1. How did you come up with the concept of Advanced Style? What made you decide to create a blog?

I (Ari) moved to New York and was so happy to see so many older people out on the streets. New York has so many amazing people, and because it is such a pedestrian city, it is great for people watching. I have always had an affinity for older people, and after walking around and seeing so much wonderful character and style, I decided to document advanced style. It is a celebration of age and the wisdom and confidence that comes with age. Ultimately it is about style, the style that has advanced with age.

2. What are the bloggers’ backgrounds? Did those backgrounds impact your choice to start Advanced Style?

I(Ari) have an art history and fashion background and am looking for event production jobs. Briana Rognlin is a writer and does photography.

3. What is your (the bloggers’) relationship to each other?

We are friends and work together. We worked together at our past place of employment.

4. How often do you receive reader submissions? Are you hoping for more?

We receive a few a week, but would love to have more. We would love more international submissions.

5. What are your goals for the site?

Our goal is too celebrate age and break down some of the stereotypes associated with age. You can still be stylish and fun when you are older.

6. What do you foresee in Advanced Style’s future? Do you have ideas or plans for new features, events, etc?

We are thinking about how to get different charities involved and possibly reach out to different senior communities.

7. Do you think that fashion advertisers might benefit from using more middle aged or elderly people in their ads? Do you think that would impact our culture? If so, how?

Recently a lot of fashion campaigns and runway shows have been using older models. It is about marketing. I definitely think it has a great social benefit to use older models.

8. Our culture seems to disregard the aging and worship youth: do you feel that your blog may influence our culture for the better?

I hope so. A lot of people have emailed me saying that they are more aware of older people and have began to look at them in a new light. I don’t really understand ageism. My grandmother was my best friend and she was the smartest most fun person I knew. We have an 84 year old Bungee Jumper on the site. We have to listen to older people’s stories and learn from their wisdom.