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In the wake of releasing her first book, How to Be Old<\/em>, Lyn Slater is already revving up for another<\/em> new chapter.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause [I turned] 72 in June, I\u2019m reinventing myself again,\u201d says the author and content creator, aka the \u201cAccidental Icon,\u201d over Zoom. \u201cIt never ends, my dear.\u201d<\/p>\n Slater found fame in her 60s through a perfect storm of events. While taking classes at FIT, she launched her \u201cAccidental Icon\u201d blog and Instagram<\/a> in 2014, showcasing her intellectual, avant-garde style; signature sunglasses (that weren\u2019t an accessory to evoke mysteriousness but to aid her shyness in front of the camera); and impeccable eye for Commes des Gar\u00e7ons and Issey Miyake collectibles. Slater, outfitted in a Yohji Yamamoto suit, went viral after street style photographers mistook her for an established fashion luminary during New York Fashion Week. She quickly skyrocketed to fame as an international model and prolific influencer, while empowering women of all generations to reframe their views on aging and the outdated (and misogynistic) concept of dressing for one\u2019s age. <\/p>\n \u201cMost of my followers were young,\u201d she says. \u201cMany of them said, \u2018You\u2019re making me not afraid to be old. You\u2019re making me realize I don\u2019t have to do everything by the time I\u2019m 30.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But after a few intense years of brand collaborations, campaigns, fashion editorials, and frenetic global travel, she felt like she lost control of career, persona, and narrative. \u201cOnce the influence-ing happened, I was put in a category of \u2018Insta-grandma,\u2019 simply because I had gray hair,\u201d she says. \u201cIt takes away all your identity.\u201d<\/p>\n As she describes in her evocative prose in her book, Slater became burnt out \u2014 creatively, emotionally, and physically \u2014 from the constant churn of mandated content. With her Manhattan apartment crammed with racks of designer samples and swag, Slater also felt so far removed from her sustainability ethos and her early support and excitement in creating relationships with like-minded independent designers.<\/p>\n When the world shut down in 2020, Slater and her longtime partner moved to Upstate New York to recalibrate. She redirected her creativity into reviving their early 1900s house and garden, caring for her grandchildren, and writing her bestseller. Slater\u2019s relationship with fashion changed, too.<\/p>\n \u201cMy attention has turned,\u201d she posted<\/a> on Instagram in May 2024, two months after How to Be Old<\/em> hit bookshelves. \u201cI don\u2019t care about fashion as before.\u201d<\/p>\n But recently, Slater reinvigorated<\/a> her interest in self-exploration and expression through wardrobe \u2014 after realizing that we\u2019re in need of her reassuring, encouraging, and ultimately inspiring efforts once again.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat has happened, unfortunately, is that we have gone way<\/em> back in terms of allowing real representations of real older women into the media,\u201d says Slater. \u201cBecause now we have representations of older women looking \u2018young.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n A self-proclaimed rebel by nature, Slater rails against the impossible standards pushed by social media for women in their 50s and beyond to continually look decades younger. The expectations are unrealistic for most people due to expensive aesthetic procedures and a lie, thanks to PhotoShop and filters.<\/p>\n \u201cThere needs to be real stories about the realities of older life that can give younger people a roadmap,\u201d says Slater, who\u2019s starting another revolution through her Substack, \u201cDispatches From the Shed<\/a>,\u201d named for her cozy ideating spot in her upstate home.<\/p>\n \u201cMy clothing has always conveyed who I am at any particular time of life, and I am very excited now because I\u2019m about to begin a new project, which is this writing [on Substack] and representing through pictures, again, this older part of life,\u201d she explains. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of fun thinking about what the wardrobe is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Slater holds a pragmatic but optimistic outlook on adjusting her personal style as she confronts the physical aspects of getting older. \u201cThere are certain accommodations that you have to make,\u201d she says. \u201cRather than think of them as losses, you think \u2018What can I substitute that can give me the same feeling, the same joy, the same passion?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n For instance, having bunions means pointy-toe heels are no longer an option. But \u201cthat does not mean that you can\u2019t find beautiful shoes,\u201d says Slater, happily pivoting. Her tight \u201ccapsule wardrobe\u201d of comfortable yet \u201cvery cool looking\u201d footwear wardrobe includes Birkenstock sandals, Hoka sneakers, and a few sustainably produced and ergonomically-cool styles from Finnish brand VIBEa. \u201cThey\u2019re very avant-garde-looking, if you pair them with the right outfit,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Immersed in nature upstate, Slater has grown her commitment to sustainability and reuse through her style. Shedding her influencer identity to explore her next stage, Slater purged most of her designer swag from the influencer days but maintains her \u201ccore collection\u201d of treasured Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, and Commes des Gar\u00e7ons. Recycling and restyling her decades-old pieces with newly acquired vintage has also sparked fresh enthusiasm \u2014 and completely new looks packed with meaning.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you have [more] experience and knowledge, you’re going to do something to that piece \u2014 whether it\u2019s an accessory or pairing it with something different \u2014 that you never would have thought of when you first wore it,\u201d explains Slater, looking at ease in a vintage flea market denim shirt, with an eye-catching abstract-print scarf from Spanish label Colores de Oto\u00f1o draped around her shoulder.<\/p>\n As she also shared<\/a> on Substack, Slater has found herself revisiting memories of life, and her style, in the \u201970s \u2014 but through a 2025 perspective. On a recent jaunt to a Connecticut flea market, Slater came across a vendor selling long Indian block-print dresses, the same ones she wore in the free-spirited era. \u201cIt was very serendipitous,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Slater revels in the nostalgia of the dress, but has new appreciation for the dress redux that actually encompasses her whole self today, five decades later.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so light. It’s almost sheer, which I like, because it can give a little suggestion without showing your entire body, which feels very sensuous to me,\u201d says Slater. \u201cI pair it with some very cool VIBEa sandals, and, with my long hair and the dress, I feel that I am both 71 and 21 at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n Slater\u2019s new-slash-old dress also encourages the already adventurous dresser to venture out of her comfort zone. \u201cI didn\u2019t wear a lot of dresses as the \u2018Accidental Icon,\u2019\u201d says Slater. \u201cBut for some reason, because of nature, I\u2019m feeling very earth-mother-ish.\u201d<\/p>\n Also reflecting her flora and fauna surroundings upstate, and active outdoor lifestyle, Slater has understandably stacked her wardrobe with denim \u2014 but obviously not standard department-store bought jeans, nor does she wear it in expected ways. (See: Slater, in a floral-printed silk pajama top, partially tucked into a pair of ultra-weathered and cuffed worker jeans with gardening clogs, in the epilogue of How to Be Old<\/em>.)<\/p>\n Over the years, Slater has amassed an impressive vintage denim collection, filled with her own prized pieces she\u2019s owned for decades, flea market picks, and collected gems from online Japanese vintage designer dealers, like Playful<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI have both a denim dress and a coat, which are Yohji, and look really beautiful with my black and white [palette],\u201d she says. \u201cOf course, I always like to add those little flairs that make [the denim] something different.\u201d<\/p>\n Slater also scours The RealReal for \u201cunique\u201d denim, like a long textured coat by Greg Lauren. \u201cI [consigned] a lot of my clothes to The RealReal for credit, so I have a shopping platform where I\u2019m not buying anything new,\u201d she says. \u201cThat goes with the whole sustainability [effort].\u201d<\/p>\n While Slater took a long hiatus from posting fashion content on her own Instagram, she\u2019s kept up her constant search for emerging designers around the world. Indie labels, like Uma Wang<\/a>, Sofie D\u2019Hoore<\/a>, Vonsono<\/a>, John Alexander Skelton<\/a>, Ya Yi Studio<\/a> and Act N\u00ba1<\/a> have provided much denim inspo \u2014 and energized her interest in learning and honing yet another skill: sewing.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m on the hunt for very unique pieces, and there are limitations in how designers are using denim,\u201d explains Slater, envisioning a still-abstract concept of combining existing and found elements. \u201cIt\u2019s like adding a layer and saying \u2018What can I do with this in a really different way than how people usually wear it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Slater\u2019s \u201creinvention\u201d actually sounds like an ongoing series of renewals \u2014 all leading back to her crucial objective to reframe aging once again. This time, Slater will have full control of her narrative through her introspective and always-evolving writing and style. For an honest message, she\u2019ll even be taking her own photos, previously the role of her photographer partner and professionals from her influencer days.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to show the reality of what it’s like to be older, without photoshopping [and filters]. But it will also show that if you apply creativity to it \u2014 instead of denying it or trying to be someone else, i.e. \u2018young\u2019 \u2014 that there is a particular kind of beauty, wonder, and inspiration,\u201d says Slater. \u201cThat if you let yourself come closer to women who are 70, 80 and 90, it would make you so less afraid of being old.\u201d<\/p>\n