Fashion for Old Ladies (Like Me)

I am an old lady (65 years old and counting).

When I was a teenager in the 1960s, my grandmothers were about my age today. They dressed like peers their age. As I recall, here were the key items of their wardrobe:

- Ankle-length, flowing dresses that left everything to the imagination, usually in a dark color or a floral pattern.

- Black sensible laced shoes with short, thick heels.

- Black sensible bags.

- Hats festooned with flowers.

- Little or no makeup or jewelry.

- No pants. I never saw my grandmothers wear pants. I doubt if they owned a pair.

Fifty years later and I am old enough to be a grandmother, but I dress nothing like my grandmothers (does anyone?). If anything, I dress like my mother when she was in her 40s and 50s. But sometimes I wonder if I should dress more like the old lady I am rather than a middle-aged woman.

After reading Rhonda's post "Feminine Differential - Body Image," I am convinced I am good.

Rhonda's post is a good read and I urge you to see it for yourself. In it, she refers to a recent post about body image from a blog called Haute Business Fashion and Finance written by that blog's author, Helen.

After perusing Helen's post, I added her blog to my Blog List for future reference. Helen is about 10 years younger than I, but we have some things in common... wouldn't you say?

Helen and I

Wearing Veronica Beard blazer.

The beautiful Terence Stamp femulating for the 1994 Australian film
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

64 and counting

Thank you all for your birthday wishes.

When I listened to The Beatles' LP Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 and heard the tune "When I'm Sixty-Four," I thought that it would certainly take "many years from now" before I reached that age.

But voila!, 48 years went by a lot faster than I anticipated and I found myself blowing out 64 candles on my birthday cake. (In truth, due to the danger of fire, my family decided to play it safe and presented me with only a dozen candles to deal with.)

The perception of being six decades old evolved during those 48 years.

Back in 1967, my grandparents were all spending their sixth seventh decade on the planet Earth. My grandmothers dressed like most of the other women their age, that is, they dressed like old ladies ― fashion-wise, they made no attempt to compete with the younger generations.

Their fashion sense reminded me of a line from the Saturday Night Live advertisement parody for Mom Jeans, "Get her something that says, 'I'm not a woman anymore, I'm a Mom!'"

Things changed and by the time my mother reached her sixth seventh decade in the late 1970s, 60-year-old women were dressing more stylish than their mothers had in their sixth seventh decade... stylish enough that this girl was still borrowing stuff from Mom's wardrobe when her Social Security checks began showing up.

Things kept changing and today, 60 is the new 40. People are living healthier and thus longer lives. Reaching your sixth seventh decade in the 2010s does not have the same connotations as it did in the 1960s.

Again, I recall that  American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) commercial about a woman of a certain age who knows her way around miniskirts and can run in high heels.

Admittedly, not everyone my age fits that description... not even me. I seldom run even in flats, but I typically walk wearing heels, my hemlines seldom gets acquainted with my knees and I plan to dress my "age" (40, not 60) as long possible!

I go, girl!

 

 

 

Wearing Max Mara.

 

 

 

Actor Peter Capaldi in British television’s Prime Suspect 3.