Meet Erni Stollberg, the Austrian Model Who Found Instagram Fame at Age 95

Ernestine “Erni” Stollberg is truly magnetic. Over the last year or so, the street-cast model has become an Instagram sensation, thanks to her regular appearances on @park_wien for Vienna concept shop Park—not only because she is, in fact, 95 years old, but thanks to her chameleonic skill in front of the camera. See Stollberg take a bold attitude in a plaid mini Jacquemus shirt and high-heeled leather cuissardes, or exude coyness in a burgundy Ann Demeulemeester frock and matching shades. “If I put something very elegant on her, she immediately has an elegant pose,” explains Markus Strasser, Park’s co-owner and stylist. “If I put something trashy or something cool on her, her attitude changes immediately for that kind of look, and I almost don’t have to say anything.”

Though older models are having a moment on the runway and even have their own full-fledged agency, Stollberg’s gig didn’t spawn from any sort of trend. Instead, it grew out of a personal relationship. Stollberg had always exchanged friendly greetings with Strasser and co-owner Helmut Ruthner because she lived nearby, but after the pair bought a puppy, its presence drew her again and again to the store. By chance, Strasser found that Stollberg was naturally photogenic. “We discovered she is very brilliant in pictures,” says Strasser. “We would have never grabbed an older lady off the street to do this. We got to know each other and to trust each other so we could start this very special collaboration.” Now, Stollberg visits Park almost every day at 11:00 a.m. and leaves at 6:00 p.m. “It’s not that she comes for the shooting,” says Strasser. “She has been around for the last three years on a regular basis. She also talks to the clients a little bit.” When they find a break in the day, Strasser shoots Stollberg on his iPhone, which only takes about 10 minutes.

For Stollberg, modeling comes naturally; this isn’t the first time she’s been in the spotlight. In the 1930s, she was part of a Jewish dance company that specialized in “revue,” a theatrical and relatively sexy routine for that time period. In 1939, just ahead of Germany’s invasion of Poland and the start of World War II, the entire troupe fled Vienna for Buenos Aires. Though not born Jewish herself, she eventually married the company’s Jewish manager and returned to Vienna after the war ended. Strasser credits Stollberg’s unique enthusiasm to that period of absence. “She missed this very horrible part of the war and that gives her a very special energy,” says Strasser. Her past as a dancer also allowed her to easily transition into modeling; it was, Strasser adds, something she jumped at immediately. “It’s not something for her that is so out of her mind because she was used to that when she was young,” says Strasser, translating for Stollberg. “It wasn’t the first time she had been photographed.”

Strasser typically puts her in more outré looks that, according to Stollberg, “are too extreme,” and she “wouldn’t wear them on the street.” Despite that, she finds a way to convey honest emotion that makes the picture. “She has to be natural and she doesn’t like things to be too ‘posed’ to her,” says Strasser, translating once more. “It is very natural so that her natural character comes across.” Turns out that authentic approach speaks across generations. “We just sold a Jacquemus top to a visitor from Australia. She must have been in her early 20s,” says Strasser. “Erni was there at the same time, and the young lady said to her, ‘I am just here because of you.’ ” In Stollberg’s case, a picture is not worth a thousand words: It’s a thousand likes, and so much more.