonderful memoir HERE.

I was recently invited by Magnum Ice Cream to capture a behind the scenes look at Zap, a short film by director Patrick Downing, featuring a humorous snapshot into a moment of pleasure in the lives of an elderly couple.This film is one in a series in Magnum’s emerging filmmaker competition Be True to Your Pleasure, focusing on the themes of personal pleasure, Indulgence, and spontaneity.

One of my goals with Advanced Style is to capture a joyful image of aging. I remember my grandparents walking down the street in their late 80s, hand and hand, whispering and joking, and soaking in the warm California sun. It was the simple pleasure of just being together that kept them so vital.

As soon as I got on set I was curious to know about the inspiration for Patrick’s film. When I asked him how he came up with the idea he explained:

This idea of going up and shocking someone with static electricity, kind of in a playful way, like when a kid would pull the ponytail on a girl and it actually meant that they liked her even though it may have seemed silly or a little bit mean. What if it has moved past mean and is deliberate and shared between two people. It’s such a childlike thing for two people to do. I imagined an older couple who had been friends since childhood and ended up getting married. They grew into this life together. I wondered what pleasure they would carry from there childhood, like a little secret shared experience that brings them back to that time. It keeps them feeling young at heart and they treat it with this solemn beauty.”

This idea of innocence and continuing to enjoy life’s small pleasures, is what keeps you forever young. I do believe that people feel that getting old means letting go of things that you did when you were young. It’s the exact opposite of that. The way you grow old gracefully and beautifully is by keeping those things close and honoring them and using that experience to carry you forward.

As they day progressed I got to interact with the entire cast and crew of Zap. I was thrilled to hear that Patrick had taken a bit of inspiration from Advanced Style in the casting and styling of the actors in the film. I was curious to know how Donna and C Chen, the stars of the film, stay true to their pleasure.

Donna told me that she finds pleasure in spending time with her family. She explained:
I love to golf, I have a wonderful family. I’ve also learned to paint watercolors so retirement has been wonderful. I have become an actress and model! The older you get the more important your friends and family are.Just simple times with family and friends that’s the secret.

C Chen continued:

I walk, I like to play basketball, but walking does it for me. I walk a lot in the mornings and the evenings.As you get older you become smarter! You don’t do the things you did as a young man anymore because you start to realize what your parents were telling you. It starts to become apparent. When you are a young man you see what they are saying as silly, but as you get older you start saying well hold on a minute that’s what they used to tell me and I’m telling my kids now.
Style is everything man. I think that if you have to style you don’t have to follow trends and you don’t have to follow fashion. Fashion trends are set by another man, but if you have style you can do your own thing.You understand more. You become more knowledgeable with age. When we are younger we tend to be more emotional. As you get older you get more logical. We were trained to think we our brains, but actually the ancient ones said that wisdom comes from the heart.

How do you stay true to your pleasure? #sponsored

Advanced Style

Sarah Jane Adams, Budva, Montenegro

Tao Porchon-Lynch

Be True To Your Pleasure

Joy Venturini Bianchi, San Francisco

West Village Wave