To think I can wear what the fuck I like at 47

[Midlifelights]

My (judgmental) mother thinks I ‘shouldn’t’ be wearing dungarees at my hideously old age of 47 🙄 I should also not ever wear a bikini again and should now have transitioned into tankini’s or a one piece. Animal print also apparently not appropriate.

Aibu to think WTF? I feel like I look ok for my age (not that it fucking matters anyway) and that i can wear whatever I want to wear.

I like nice clothes and shock horror I like wearing bikinis too and genuinely give zero fucks what anyone else thinks.

Is it a generational thing? You must transition to m & s stretchy wear by 45?

YANBU, but I sort of agree with your mum, dungarees look hideous on anyone older than 10 or a professional painter and decorator. Actually they should only be worn as loose overalls.

My mum would have been 96 if she was still alive today, and she was always very modern in her outlook. There were lots of older ladies of her generation like her sister who always seemed to dress in a frumpy pearls and cardigans style but my mum was definitely not one of them.

I think because she’d been involved in codes during the war and always embraced learning new stuff, she was very scathing when anyone moaned about ‘young folk today don’t know they’re born’ and ‘the good old days’. I remember visiting her in the retirement complex and her replying ‘oh you mean when children died from Dyptheria, TB and polio, those good old days?’

She had a great attitude to life and when I’m feeling low about Covid, I just think ‘my mum got through WW2, surviving her base getting bombed etc. She wouldn’t let Covid get her down.

@KaptainKaveman

You might be new to MN. We let rip and swear like cunts on here and don't usually bother with ladylike language.

Next you'll be saying that we should all wash our mouths out with soap and water. Fuck that.

Tankinis are good if you have need different sizes top and bottom, but want your tummy covered.

Also easier to go for a wee.

Also can be more flattering to apple shapes than a one-piece (imo).

Ha, my 64 yo DM thinks I dress too old for my age (42) and should be in mini skirts "because you've got the legs for them"!

Her look is amazing - slightly androgynous rock chick, so think Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde sort of thing - but I have my own style, and yes, it is more subtle and conservative (though with a bit of a twist, to give it some interest). And I wear dungarees too - wore them yesterday, in fact, and one of the young women I work with told me "you look fresh as, fam", which I'm assured is good?!

To bring that ramble to a conclusion - wear what you like and makes you feel good, and to hell what anyone else thinks.

@VintageStitchers I love the sound of your mum.

@GammyLeg

"I'm just a bit sceptical about women that claim they don't give a fuck what people think."

Hand on heart, I genuinely don't. You should try it - it's fucking liberating!

I agree! I don't actively seek to offend the eyes of others, but it would never occur to me that their opinion on my clothes would matter. I extend the same courtesy to them, of course.

There are limits in most people's lives to what they can wear without consequences (work clothes have to be appropriate etc), but aside from that it seems odd to me that anyone can get so invested in other people's clothing choices. My mother (admittedly not a standard-setter for reason or balance) becomes actively angry at women who don't conform to her idea of appropriate clothing. Yes, I'm one of them!

I don't wear trousers any more (I like a long, swishy skirt with huge pockets) but if I did, I would definitely choose dungarees. I have no idea of they suit me and it wouldn't be a factor in the choice anyway. According to my mother, I should be seeking out "flattering" clothing. I'm 47 and I've had five children, no clothes in the world are going to make me look 25 and perky. If they could, there is an excellent chance that they would also be uncomfortable and I wouldn'r wear them because of that.

i think its our responsibility to keep our mums from straying into our grandmothers territory in clothing xD

My mum is 68 this year and she wears jeans, with brightly coloured vest and shirts, or pretty longline t-shirts and smart ankle boots or sandals, she's got shoulder length steel grey hair.

I remember my paternal gran being of her generation, bless her, and in the tweedy skirts, pussy bow blouses and cardigans, old lady shoes (you know the kind i mean) all in shades of cream and beige along with the hairdressers curly set and blow dry hair... although i think i recall moms mother definitely being more floaty and boho and liked a nice blazer.

Mom and i go clothes shopping together and there's a few times i've looked at her in horror over something she's picked out when shes had an 'i'm nearly 70, maybe i ought to stop dressing like this' moment.

She did point out that there was a period when the 'older lady' clothes were really limited, and she found she struggled to find stuff that wasn't stuffy/old, and dipping into the younger style of clothes they were too low cut, or too short/tight. It's become much easier in the last couple of years to find clothes that are more 'suiting' to her sense of style and modesty.

Mum is right. Dungarees look awful on anyone over the age of 18 months.

I read on threads here all the time what women "should" wear at a certain age! Fuckwits!

I'm 56 still wear my pink docks and short kilts! Short spikes hair, tattoos and piercings!!

Not a fuck to I give what people think!

I never take into account of my age when I buy clothes!

Ignore your mum and anyone else who feels the need to comment!

I'd love to wear the clothes I like, unfortunately my body size/shape really makes it a more go', but age wouldn't stop me.

In my head I'm abbey from CSI. If only

I'd wear the things she hates even more so in her presence. Think this speaks volumes and shows you are totally ignoring her opinion!

I'm 33 and I'll be wearing dungarees and converse til the day I die. Could not give less of a shit what anyone else thinks.

You shouldn't really wear dungarees past the age of 2

I'm 31 and I pretty much dress like a 20 year old. I also have a bit of grey hair.
I genuinely do not give a shit what others think. And neither should you

You shouldn't really wear dungarees past the age of 2

Why not? Genuinely - why?

I am over 60 and I wear whatever I want. Tends to be ‘primary school teacher with a twist’ - bored of jeans so wearing wide-leg crops instead now.

My 86 year old mum thinks my hair is too short, and my BMI of 22 is far too low for my age - I should gain about 10lb. It would be a relief to hear her criticise my clothes sometimes.

@formerbabe

You shouldn't really wear dungarees past the age of 2

Thanks for the instruction but I'm 33, pregnant and I think I'm rocking the dungarees I'm wearing today. The great thing about not being 2 is that I can decide for myself what to wear.

I always find it odd that people gives themselves the right to tell others what to wear or not to wear...once you become an adult you can dress yourself as you wish.

If people don't like what I wear I would suggest that they simply can look away and focus on someone more to their taste...I am not on this planet to please them.

Where I live the "uniform" for women my age (33) is: mom jeans, veja trainers or stan smiths, a white t shirt, a blazer and a fjallraven kanken backpack.

I don't like that look, I like my colourful dungarees and converse. That doesn't mean I think that no one else should like that look either .

Such a bizarre way to think.

DD1 (15) says I dress like a trendy 20-something. I'm 45. Good! I'm not trying to be trendy or a twenty something but just wear clothes that I like.

Wear what you like! Noone even looks up from their phone long enough to notice what anyone else is wearing these days, and even if they do, they are not going to care about it for more than 30 seconds.

I love that link Wear Whatever The Fuck You Want.

Dungarees are quite a thing at the moment. They're trendy amongst a certain demographic, like the uniform of Breton top, skinny jeans and converse.
So by wearing dungaress are you embracing an individual style, pleasing only yourself or being dictated to by what is currently promoted as cool and trendy in the shops and by your peers?

I see loads of women out in dungarees, usually very similar in cut and styled the same. I don't think they are a particularly bold individual look.

I think society's mostly growing out of this crap, thank god. I think people's lives are much more varied than they were from the old pattern of 'wild teens/early 20s/settle and have kids in your 30s/Sedate in your 40s/Old and boring in you 60s' - I'm in my 40s and my friends are in all sorts of stages from hard-partying punks to parents of teenagers and loads in between.

KaptainKaveman, do you really think it's your place to admonish another adult for her choice of language?

Would you do it if you heard an adult in Sainsbury's saying they'll wear whatever the fuck they like?

Some women look great in Dungas regardless of age..As a large norked Apple shape never will I look good in then but then the breaks. I refuse to go clothes shopping with my mother. She recoils at horror at the fact I'm a size 16.