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| Kathryn Bigelow: A Peer |
What do celebrities Kirstie Alley, Jane Seymour, Kathryn Bigelow, Lynda Carter, Angelica Huston, Cheryl Ladd, Debra Jo Rupp, Pam Dawber, Karen Allen, Patricia Wettig, Patricia Robinson, and Didi Conn have in common?
They were all born in 1951, so they will all be 60 years old by the end of this year, just like me.
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Cool cats occasionally scold me that I dress too young. My hair is too long, my skirts too short, my heels too high and my makeup too too for a 60-year-old woman. They whine that I should "dress my age!"
OK --- so how do I dress my age?
I know how my grandmothers dressed when they were in their 60s (back in the 1960s coincidentally), but no one of any age dresses like that today.
Looking around to see how my peers dress does not work because I am bad at guessing peoples' ages, so I am never sure who are my peers age-wise.
So I resorted to the Internet.
I searched "women born 1951" and Google came back with IMDB's list of the "Most Popular People Born in 1951." After checking to see if I made the list (I did not), I checked to see who did.
I culled the females from the top 50 in the list and searched the Internet for any of their photos taken during the past 12 months and I found recent photos of the 12 females mentioned above. (By the way, four of the twelve also appear on my Famous Females of Height List: 5'8" Kirstie Alley, 5'9" Lynda Carter, 5'10" Angelica Huston and 6' Kathryn Bigelow.)
First I looked at the hair. None of the 12 had hairdos shorter than mine. Two wore pageboys similar in length to my wig du jour and ten wore shoulder-length or longer hairdos. Therefore, based on my 12 peers, my hair is too short for a 60-year-old woman!
Next I looked at the shoes. All 12 wore heels of various heights. Hard to be exact, but I estimate that the average heel height was in the 3 to 4 inch range. (Hands down, the tallest female, Kathryn Bigelow, wore the highest heels.) So I conclude that my choice in footwear, that is, heels in the 2 to 5 inch range fit right in with my peers.
To determine how much makeup a person wears, you need a photo of that person without makeup to compare it with a photo of that person with makeup. I had no photos without makeup, so determining how much makeup my peers wear was difficult.
Nearly all of them wear eye makeup, probably no more or less than I do. Nearly all also wear lip color, but here is where I need to make an adjustment. No dark reds if I want my lip coloring to match my peers. A more natural lip color should be my goal.
I knew going in that skirt length might be my downfall and I was correct. Most of the hemlines were in the neighborhood of the knee, either at the knee or slightly above or below the knee. None of the 12 wore a thigh-high hemline like I often find myself wearing.
In conclusion, all I have to do is wear a natural lip color and lower my hemlines, then I will be dressing my age. On the other hand, life is too short, so maybe I will wear whatever I damn well please!
if it looks fabulous on you, then girl, it's a good look for you. fashion and style are so subjective to persona and persons and personality. It's quite difficult or even very hard to say what is wrong or right at any age. When it's right it stands on it's own and dignifies righteous. When it's wrong, it screams 'ah a.. not right Nope someone should be your friend and take you someplace to change real quick!'.
ReplyDeleteImage consultants with tell you to find a look that you can own, that says who you are, and tells people you are confident about your presentation. Your look should always make people say something about you, but also about the arena you are presenting.
Stana,
ReplyDeleteAll good points. It is always nice to see an analytical approach to our conduct.
The femulator that you chose to picture today is also 60 years old. I do not know the vintage of the photo you chose but assuming it is recent I would have to say he still has it.
Pat
Wear what you like. You look happy in what you wear and most of your outfits look good on you. I've heard it said that 60 is the "new 40". If so, then you should look at 40 year olds from when we were teens. (I'm 6 too) I think you'll find that you are dressed appropriately. You go girl.
ReplyDeleteJealousy, no other way I can put it. I hate it when T-girls dress too young or slutty so trust me when I say you look great. It's okay to want to appear younger by way of dressinh as long as it's within reason and it looks natural. You pull it off great by the way. It's not even like you look 60. You look classy and sophisticated, a lot of women (trans or otherwise) can learn a thing or two from you.
ReplyDeleteIt enrages me to hear such things. What a bunch of jealous dimwitted twats!
Stana, I was just thinking about how women in their 50s and 60s today look so different than women did from my youth (in the 50s and 60s). When I see pictures of great looking women of this (our) age, I'm encouraged that maybe I won't have to be a dowdy older tranny wearing sensible shoes and a sensible dress (and, on the other hand, won't feel the need to try to look like some kind of fetish babe - not that there's anything wrong with that).
ReplyDeleteIn the end, your last line says it best "life is too short, so maybe I will wear whatever I damn well please!"
One more thing: my wife and I and many of our friends are in our late 50s. Recently, we attended the wedding of a friend's daughter. The daughter was beautiful, of course, but so were the 50something women in our group. They looked just great. During a small party between the wedding ceremony and the reception, several of the wives complimented each other on their appearance and then began complaining about their high heels. It didn't really spoil the moment but complaining about their shoes did seem too much like an older lady thing to do.
Hi Stana, wear what makes you comfortble. You always look great. Love those heels and show those legs that you wear and have. Any woman with legs like yours should always wear something that shows them to her best advantage. Lord knows everyone of us needs to feel great about ourselves so we need to all be a bit of a showoff. Keep showing! Lol, Lisa
ReplyDeleteDid you note that the femulator of the day was also 60 years old. I do not know if this was a current photo but if it is somewhat recent vintage the he looks great for our age.
ReplyDeletePat
I think Felicity said it perfectly. You look Natural, a goal I wished more would attempt to attain!
ReplyDeleteI guess the moral of this story is, that you can look great at any age, if you make the effort! :P
Thank you all for the very, very kind words!
ReplyDelete