Isabel Walker, a 72-year-old former journalist and charity co-founder, has embarked on a vibrant new career as a color analyst. The idea came about when she took her adult daughter for a color analysis session on her 36th birthday. Walker, a former beauty editor, kept interjecting with her knowledge until the analyst told her she should be doing this work. Despite her initial reluctance due to her age, Walker decided to take the plunge.
A Lifetime of Color and Fashion
Walker has always loved clothes and color, describing herself as a lifelong shopaholic. Strangers often ask her for fashion advice in fitting rooms. This passion led her to train in color analysis earlier this year, learning how to determine a person's season and which of 16 sub-season palettes best suits them. She now runs her own business in Watford, Hertfordshire, specializing in post-menopausal women and mother-daughter sessions.
A Fourth Career by Chance
Walker's life has been shaped by chance events. She grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in north London, rebelling by rejecting religion. After university, she married a doctor and began her journalism career at a local paper in Nottingham. She later became health and beauty editor at Living magazine, with stints at the Daily Mail and Sunday Telegraph. After a personal tragedy involving preeclampsia, she co-authored a book and co-founded the charity Action on Preeclampsia in 1992, which she ran for nearly a decade. Following that, she spent 15 years in communications skills training, which began after a chance dinner party conversation.
Walker's philosophy is to never regret decisions. She says, 'I just say: OK, I've made the decision. Let's plough ahead. Let's not think about what I might have done instead or maybe it was a mistake.' Despite being past retirement age, she has no desire to slow down. 'I love work. I'm 72 and way beyond retirement age, but I really don't want to retire because I can't think of anything that I particularly want to do that I can't already do in my spare time.'
The Transformative Power of Color
Working with color has been transformative for Walker and her clients. She notes that people are often surprised by their true season. 'The drapes tell the story, and they don't lie,' she says. 'It's an analytical process. It's about clothes and color. But it's also about people. People are endlessly interesting. It gives me a huge kick. I can see the difference it makes to them.'
Walker herself discovered she is an autumn, not the winter she had assumed in the 1980s. 'That is a very important part of my identity now. I started wearing softer colors. Got rid of all my black. I think that people will now notice me rather than think: 'Oh, gosh, that's a bright dress she's wearing.' Suddenly I feel happier in my own skin.'
Intentional and Sustainable Fashion
Walker has also changed her shopping habits. She now buys intentionally and sustainably, prepared to wear her purchases frequently. 'This is the future for me,' she says, though she doesn't rule out a fifth career. 'Who's to say there isn't going to be another turning point and another opportunity that I'll just say yes to?'
