Tailored to the Light: Amanda Matthews on Fashion, Reinvention, and the Beauty of Beginning Again

Chat with Amanda Matthews

HBZVN: These images were captured in Paris during Fashion Week. What do they represent to you?

AMANDA MATTHEWS: They represent possibility. A few years ago, I never imagined I would be shooting an editorial or walking a runway in Paris in my forties. These photographs remind me that life rarely follows the timeline we expect, and sometimes the most meaningful opportunities arrive when we stop measuring ourselves against those expectations. I also love that they capture a version of femininity that feels authentic to me: elegant, strong, playful, and always evolving.

HBZVN: You returned to modeling at 40. What inspired that decision?

AMANDA MATTHEWS: Modeling wasn’t the beginning. It grew from a bigger shift in how I viewed myself. I stopped asking what was considered age-appropriate and started asking what truly mattered to me. Once I let go of the invisible timeline I’d been following, I realized that visibility isn’t reserved for youth. We never outgrow the right to take up space.

HBZVN: You recently competed in Miss Massachusetts USA. What did that experience teach you?

AMANDA MATTHEWS: It reinforced that success isn’t only measured by winning. I reached the Top 14 after not placing the previous year, and although I didn’t make the Top 5, I left motivated rather than discouraged. I also applied for the Victoria’s Secret open casting and wasn’t selected. I think it’s important to normalize rejection because every meaningful goal comes with it. I’d rather hear “no” than never give myself the chance to ask.

HBZVN: Much of your work challenges traditional timelines. Where does that message come from?

AMANDA MATTHEWS: My own life has never followed a conventional path. I finished university later than expected, rebuilt my health after an autoimmune diagnosis, and learned valuable lessons through my fertility journey. Those experiences taught me that setbacks often become turning points. Today I genuinely feel healthier, stronger, and more confident in my forties than I did in my twenties. That’s why I believe it is never too late to begin again.

HBZVN: What do you hope readers take away from this feature?

AMANDA MATTHEWS: I hope they question the assumptions they’re carrying. If there’s something you’ve always wanted to pursue, ask yourself whether time is really the obstacle, or whether it’s simply the belief that your time has passed. Some of life’s most rewarding chapters begin the moment we decide to start.