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Meet the 60-Year-Old Changing the Supermodel Game
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, just ask 60-year-old Gillean McLeod.
The fashion stylist and model is H&M’s newest swimwear star for their summer campaign. McLeod’s ad features her in a black one-piece with jeans and one with just the bathing suit.
She looks like a natural with decades of experience behind her, but McLeod didn’t begin her modeling career until she was 53.
“I thought about modeling when I was a late teen, but I didn’t have the greatest skin and didn’t have the greatest self-confidence,” she shared with Today. “I think it’s better at this point in my life.”
Now, McLeod is very comfortable in front of the camera. In a recent photo shoot she put her confidence to the test and posed without any professional hair styling or makeup.
A photo posted by Gillean McLeod (@gilleanm) on
“I think that women need to be comfortable with themselves. You just have to start with yourself, you can’t look at these retouched magazines,” she explained. “You have to love yourself.”
The 60-year-old stays pretty active with hiking, Pilates, and swimming.
“I don’t swim every day but the pool is my joy, and when I do, I swim about 2,500 meters,” she added.
McLeod is happy with the attention the photographs are getting, yet is still surprised by the response.
“I’m inundated with people following me on Instagram and friend requests on Facebook,” she said. “It’s been a positive response but I’ve stopped reading everything, because you can go down a rabbit hole with those things.”
Check out more photos of McLeod on Instagram.