Joanne King Herring walks the runway with her grandsons and pet dog at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
The Space City Seniors perform at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
The scene at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
A Neil Hamil Agency model at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
A Neil Hamil Agency model at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
Fritz McDonald wants to rebrand aging. As a geriatric physical rehabilitation service provider, he often reminds people that life doesn’t end at retirement.
He doesn’t believe in old age — just great age. Since founding the Great Age Movement in 2016, McDonald’s mission has been to get Houston seniors out of their homes and into the community through free health and wellness programs, including the Great Age Fitness Park and Great Age Senior Fitness Club in Discovery Green Park, and Great Age Senior Art & Exercise in local museums.
In celebration of his organization’s 10th anniversary, he turned his focus to great style at every age by partnering with the Guild Shop for a silver-generation fashion show during Great Age on the Green, Houston’s first senior health and wellness music festival, held on April 24.
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“We wanted a festival like Coachella but for older people,” McDonald says. “Let them enjoy the park, have wine, dance to a DJ.”
Fritz McDonald at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
Last month, the New York Times published an article titled “Why Fashion Suddenly Loves Older Women,” in which fashion critic Vanessa Friedman queries, “Representation of women of a certain age has never been higher. What’s going on?”
McDonald thinks he knows the answer.
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“Whether it’s the time available to go shopping or confidence in how they see themselves, a good chunk of our society, maybe age 50 and older, they have the money and power to buy things,” he says.
The May 2026 issue of American Vogue features two 76-year-old women on its cover: Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep. The photographer? Annie Leibovitz, also 76. Vogue’s former creative director-at-large, Grace Coddington, styled the magazine spread; she’s 85. A Chanel fall/winter 2026 collection sent 15 models over 40 down its runway, including 50-year-old Stephanie Cavalli, who opened the show.
McDonald wanted that energy in Houston, too, for the Guild Shop Fashion Show during Great Age on the Green.
“It really hit home with our mission. We see a lot of the downside of aging, and this was pure upside, of how beautiful it is,” says April Lykos, executive director of the Guild Shop. “We were a yes from the get-go.”
Guild Shop Executive Director April Lykos at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
While on a trip to Round Top a few years ago, someone asked her about the Guild Shop’s work and suggested she look up McDonald and the Great Age Movement. So Lykos gathered six of her girlfriends and helped them dress up like Madonna for the non-profit’s Back to the Future senior prom gala back in 2023.
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The Guild Shop, founded in 1962 by parishioners of St. John the Divine as a community ministry, has been a donor to the Great Age Movement ever since.
“Since Guild Shop started, our mission is to help the elderly in need,” Lykos says. “Five or six years ago, we did a deep dive into who needs our help most. We initially did grants, then started drilling down on the issues. Alcoholism is high because of self-medication. People need incontinence supplies. And we wanted to bring dignity to some of these issues that aren’t really talked about — the wellness component of aging.”
In the old days, she added, the Guild Shop would host a fashion show fundraiser. Fashion Through the Decades felt like an appropriate theme for Great Age on the Green. Lenny Matuszewski and Tamara Klosz Bonar produced the runway show in Discovery Green. Professional models from the Neil Hamil Agency shared the catwalk with Guild Shop volunteers and customers, including a few recognizable regulars.
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Joanne King Herring strutted her stuff with her grandsons and pup in tow. Houston Rockets Space City Seniors danced between segments. And clotheshorse Beth Muecke styled herself for two festival fashion showcases.
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Beth Muecke at Great Age on the Green.
Egidio Narvaez Photography/for the Great Age Movement
“Beth goes to dozens of festivals around the country, from Coachella to Stagecoach. She’s 68!” McDonald says. “I hope what she promotes is that next year senior wear festival clothes to Great Age on the Green.”
Lykos shared that the Guild Shop sold several thousand dollars’ worth of clothes. All proceeds from the fashion show sale and the Montrose boutique provide financial support to organizations that benefit the elderly.
“We need to change what aging means,” she says. “Showing beautiful fashions, and showing it through the elderly, though I hate the word ‘elderly’ because this is their golden age — this is who we serve at the Guild Shop.”
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Neil Hamil Agency models in looks from the Guild Shop.