Can you dress too young for your age?

For women: following trends slavishly whether they suit you or not is mutton, often. (And then some are so scared of that they go too far the other way - too conservative, matchy-matchy, mother-of-the-bride, grannyish. It's about finding the middle way).

For men: kind of the opposite, i.e. not moving with the times enough. Some men seem to stick with the look of the time when they were young and thin and sexy, and it's not fooling anyone. Jeans and leather jackets that fitted 30 years ago and don't now, greying hair thinning on top with a little rats-tail ponytail at the back, that sort of thing. The ageing rocker look. And any attempt to disguise baldness with combovers etc. Male mutton also often comes out in the summer (so many British males just can't dress for warm weather) - shorts that are way too short and not flattering.

For both: that kind of scruffiness that can look insouciant and cool on teens and twentysomethings (ripped or frayed jeans, battered leather, worn-out shoes, faded tees etc). As someone who naturally errs towards the scruffy (I was a teen in the grunge era and that suited me just great), I've realised, probably a bit too slowly, that as you get older it just makes you look unkempt and poor. I mean, I am quite poor, but sometimes I don't want to look it. I'm treated with more respect when I don't wear jumpers with holes in, funnily enough.

I like the classy trendy look when I'm going out but dress really casual hoodies, jeans, trainers for chilling.

Read "In Your Prime" by India Knight, which has some excellent rules-of-thumb on that.

Personally I think there's such a thing as not dressing right for your body, and it's just a fact that older people's figures aren't usually as good as younger people's and you need to take that into account. No skin-tight things over rolls of fat, low-cut tops showing wrinkly decolletage, miniskirts on those that no longer have the legs for it etc. Mutton is about looking desperate and delusional (like you think you DO still have a chest people want to see or whatever).

I'm 46 and my 18yo son tells me I dress like a teenager! I still wear pretty much the same as I did back then to be fair (and the same as he does most days!) - currently wearing black jeans, a guns n roses T-shirt and converse. My day to day style just hasn't changed much, although I'm more than capable of glamming it up with a nice dress and heels if the occasion calls for it.

Grim attitude.

Some bits are just not so nice to look at as you get older, for men and women so cover up a bit if things are not what they were. But if you don't care do what you like.

Also, posters who think blazers are just for office wear are wrong. They look great worn with lots of clothes that don't look like you going for an interview on all ages.

I loves hoodies too. So does my DH.

I definitely wouldn't wear some of my old clubbing outfits at 50 no matter how slim I was. I did look good in them 25 years ago.

But I'm 40 and it is something I worry about. I wear all sorts of clothes, dresses, jeans, joggers, boots, trainers, converse, knitwear, hoodies. I tend to avoid big logos or anything that's both short and tight. I'm definitely a casual dresser but do wear floaty skirts and dresses in Summer. I'm 35 years older than you, and this thread has been a revelation - all these people arguing about whether you should change your dress style in your 50s/

I think it's down to practicalities- for example if you're rather bent, skirts hang lower at the front and that affects the overall look. If your body suits the style, wear it, whatever your age.

he told dh that a pack of t-shirts was 'too young for him and that he should remember he's 40.

Cheeky little git.

That's just creepy!!!

Nah people should wear what they want.

Nah, wear what you want. I wouldn't wear tight lycra dresses myself because I'm fat and I wouldn't be comfortable in it but clothes have no age. I think it's admirable if somebody older has the confidence to wear it!

I wore a black jumper dress with long boots and tights this evening with a red blazer for warmth till I got to the restaurant. Not a short lycra dress. We can still dress nice in our 40s & 50s & older but leave the skimpy dresses for the young ones.

Of course you can dress too young for your age. Not casual clothes, I love sweatshirts, jeans, trainers, shorts etc. An older woman in a tight revealing lycra mini dress no matter how slim she is will look odd.

It's nice to look attractive, trendy but classy.

😂😂

OP, we should all wear whatever the hell we want. Judgy fuckers (aka the mutton dressed as lamb crowd) can do one.

Wear what you like. People who think you have to switch to sensible jersey dresses from Boden as soon as you reach a certain age are joyless fuckers.

Some of 'dressing older' is just dressing in outdated styles, though. Re-reading this thread, many posts say "I wear hoodies" as though a hooded sweatshirt were a youth signifier in & of itself. I wear hoodies - all being over 10 years old, they're cut to fit (more or less). Modern hoodies are cut in a rounded, puffy shape, worn loose, and look very different. Mine now seem bland by comparison; they look a bit wrong.

The only conclusion I'm drawing from this is that I MUST NOT replace all my hard-working tops with updated versions! Regrettably, I can't afford to be au courant in every way. I did buy one puffy sweatshirt in a sale, and I bloody love it. It's like wearing a hug ... <cuts up credit card>

plenty of mothers are like that, so we cannot deny that fact. I was not, because I only had one child and he had a father, but plenty of women are not in that situation. Denying that is just ignoring reality. Just because you and I found the time, it doesn't mean 1000s of others can do. Anecdotal cases are not statistics.

@winterdarkness
I didn't invent anything, you're using the narrative of the downtrodden mother with no time for herself, plenty mums have great bodies, having kids isn't an excuse to neglect yourself.
I have never had a support network; no parents or siblings.

Oh balls to that.
I mean, if you were rocking a lot of crop tops and mini skirts I can see why he might be embarrassed, but even then he needs to learn that he doesn't get an opinion on what other people wear, and especially his parents. I suggest finding the youngest and most ridiculous outfits possible (ideally also dressing your dh in whatever your son likes wearing) and wearing them everywhere including to wave to him loudly at school until he apologises/begs for mercy.
Jumped up little shit

You are inventing a new story here. I never said that one has to be a martyr but the reality is that most mothers, who work full time, don't find a lot of time to exercise. The woman in the picture clearly has a great body and that doesn't come from sitting in an office all day before running back to do bath times. If you work, commute, have 4 kids and find time to exercise, you must have a good support set up. Most people don't have that

We don't even know if she's has kids anyway, but she's explained she does HITT.

Sorry, missed that. No, no children.

There are mothers with abs as good or better than mine at my gym. Some enter competitions, which requires serious dedication. I’m not that dedicated.

@winterdarkness
agree. You have to make exercising a priority. In the same way that you would cooking dinner for example. Because it IS a priority.

I asked a page or so back if you've had children, I do think the sixpack morphs into a one pack when you've been pregnant sometimes sadly