With icons such as Dame Helen Mirren and Jerry Hall topping the style stakes, mature women are upping the ante when it comes to glamour and, to celebrate this, Brent Cross Shopping Centre is launching a search for London’s most glamorous grandma – or ‘glam-ma’.

Fronting the campaign is senior model Pam Lucas, 65, whose face you will recognise from The Guardian’s weekend fashion pages and from the side of buses when she was part of an earlier Brent Cross fashion campaign.

“It will be good fun,“ says Pam, “everybody should get their grannies on board. I hope it inspires people to get more interested in changing their image and enjoying themselves more. It’s very important, how you dress, it’s a means of self-expression and an extension of who you are.“

Pam says the scouting team at Brent Cross will be looking for ‘the whole package’ – style, vitality, energy and confidence – all things that Pam has herself in abundance, and things that started her out on her modelling career when she was 51.

“I wanted to do it when I was younger but my mum wanted me to get qualifications. She’s quite happy that I’m doing it now. She’s 91 and cuts The Guardian pages out and puts them in a book. She’s quite tickled by it all. I took her along to one job – it was a pop video for Eagle Eye Cherry, Are You Still Having Fun, I think it was called. She ate the on-set lunch and two puddings and then she went to sleep on the sofa!“

Pam has been signed to Ugly Models since she started modelling in 1999 – after selling herself as ‘looking a bit like Morticia Addams’ to the woman on the phone – and has been working steadily on shoots and jobs ever since.

“It’s fun,“ she says. “I probably get a job a week, which is great because it keeps me ticking over. I get to meet all sorts of interesting people and do different things.“

If you are over 50 and have a passion for fashion, you could be in with a chance of winning £500 to spend at Brent Cross.

  • Visit Brent Cross Shopping Centre on Saturday, March 1 or Sunday, March 2 between 12pm and 4pm for your chance to win. Details: brentcross.co.uk

 

Pam’s fashion tips

• Use coloured accessories to match your outfit, such as bracelets and bags
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with styles you have never tried before, mine changes every day
• Money can’t buy style – some of the best items I’ve bought have come from charity shops
• Keep up with current affairs – your state of mind is reflected in your style
• Wear natural fabrics such as wool, silk and cotton