Lyn Slater (aka Accidental Icon) on writing a new narrative for ageing

The Shift with Sam Baker

Sam Baker Ltd

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.8 • 525 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My guest today is a woman who knows all about reinvention. For 45 years, Lyn Slater was a professor of social work with a side-passion for fashion. Feeling burnt out, she started a blog aimed at women like her who wanted to talk about clothes and the way they shape our identity. And, just like that, the phenomenon that was Accidental Icon was born. Suddenly, the professor found herself an “influencer”. And For the best part of her 60s, Accidental Icon’s million Instagram followers and countless brand campaigns took over her life. Until she reached a point where she began to wonder precisely where LYN had gone. Now, in How To Be Old - a story of ageing, identity and what it means to be comfortable in your own skin - she has done it again. At 70, she’s a debut writer. Something she has dreamt of from the age of seven. Lyn joined me from her home on the Hudson to talk about why we need a new narrative for ageing, intergenerational belligerence, her rebel grandmother and the unlikely feminism of nuns. We also discussed how she lost herself to life online, how accidental icon gave her body image issues, deciding to swap fashion for family and why she’s finally realised she doesn’t have to be the good-bad girl any more. * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org, including Lyn's book, How To Be Old and the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on buymeacoffee.com • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com • The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls @ Pineapple Audio Production. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Jamie Lang and Sophie Haboo have arrived on Disney Plus.
0:04.5	We're having a baby.
0:05.5	We're having a baby.
0:07.2	I've always wanted to be mom.
0:09.4	And we're bringing you on our journey through everything.
0:12.4	I have no idea what we're doing.
0:13.6	Thank you. I have more of an idea.
0:15.6	I think of it like a Tamagocchi.
0:17.8	At the end of all of this...
0:20.0	We're going to have a little baby.
0:21.8	Raising Chelsea, a Hulu original series streaming exclusively on Disney Plus.
0:27.3	18 plus subscription required T's and T supply.
0:35.5	Hello and welcome to The Shift, the podcast that aims to tell the no-holds about our truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by me, journalist and author Sam Baker.
0:46.5	My guest today is a woman who knows all about reinvention.
0:51.7	For 45 years, Lynn Slater was a professor of social work with a side passion for fashion.
0:58.4	Feeling burnt out, she started a blog aimed at women like her who wanted to talk about clothes and the way they shape our identity.
1:05.9	And, just like that, the phenomenon that was accidental icon was born.
1:12.1	Suddenly, the professor found herself an influencer, and for the best part of her 60s,
1:17.4	accidental icons million Instagram followers and countless brand campaigns took over her life.
1:24.1	Until she reached a point where she began to wonder precisely where Lynn had gone.
1:29.5	I don't know, I became kind of dead in a way.
1:32.1	All my creativity seemed to go away and I started to just become super unhappy.
	...

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