Fashion events give Beijing's elderly spring in their step

A group of elderly people carrying bags stuffed with cosmetics, clothes and snacks flocked into the Chaoyang Museum of Urban Planning in Beijing one weekend morning in late January.

Mostly aged above 60, they wore radiant smiles.

After all, they were winners in the preliminary round of a modeling contest for the elderly in the city and had gathered at the museum for the finals later that day.

The contest is an annual group event that began in 2010.

That day, the backstage was quickly occupied by members of each team who had rehearsed their ramp walk earlier.

Zhang Jinglai, the leader of a team from Chaoyang district, demonstrated for her teammates how to walk with their shoulders held slightly back.

Wearing a pair of high heels and holding a radio, the 79-year-old asked her peers to walk to the beat of a song playing.

Zhang's team of more than 40 members was formed in 2005, and its members have since practiced modeling at their community service center twice a week.

She has always picked the themes of clothes and background music for her team at the contest.

Zhang once took to square dancing as a pastime after she retired from an engineering job in 1995.

As time went by, she found that age brought a gradual decline in her energy levels. And, square dancing seemed too energy-consuming for her, so she turned to fashion modeling.

"Ramp walks make us look more elegant, see?" Zhang said on the morning of the latest contest pointing to her slim teammates dressed in cheongsam.

"Though I'm approaching 80, I won't give up pursuing beauty," she added, with her eyes twinkling.

At the finals, the hall was crowded. Cameras clicked the many participants posing for photos on the red carpet.

Yu Changcheng, 69, came with his wife who was among the finalists and recorded her stunning moments in his camera.