Where do you wish you could shop!?

Hi Rebekah. Part of the problem with your task is the implication that the over 65's need to be especially catered for. Speaking personally, and being a whippersnapper of only 61, I don't imagine I will ever have any desire to wear clothes that are specifically marketed at women aged 65+.
However, as your tutors are so limited/ageist in their thinking and you can't avoid this task I wish you well with it.

Exactly what I was thinking ga

Rebekah, just look at this list and I hope you'll see my point. If I could link a photo to my older sister you would see that it isn't just celebrities who don't need a specialist range of clothes for women over 65 - she knows what suits her and buys accordingly without any reference to her age.

Look at the leggings thread!!

And most of us wouldnt 'shop' in a supermarket - they are more impulse buys IMO!

Did anyone see Twiggy on WDYTYA?

Hi rebekah
I agree with everything said above. I will be 65 next month and I think I would shop anywhere apart from places with clothes aimed at the over 65 age group.
I like White Stuff, Uniqlo, White Company, Joules, East, Monsoon. I buy some basics like leggings, jeggings and t-shirts from M and S, BHS and Sainsburys.
i would throw a hissy fit if anyone thought I ought to wear pastel embroidered cardigans, pleated skirts, elasticated waists or beige.
I hope this helps.

Though they all could put seats in so that you could think.

I agree with every word that Mamie et al say and I am 71 but still think that I am 29. I do not possess a beige twin set and navy pleated skirt. I buy on impulse usually.

You have your work cut out!

Perhaps that is the way you should be thinking, Rebekah - what is there about a store that would make us more likely to shop there, at 65+ or any other age.

I would say -

Assistants who are more than a size 8, and older than 21.

No loud jarring music. If you must have music, have it quiet and soothing.

Attractive clothes that are neither frumpish and "elderly" nor outlandishly "fashionable", ie hideous on anyone.

Many price levels. Sometimes we want something expensive for a special occasion, sometimes a more everyday thing. You never know, if we are looking for trousers to wear round the house we might see just the thing for that wedding in two months time.

Many sizes, with the larger ones as attractive as the smaller ones. Not a rack full of sizes 10 and 12, with one each of size 14 and 16. It is normal to put on a little weight as we get older.

Many colours. Some of us like classic greys and navies. Some of us like pasteles, some like bright colours. Not many older complexions suit hard or sludgy colours.

All the coats together, all the trousers together, all the tops together, and so on. We don't like traipsing round a dozen "collections" to find two or three possibles to try on.

Individual changing rooms with plenty of space and clothes hooks, and mirrors which show our back view.

A small cafe or even a coffee/tea machine.

Comfortable seats and a newspaper or two for our other halves to sit and wait for us to emerge.

I think there is a market for well designed and well made clothes for women, irrespective of their age. I am 57 and have terrible trouble finding anything I like. Like the majority on here, I certainly will not be wearing beige/wash n wear/elastic/polyester etc., My Mother, at 83 doesnt wear them either. However, I will not shop in cheap shops like New Look, will not shop in any Arcadia shops such as BHS. Topshop ( for reasons to do with Philip Green being a tax dodger). I cant afford to buy makes like Jaegar and find a lot of the traditional tailored brands are just that, too tailored. I sometimes buy Per Una but not this year and hate the fact that although the designs are not too bad, they are made of nasty synthetic fabric, same applies to Monsoon. All points about what I dont like, but hope you find them useful!

I've noticed that sizes vary from shop to shop. A size 12 in Laura Ashley [one of my favourite shops albeit a bit pricey] is not a size 12 at Top Shop so I know I'm kidding myself size wise, but it still makes me feel good . As we get older we still want to wear fashionable clothes, but our shape changes; wider hips/waists etc so good tailoring in that area would be good. I ordered some clothes from a well known catalogue that sells silk clothes and the cut of the dresses was awful; they all went back. Much as I still love M&S [they have much better clothes online than instore] I have often left without buying anything because their changing rooms are full and there are huge queues at the checkouts; cutting back on staff costs them sales. I also hate it when stores offer me 'loyalty cards' that are in fact credit cards, although not sure if that still happens [M&S did it for a while]. I agree about synthetics, although I have been slightly converted to them but, in general t shirts etc should be cotton.

Hi Rebekah,I am am just a tad over 65, 68 to be precise. When I go shopping for clothes I would never dream of trying to find somewhere that caters just for my age group, I just like what is on offer at most stores and dress in the way that suits my lifestyle. I avoid like the plague the section in M&S that is labeled as classic. Oh and I love leggings and jeggings, stylish jumpers, short jackets, long boots in fact I am probably what is termed as mutton dressed as lamb....... But do you know what, I don't care. I will never dress to suit my age.

I think it sounds an excellent idea. Face it - women do tend to take on a different shape after menopause. We thicken. And later, we start to lose muscle. There's nothing yuou can do about it. Clothes to suit would be very good.

Marks and Sparks for me. Had a lovely blouse from their Classic selection for my birthday.

I have looked at the leggings'jeggings/treggings. Know way would be comfortable for me. The "reach" isn't deep enough. (And I'm not really fat - 10stone and quarter of a pound at the moment. )

I'm 73.

No way!!! not know [shock

Hi Rebekah, I agree with others and would steer very clear of any shop or outlet that claimed to target over 65s. I still feel affronted when the '50 plus' catalogue plops through my door although I'm 12 years past that milestone. 65, 75, 85 and onwards we are all individuals and still the people we have always been.

I understand that Evans have started a mini revolution in styling for larger women (sadly under Philip Green) and had the first plus size catwalk show at London Fashion Week this year. I think your challenge is similar - older women need to feel included in fashion but not in a separate category. This means using more older models and showing how fashion can be adapted to suit those of different ages, shapes and sizes.

Well, that's all given the poor girl something to think about!!

Definitely not the synthetic fabrics either - many women do not lose their hot flushes until many years past the menopause.

I also want sturdier bras in nice fabrics, not cheap satiny ones. It's fine if you are a young size ten, but we often need a bit more support and high street stores are scarce, there is the odd Rigby and Peller and anyone who could make bras as well as they do and open more shops would get my vote. The M&S stronger ones all have a ridiculously flimsy bit at the front centre that never lasts more than a year with me. I really wish they would produce nice bras and pants in cotton and silk that are smart rather than sexy. I don't want lace and bows sticking out through t-shirts and linen trousers, I end up having to cut them all off.

Yes, I too preferred it when all the clothes were grouped together rather than in ranges. I suppose we have franchising to blame for that, but it turned department stores into clothing markets rather than attractive shops. The occasional beautifully-dressed dummy was more than adequate for the odd idea of how to put clothes together. Now, in M&S for example, Instead of running from coats to trousers, I am running from Indigo to Per Una to Autograph. And strangely - never to Classics.

If M&S would do some of the lovely and flattering tops and dresses that Phase Eight do (but at half the price) I would be very happy. M&S's styles may have gone wayward, but the quality used to be excellent. I can buy sturdier t-shirt bras in Sainsbury's - and am, currently.

rebekah I and all my friends in my age group (65) find plenty on the high street - I've recently bought from H&M (tops and tunic), Topshop (chinos), and Florence & Fred (dress, gym clothes). My clothes purchasing strategy is see it, like it, buy it (if it's within my budget and given the above stores, ig usually is). I'm .

I suppose I'm saying that I wish I could shop more at M&S. I do like some of their styles, but then feel how thin the trousers are, how narrow the supposedly wider footglove shoes are, realise that the slinky fabrics are not flattering to older abdomens and as the younger generation get taller, the 3/4 length trousers are almost full length on me...

Hi Rebekah. good luck with your challenge. There are many good points above , but my main problem ( and I hope im not repeating anyone else's post), is the sleeve issue. last summer my daughter had a festival wedding , and I had great difficulty finding a dress with sleeves.,I don't think cap sleeves are any more flattering than sleeveless as it's the bingo wings that are the problem , not the shoulders. I sooo agree with the point made about natural fabrics too. I often buy tops in Monsoon as they do more silk ones. john Lewis is great for having shops like East and Hobbs, Joules etc. White Stuff have lovely things but the fabric is too clingy .

Shops on the high street aimed at the older lady categorise us into those that want to look ordinary and comfy.

What I would like to see is an "Elegance" range within a store. I love "The White Company" and "Phase Eight" totally timeless clothes that suit all ages.

Also not all over 65s are the same size. There is very little out there for us tiny ones. Tailored clothes in good fabrics would appeal to me. The modern fabrics that hold you in and cover up my scraggy necks and arms.

I certainly would avoid any range that indicated that once we reach 65 we have "special needs".

Thanks for all your opinions ladies, they have really helped!
I agree, I really do have my work cut out!
So from what I understand, you still want to shop in all the high street stores and wish retailers would create clothes that appeal to you rather then target you?
You have made some very useful pointers about shapes, fabrics and quality that I will definitely take into consideration!
I can assure you that there will be beige or pastel cardigans in sight!

Rebekah show this thread to your tutors and tell them you have been set an impossible task.
We are all individuals, and dress to our own taste and style.
Apart from that, styling according to age is no longer the thing.
When we were children, we wore thgings for children - dresses with embroidered yokes, gathered skirts and puffed sleeves, that grown-up women wouldn't have worn.
It's not like that now - children's clothes are styled like adults and the lines are so blurred that there are no boundaries.
Tell your tutors they need to be more specific - for example, clothes for women with a certain lifestyle rather than age. A 65 year-old (I am one) who goes out a lot and plays sport will have different wardrobe requirements from someone who lives in a rural area and spends most of their time digging the vegetable patch.
<realises that most country dwellers do more than just tend the vegetable patch, before anyone gets offended>

Me too I agree I don't want a 65+ ghetto shop. There is an advert on TV for Fifty plus and its dire!!! I think the best you can do for the brief you have been given is write an excoriating critique of it and the Gransnetters have given you a really good start here.

Rebekah are you suggesting an ageist ghetto? Sounds like it to me