I mean obviously you should be wearing linen trousers and a blouse with a cropped cardigan and kitten heels? That is the only response. With a light cardigan, and brown eyeliner.
A cropped cardigan and a ‘light’ cardigan? How does that work?
But seriously, re the outfit you described, I’ve never seen this advice dispensed on this website or anywhere else. In fact, you’re more likely to see the ‘wear what you want, who cares what anyone thinks!’ advice.
Which I’m not necessarily in favour of: if somebody posts looking for advice on whether an outfit is suitable for an event, it’s because they are unsure and want guidance on the impression their clothes will make on other people. If the poster truly didn’t care what other people thought, they wouldn’t ask.
In this case, the poster has asked:
It’s not the most flattering style for my shape but I generally don’t care about looking fat, I am who I am. But I’ve suddenly got a pang of concern that I look like I’m trying to dress like a skinny young thing and I just look old fat and ridiculous.
If one of my friends was in a similar position, and asked for advice, I’d tell her that if she thinks that the outfit is too young for her and unflattering then she should consider alternatives because she won’t enjoy the party if she’s worried about her appearance. It’s too easy to say, “oh, go ahead, wear what you like!”, but if you do that you risk doing a friend a disservice.
I’m 48, and if I asked a friend whether I should wear PVC shorts and a bikini top to a party because I was worried that I might look as if I were trying to recapture my teenage years, I hope that she’d tell me to trust my instincts and wear something else. Not linen trousers and an assortment of cardigans, or an outfit like the queen, but something that looks better and won’t make me feel self-conscious. Thus saving me from looking daft, which I would in the outfit I described.