Dressing fearlessly: throwing out the style rule book

Have to agree with you*Maggiemaybe*.
How on earth do folk find these ancient threads?

I don't know whether others agree, but I wish GNHQ would do as MN does and stop comments resurrecting really old threads. This one's over 6 years old.

It's not that the topic isn't still relevant. I just feel a bit sad to be reading posts from long gone GNers I used to think of as friends.

And sometimes (not on this thread) I read ancient comments of my own that even I want to take issue with now!

As a teen of the 70s I still wear blue /red/green/yellow/pink in fact whatever colour I choose- JEANS!!! And I'm 66 this year, not anywhere near my lifelong size14-16 ..

And?
I was a young mum in the 70’s and getting on for 10 years older than you and yes, I wear jeans. (Denim, white, black, coloured)
I wear bright colours or pastels, monochrome if I feel like it , neutrals too but the bottom line is NOT to succumb to anybody else’s idea of “age appropriate” clothing, but what you look and feel good in.

I have a few friends who are, shall we say, eccentric dressers. Good on them!
Personally I choose to dress according to what I think suits me, nothing to do with my age.

Now I am old and misshapen I am comfortable in only a few styles compared with when I looked ok in most styles. Men and women can dress eclectically as long as they are within the law.

My darling mum was such a beautiful lady. She always had her clothes and accessories coordinating, and ALWAYS wore light coloured nail varnish! We didn’t have lots of money, but she always took pride in her appearance, adding a small amount of make up and definitely light lipstick. My sisters and I were so lucky to have such a wonderful role model, and I try to emulate her as much as possible. Yes, there are days I resemble a bag of washing, but I don’t leave the house looking like that! I’m 60 now, and enjoy all fashions. You know what makes you feel comfortable and what styles and colours you like, so embrace them. If anyone isn’t happy it’s because they’re jealous or boring. Have fun everyone looking fantastic!!!!

I'm a little bit guilty of dressing down if I'm not going anywhere. Suppose I could even be called scruffy sometimes. I find it so convenient for going out into the garden on a whim rather that having to dress down. My criteria is all items next to skin changed daily but outer stuff can go longer. Quite enjoy dressing up for appointments but actually noticed a bit of lethargy with even that after lockdown. Happily, all well now and back to lovely social life. I really enjoy not being a follower of fashion (whatever that fashion is at the moment?!). I do my own thing but prefer to be cheerily colour coordinated with a minimum of black. I'm still managing self control with no new purchasing. Two years four months now. Yippee! Thank heavens I loved my clothes before I started this. Can't seem to find this cash I must have been saving!

Alexa

Headscarfs are more flattering than beanies. The Queen wears head scarfs. Headscarfs aren't just for Muslims and Babushkas.

Headscarves are fab! I only wish I didn't look like a bag lady wearing one!!! I've trawled the web looking for ways to wear but ......still look like bag lady ???

As a teen of the 70s I still wear blue /red/green/yellow/pink in fact whatever colour I choose- JEANS!!! And I'm 66 this year, not anywhere near my lifelong size14-16 andhave blossomed(ahem) into a perfectly proportioned size18/20 mostly due to the sky jump bosom that's mysteriously landed on my chest ?!? I dress as I choose, quirky sometimes, dramatic in black others. I've naturally evolved into omwearing monochrome outfits, (all same colour not just b&w) and I must say I get plenty compliments even from complete strangers! I suppose I look 'put together' I've kept smart even in total lockdown and usually put the 'slap'on every day to maximise my still youthful features and flawless skin! I know it's only a matter of time before I'll have to forgo foundation and concentrate on distracting lipstick for dramatic effect! Wear what you feel comfy in be they leggings/shorts/floaty lagenlook/stilettos! We all feel 19 inside, so why not?!?

Headscarfs are more flattering than beanies. The Queen wears head scarfs. Headscarfs aren't just for Muslims and Babushkas.

I just twigged this was an old thread.

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Well...I suppose I could force myself to watch few spaghetti westerns with a (gorgeous) young Clint Eastwood

The cheroot or the Colt 45?

It worked for me, in M&S last week, when I had to take a garment back.

Tangled up?
Well, it may be better to watch a few Clint Eastwood films first, just to perfect that poncho fling to one side, and don't forget the cheroot, and to close one eye in a menacing way.

Well, yes, but you'd have to perfect the art of throwing one side of it casually out of the way before you actually producted your trusty Colt45 or you could end up looking rather silly...(in a Mr Beanish sort of way! )

Ponchos are great! nobody suspects you have your trusty Colt45 ready to blast them as you hiss" well punk, do you feel lucky?"

willow a poncho has a hole that you put your head through, why wouldn't it stay on?

Boyfriend, to describe a style of cardigan, jeans etc is still very much with us and I read that description a lot, but have never really fathomed why they are called that, as the cardigans and jeans look like normal ones.

I spent my college years in the 60's wearing boys' clothes because I was tall and they fitted better. The word Boyfriend was never mentioned, we just knew that the jeans would actually be long enough and you could pile loads of layers under a baggy boy's jumper. Looking back I don't think attractiveness came into it, it was all about warmth and dark colours that wouldn't show the dirt.

I thought the original 'boyfriend' fashion started in the 60s too and the film The Boyfriend with Twiggy was part of of it. Although the current fashion is available across all sizes, the original idea was to be seen wearing oversized or loose men's clothing like cardigans and really only skinny or slim women could pull off the look out of the house.

Men's jumpers were a bit different because they could hide lumps and bumps, but still looked best with a slimish face at one end and a decent pair of legs at the other (not likely to be attached to a big bum! ). I always looked like a lollipop.

Aren't the clothes in the shops the product of the fashion industry? They are as near to fashion that most people get. It is a long time since I even saw the phrase 'boyfriend' used to describe clothes, if it is still in use it doesn't appear very often.

If you are talking about couture, then that is different, but what parades down the catwalk, which varies from the bizarre to semi-naked, is not what the women who are known to shop couture actually wear. That is very different, attractive, well made, expensive fabrics and in styles designed to flatter rather than reveal. Admittedly, worn by A - Z celbrities at award ceremonies they veer back to the semi-naked, but have you seen any of these styles being worn on the High Street on an everyday basis? I haven't.

Alea "wearing clothing designed to emphasise their sexuality" was merely descriptive. You describe women in their 30s and 40s, who dress attractively and look incredibly chic, and probably attract male admiration but that is very different from wearing clothes to emphasise their sexuality.

ps. skirts; Jaeger is out of my price bracket, Viyella and CC sell those drab mid-calf skirts I loathe. The Phase 8 I visited seemed only to sell dresses, I do like Phase 8, but not autumn 2015. Boden is mail order and although I visit online sites I rarely buy on line. Over 90% of the clothes I have ordered online have been sent back because of discrepancies in colour between illustration and actual garment, poor quality, or just not fitting or suiting and it is such a hassle repacking them and then finding time to get to a post office and stand in a queue or drive miles to a collection point. I did once buy a winter coat from Boden. It lasted one season, by which time it had lost its shape and had bobbled all across the front

I thought about a mini skirt, I have the legs and shape but I am in my 70s and even though I have aged well, I could only get away with it (just) if I wore it over jeggings, which wasn't what I wanted to do and I would always have felt mutton dressed as lamb. All of us have our boundaries and that was mine. Also almost all the mini skirts were aimed at young girls on small budgets. Cheap, cheerful and shoddy.

If I had borrowed my DH's jumpers they would have reached my knees.