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How A Taiwanese Couple In Their 80s Became Instagram's Newest Fashion Influencers

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Instagram's newest influencers are in their 80s. Hsu Husiu-e and her husband Chang Wan-ji have been operating a laundry in Taiwan for the past 70 years. Over the decades, mounds and mounds of skirts and suits and shirts and socks have been left behind by forgetful patrons or people who simply moved away.

Enter the couple's grandson Reef Chang. He decided it was time for his grandparents to start having some sartorial fun. So he convinced them to pose in the clothes. And he posted the pictures on social media. There they are leaning casually against an industrial washer in hipster sneakers, T-shirt and scarf. Now, their Want Show As Young Instagram account has tens of thousands of followers worldwide.

Dressed like that, I feel 30 years younger, Wan-ji told the BBC. Reef Chang thinks he's really struck a chord with the photos of his grandparents. He said, what really touched me is many people typed really long messages to me saying it reminded them that they haven't spent much time with their grandparents. He went on, they're very happy now. They've never been recognized like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Leila Fadel is a national correspondent for NPR based in Los Angeles, covering issues of culture, diversity, and race.