86-year-old skydiver becomes model for Helmut Lang
Dilys is an 86-year-old Welsh Woman who is also the world record holder for oldest woman skydiver. Dilys wears pieces from the Helmut Lang Fall Women's 2018 collection, available now at https://t.co/WRnhACycEc
— HELMUT LANG (@HELMUTLANG) August 16, 2018
Photography by Alex Leese and styling/casting by Charlotte James pic.twitter.com/7tkJIVYjOG
It’s true what they say: age is just a number, and for 86-year-old Welsh grandmother Dilys Price OBE, this couldn’t be more true.
“My life has been quite interesting,” says Dilys, and she’s not wrong. Dilys is a dancer, world-record holding skydiver and founder of charity Touch Trust. She’s also a well-known motivational speaker, holding talks at school prize-givings and financial companies. She even held a Ted Talk called ‘It’s Never Too Late’ while donning a pair of leather trousers. Whether you have great mobility levels or need a stairlift, Dilys believes in being active. “We’re alive, we’re still alive. We’re alive until the day we die,” she told the BBC. “This is my mission now – to tell older people like myself to keep a passion. They have to be active.”
Although Dilys leads a busy life, she has since added a new endeavour to her portfolio: modelling for Austrian fashion label Helmut Lang. Dilys is one of several women modelling for the campaign and can be seen striking a pose in a dazzling blue corduroy suit for the brand’s autumn collection, ‘Women of Wales’. "I enjoy charity shop buys - but here I was putting on these clothes with style,” said Dilys. “You felt you could move in them. They made me want to dance."
Helmut Lang has been commended for the ‘iconic’ campaign collection, which features a range of older women from all over Wales, each with their own story to tell. The brand has shared a series of short clips on social media, featuring Dilys and the other women talking about their homeland and their passion for life.
At 54 years old, Dilys found herself divorced and bringing up her son in the midst of a midlife crisis. Although she has a fear of heights, she decided to do a charity skydive and that was it – she was hooked. She travelled to Orlando, Florida where she bought a trailer and hired a skydiving instructor. She has since completed 1,139 solo skydives and parachute jumps across the globe.
Dilys is passionate about living life and says she’ll give anything a go, reminding us all that "we only get one shot at life".
