Greenwich 75-year-old model's style secrets in documentary on art of ageing

Bridget Sojourner joins five other women with an average age of 80 in Channel 4’s Fabulous Fashionistas to show getting older can be fun and fabulous – without the need for surgery.

The great-grandmother-of-three, who lives off Trafalgar Road, is stylish on a shoestring budget of £100 per week and bargain hunts in charity shops to still look a million dollars.

The campaigning former refugee worker’s secrets to feeling young include working as a gardener three times a week, doing tai chi and cycling, and maintaining a zest for life.

Speaking about the art of ageing well, Ms Sojourner told News Shopper: “I would say just to stay visible, because I think as people get older, particularly in this country, they become less and less visible.

“They sort of fade into the background and let go of life a bit – you see this in care homes particularly.

“Working has stopped me fading, and keeping active.

“Life has always been very full.

"It’s been very exciting and I think that is an ingredient to ageing well – to continue the excitement.”

The globe-trotting grandmother-of-four has worked as a nurse and teacher and campaigned against racism and sexism before becoming a model to counter ageist attitudes.

She said: “I kept being stopped in the street by anyone anywhere in the world about the way I looked.

“This has been much more apparent as I got older, I decided to do something about it.

“I thought ageism is becoming very apparent in the media.

"Women newsreaders getting the sack, while the men carry on with their grey hair.”

She says her favourite vintage find is a 1940s jumpsuit with padded shoulders which she pairs with green leather gloves and a black band wrapped around her head.

Giving tips to staying stylish without going under the knife, the mother-of-two said: “I think it is just finding the style for your personality.

"Size isn’t much to do with it.

“The film is about how to get older without injections. It is so artificial – people don’t look younger, they look different and odd.

“How many lines you have is all to do with life. Life gives you the lines and that can be sorrow or joy.”

To hear more from Bridget tune in to Channel 4’s Fabulous Fashionistas, directed by Sue Bourne, which airs on September 17 at 10pm.