I get so mad when I read articles about Dressing for your age.
My blood pressure starts to rise when I see headlines such as:
’25 items in your wardrobe you cannot wear over the age of 30’
‘My top tips for dressing for your age in your 30s, 40s, 50s’ –
Seriously like we have to go out and modify our wardrobe as another decade passes? Dressing for your age is just garbage!
Now that I’ve had my rant would someone please pass me the stepladder? I’d just like to get down from my soapbox without fear of injury!
Style as you will always hear me say, is about expressing yourself. By aiming to look and feel fantastic every time you get dressed that’s the best approach to have. Why? Because it gives you masses of self-confidence and who doesn’t want to feel confident?
Let’s be clear, I’m not an advocate of wearing something because you want to recreate the way you looked 20 years ago (see my post on Stuck in a Style Rut).
I hate the concept of dressing for your age and being offered a prescriptive list. The approach should be what’s right for you and if that’s wearing skinny leather jeans and a leopard print top at the age of 60 then #gogirl
You need to express yourself with confidence and that’s quite unique for all of us.
So it’s not about dressing for your age, but it is about dressing for you. I hope this distinction makes sense?
The video I’ve made for this post will hopefully give you some more examples.
This is a good example of what I mean with a client I helped last week.
She had asked me to help her because she felt frumpy. I showed her how she could use colour, texture, and accessories to add more fun to her wardrobe. There were items in her wardrobe that did make her look older and those that could not be livened up to create a more fun look to suit her image, we consigned to the charity shop pile.
The test is whether it takes you so far out of your comfort zone, that you are completely self-conscious.
I don’t just mean a teensy bit uncomfortable. I mean you are so wrapped up in your outfit it’s all you can think about! Your confidence will hit rock bottom.
Dressing For Your Age Style Tip
Style is about expressing who you are and feeling confident. Age is irrelevant and is just a number.
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Brilliant blog – our age doesn’t define us and it certainly doesn’t mean that we must conform to somebody else’s idea of how we should dress.
Thanks for your comments Juliette. It certainly is a very emotive topic and provokes some interesting discussions. Do you remember the media storm last year when Angela Ripon was photographed in leather trousers aged 72? Who could care less about her age, she just looked amazing!
I too, feel irritated when I come across articles advising how you should dress at a certain age and believe its about finding and being comfortable with a style (or even different styles if you want to embrace more than one) that reflects how you feel or the look you wish to portray to the outside world.
Absolutely Valerie! Interestingly I was reading an article by a former fashion magazine editor on this subject a couple of days ago. She said that while she disagreed with the principle of prescriptive lists for age related dressing those articles drew in a lot of women. Whose supportive comments encouraged the magazine to keep on publishing similar articles.
I gave a presentation yesterday and it was interesting that 10% of the women in the room disagreed with my views on ‘age is just a number’. They were much more of the view that age played a conscious role in deciding what clothes to buy and wear. It is a fascinating topic!
Totally agree with you Carol. On my recent cruise holiday I saw an elderly lady on the dance floor do a fantastic Rumba. She was wearing a bright, colourful, floral dress and bright red lipstick. I got chatting to her and found out she was 87, had taught dance in her career and still ran an over 50s fitness class! The next day she was wearing a bright red loose top and shorts outfit, with her bright red lipstick again and looked amazing. So yes, age is just a number and if what you wear makes you feel great then go for it 🙂
Annette I love it! Sounds like that lady had an amazing zest for life and I bet she was great fun to talk to! xx
Totally agree Carol! Well done for speaking out. x
Thanks Helen!
Fantastic vblog Carol as always great information and insight. I quite like the idea of guidelines only to give me an idea eg this type of necklace looks good with this top – that type of thing. But I wouldn’t be interested in guidelines that say, regardless of age, wear this for this age but not if your this age. I agree it all depends on your body shape.
Thanks for your comment, Carole! So true that it is about your shape and guidelines for this are much more helpful than what’s right for your age.