What do your clothes say about you?

If you love the dresses you have and they still fit and suit you, why not wear them to the dos? I would. It doesn't matter that you've had them for years if they still suitable and you still feel good in them.

I know the feeling grindos commiserations. Have you considered going for a pair of floaty palazzo pants and a nice top? They can look very dressy, are easy to wear and great for future mix and match?

* barrow* that's exactly what I did when I retired too, plus I dumped the watch and have never worn one in the six years since. I simply tell the time by the sun instead. It's over the yard arm, DC has just been collected by SiL, so now and the peppered steak from Hairy Dieters later.

Mostly I wear jeans and tops and only Hotter shoes, but we have two 'do's' coming up and I want a new dress. I have two dresses in my wardrobe, one is 16 years old and the other at least 10. I love them both. So at the moment I have some money from my birthday in July, and the interest to shop, but I can't find anything suitable. I have been in every shop in Bath, tried on anything I vaguely liked, but came away with nothing. I can't imagine anyone liking most of the stock in shops, young or older. Then I went to a different town and bought a dress, but it is the best of a bad lot, and I don't feel good in it. I still might take it back. I would say that over the years, not having something nice to wear has put me off wanting to go out. Both my daughters and my niece say they have great trouble shopping too, so it's not just my age!

gracesmum; I'm only going to say this because you referred to it yourself but you look much younger and much prettier than the photos on you profile page.

Me too, kitty. If I wear a scarf it very soon looks like a piece of chewed string.Clothes-wise, I think I'm just scruffy. Happy in joggers and a fleece top - saves on the heating. My wardrobe is a tribute to Landsend and Hotter.

Having panache is something I would love but if I wear a scarf, for instance, it never stays in the same place and would droop in the soup, so I'm dead impressed gracesmum. I have a quirky friend who wears stuff I would never look at but, on her, it always looks right. She has loads of self confidence which might be the key - she doesn't care what people think and, consequently, looks fab!

Having looked quite good in my teens and early twenties and not realising it, I'm not very adventurous now but know what suits me.

Nice one feetlebaum!

When I was working I had to dress the part - suits and heels, when I retired I packed the lot off to the charity shop and swore I would never wear a suit again! Now I dress for comfort, mostly jeans and tops and flat shoes (relief say my poor aching feet!). Evenings out I usually wear trousers and a smart top with flatish court shoes.

However, I used to organise charity balls and so do have a few evening dresses and when called for I can scrub up reasonably well!

What do my clothes say about me? Nothing - if they know what's good for them.

Whizz round Tesco and shove it on the trolley plain t shirts,jeans,and when it's cold a zip up hoodie,today's is red,on the other hand can wear a dress with leggings and boots,money is my fashion dictator,and with a 13year old wanting 'stuff' ,most happy in jeans thirst and hoodie.

This thread made me laugh out loud! Loved all the quotes and comments. I am not that interested in clothes and it probably shows! As long as the lumps and bumps are covered and nothing is too tight I am happy. [ grin]

No, jess. In answer to that I'd say your pedantry has led you astray. But I see what you're getting at .

gracesmum you have the chic scarf gene. Just in case u didn't know.
my nana used to say "nobody's going to stop their horse and cart" - which is a more positive statement than your mums.
And just to show i can be pedantic too bags does that mean there is no such thing as a waterproof hat or boot?
nanadogsbody - I know what you mean. When I am doing grandchild herding my interest in how I am dressed gets trumped by practicality for the duration.

joan

I like tshirts and shorts, worn with sneakers or sandals - preferably comfy boys' sandals. My favourite denim gardening shorts started to go in holes, so I covered the holes with applique/embroidered flowers. Now I look like a failed and faded flower power refugee from the 1960s.

When I go out I'm a bit posher - I put on a better Tshirt and linen-look trousers. I did get a nice skirt and a silk scarf for a wedding recently, but the dog chewed the scarf, and I daren't wear the skirt again till I buy some new knickers: well, you don't get the fear of them falling down when you wear trousers, and most of my knickers have dodgy elastic, and I've lost a bit of weight too. I know I should buy some more, but I always forget.

My dress sense is non-existent, and my clothes budget is more or less zero so I'm unlikely to ever get it right. Just as well I live in the subtropics where you wear a lot less, so there's less to get wrong.

OMG is (sort of) right! I especially like the Dog Buff

So, is it like a snood-sort-of-thing?

OGM, www.buffwear.co.uk/

Ah but that's different * grace* . I might appear invisible but I'm not. You rattle my cage and you'll know about it, as stroppy shop assistants/government officials soon find out.
So perhaps the cloak of invisibility we choose to wear is just camouflage? The GNetters on Saturday chose to take off their cloaks and display their true colours I think.
Does that make sense???

OK so what are we prepared to do to be visible? My mum used to discourge vanity by saying "Nobody is going to be looking at you anyway" which didn't do much for my self-confidence but what is it about getting older that seems to make us less important? Magazines bang on endlessy about self-confidence/inner confidence/rediscover your confidence blah blah until I feel perhaps I should be worried.
Is it retirement? Giving up being "somebody"? In which case are we defined by our job? (Heaven help us!)
Having met some very "visible" Gnetters on Saturday, I do not believe that we should just roll over and sink below the horizon. What happened to the spirit we had when we were younger?

Ok DC napping. .
1) I still tend to buy clothes that would suit a younger me, and end up giving them to my daughter. But sooooo hard to find clothes that flatter. (Why don't firms like M&S cotton on to this market?)
2) I'm invisible...but I'm not in the public eye like Dame Judy, and I spent the greater part of my life conforming to an image and trying to look young and trendy. Now the pressure is off. I have my grandchildren 5 days a week. They don't care at their age what I look like so long as I can play with them, cuddle them and get messy with them. (Oddly enough they do notice what I smell like !!!! and comment on new fragrances...the favourite being Vick vapour rub just now!) MrDog wouldn't notice if I wore a burka. My children wouldn't either though occasionally my SiL or DiL might say I look nice ('for a change' is probably implied).
And it's all quite liberating, in fact very liberating. Don't get me wrong I try to look reasonably smart but that's about it.
3) any fashion disaster I give away or cut up for patchwork, dolls clothes, charity shop. Except I have a drawer full of belts taken from per Una jeans which I don't use.
Anyway love reading all these posts makes me feel reassuringly normal

I live in jeans and trousers, don't own a dress or skirt, which is a shame really as my legs are my best bit. However I can only wear flat shoes and they make me feel dumpy!
I've still got some good quality clothes, especially coats and jackets and macs, because I live in walking distance of the town centre, but underneath may well be a Sainsbury jumper! I love a bargain!

As for 1,2,and 3..well I feel invisible, but my mental image is worse than reality I think.
I think my clothes are as confused as I am

Number 3 applies to me, and I used to have clothes hanging up that we're too tight,but I was going to slim into, needless to say, that never happened. I am starting to wear some of the more colourful, or as ana says, "the more striking items", just because I love them and hav got to the age when I realise people don't care or notice what I wear.

I agree absolutely with number 3 gracesmum, and have a wardrobe full of unworn clothes to prove it! In my mind's eye, when I bought them, I was transformed - but in reality I tend to wear the same old things every day and either haven't got the courage or the occasion to wear some of the more striking items that persuaded me to buy them...