How I Became An 'It Girl' On Instagram At 61

This entrepreneur isn’t ready to retire.

- Alix Langone

ARLINDA MCINTOSH has nearly doubled the sales of her clothing line in the past few years, and she’s done it in a surprising fashion.

“In this world, every model is tall and thin and often blond, and you don’t see older people modeling clothing,” says McIntosh, 61, explaining why she decided to start modeling her own line, Sofistafunk, on Instagram.

Sofistafunk is made up of brightly colored, unique pieces that McIntosh designs and makes herself. Her most popular item, the Gathering Skirt, was inspired by the clothing her mother and her friends wore to work in the cotton fields of North Carolina. Her designs have a wide platform on social media. Once thought of as a place for only millennials to post photos and share with other young people, Instagram has seen a growing cohort of older women, like McIntosh, smashing style stereotypes and carving out space for themselves as fashion influencers, consistently gaining followers by posting pictures of their outfits and stylish lifestyles after 50.

Instagram launched in 2010, and McIntosh joined the platform early on, leveraging the power of personal branding to reach a larger audience and raising her customer count in the process. When she decided to start modeling the clothes herself, sales grew still further. She was inspired to model her own line after noticing that young people who posted selfies of their outfits received a slew of inquiries about where they bought their clothes.

With 14,900 followers of McIntosh’s business account, @SofistafunkTheSkirtCo, and 6,250 followers of her personal account, @funkingafter50, she has joined the ranks of other influential older women, like Lyn Slater, 65, who has upwards of 640,000 followers of her @iconaccidental account.

AWAKENING TO RETIREMENT PLANNING