Strange ideas about age, ageism on S&B.

[Pangolin44]

A bit of a mangled thread title, but I'm always slightly agog when it comes to age on this board.

So many 'Can I wear X at Y age?' threads. So many comments about 'age-appropriate' attire. Mutton-dressed-as-lamb always rears its head. Granny shoes, frumpy coats, 'I'm 35 am I too old for mini-skirts?'.

And don't get me started on hair! Bejeysus.

And this is women, talking to other women.

It makes me sad more than anything else, people are obviously posting on this board because they're interested in clothes and style, why close off any area of style because of age? The thought that women think they can't express themselves physically due to an imagined arbitrary cut-off.

I would love to free women from this idea, what's the worst that can happen?

I’m slightly flummoxed as to how this thread ended up with a polarising argument running through it.

I can see both sides - some days I like to think very carefully about what I’m wearing and will consider how I want to be seen quite seriously - others I just want to chuck on something that makes me look vaguely decent. That’s life.

What I find a shame is not that some posters don’t share a deep interest in clothes, but that they simply can’t (or won’t) understand that others do without it making them a terrible person in some way. It seems so utilitarian. Do these people not care what their house or garden looks like? Do they think all art is pointless? Do they not have a favourite colour?

I work in a creative field and for me clothes are another way of looking, seeing and being creative. I’ve definitely had conversations with others about this without it touching on money/quirkiness/frumpiness/age or female servitude.

And by ‘creative’ I don’t mean bright colours, wacky shapes and giant glasses. Which seems to be another weird conflation often made on here!

some days I like to think very carefully about what I’m wearing and will consider how I want to be seen quite seriously - others I just want to chuck on something that makes me look vaguely decent.

That pretty much describes me.

That pretty much describes me.

And me, although I never go for the full on purple haired art teacher look.

I don't even understand the need to take a side. It's not like we're fighting to hire the village hall on the same night. We're on an online forum - there should be plenty of room for everyone and for every kind of discussion.

Indeed. As others have said, the world at the moment seems to have lost sight of nuance. And the fact it is possibly to have more than one opinion about the same topic, even if they might be a bit contradictory.

I’m now imagining a tug of war outside the village hall - tiered maxi dresses vs architectural blazers 😂FWIW I own both of these items.

Absolutely. There's certainly room for both types of discussion, 'jeans and a nice top' threads always get plenty of traffic. I quite understand that most people aren't as obsessed with clothes as I am and want to go about their day looking pretty good with the minimum of fuss. I take no issue with this.

Out of all my friends I only have one who is really interested in clothes, I'm certainly not judging them for this.

On the jeans threads, no-one wants to hear me wanging on about Japanese selvedge denim when they just want to explore some more current shapes, so I stay out!

It is interesting, the different attitudes to dress. I live rurally, I have animals and particularly since Covid I spend most of my time at home. I have put on weight that I need to lose and that has also skewed my day to day clothes choices.
When I am home I am in whatever is comfortable, usually trousers and a shirt and jumper, as it is cold and I get muddy going into the garden to deal with chickens etc.
When I go anywhere else I wear things that don’t need to withstand mud ! I don’t have a massive budget, I have never bought anything particularly costly, I am trying to think of my most expensive thing ever - probably a pre-war evening coat that cost £350.
I do need to start buying fewer items to increase the budget available for each thing . However, clothes are the abiding love of my life. I have worked in various fashion related jobs. I was making items of clothing for my dolls aged six and for myself from about 8. I was reading books on historic costume in junior school, and buying beautiful old things at jumble sales.
I still make things sometimes, and now my children are teenagers I do that more, but I also spend huge amounts of time browsing the internet, just looking at or for clothes, for my daughters and me.
I don’t know why I am so obsessed, I do also love other creative forms, but fashion is my abiding passion . I get a stab of joy from a particular collar, from tailoring , from beautiful fabrics, from gloves, lingerie, hosiery, hats and shoes.
I probably should have gone into fashion design (for complicated reasons I didn’t although I do some design related work).

I like meeting other women who love clothes and fashion, but I have plenty of friends who aren’t at all interested in clothing , or who have a slight interest but mainly in how clothes can make them look smart, capable or attractive. Just like I have no interest whatsoever in motorbikes or sports, or in other things my friends like.
My love of clothing isn’t actually solely related to wearing it, I like it for its own sake, just to look at. So I really enjoy seeing people out and about in things I find beautiful. I also enjoy the difference of people who have no interest in clothes whatsoever, but have other things that they love.
In fact it is only now I am typing this that I realise how peculiar this obsession is , I don’t think I have ever met anyone else who feels it at the same level. I have boxes of things I just like to look at occasionally but aren’t wearable, too old, too delicate, too tiny (doll’s clothes, baby clothes). My very earliest memories centre around what I was wearing, so before I was two. That is quite weird isn’t it ? Why clothes ? Is it the combination of colour and texture maybe ?
I am off to sort out my hens now !

I have a cupboard full of clothes that I now keep purely to look at and feel occasionally. I keep thinking I should sort them out and find a home for some of them while I still can, otherwise I can picture my son in 10 or 20 years time, paying a house clearance guy just to take it all away. But it's a big wrench.

No, they'd be on the same team. The other team would be in jeans and a nice top.

I wish I could remember whether you were on the Marketing and Demographics thread, @SirVixofVixHall. If you were you must have found it satisfying, if not - it’s quite recent in S&B. I could have written (less elegantly) much of what you’ve expressed - though my ducks and chickens are long gone, and I’m no seamstress. (And I do find reasons to spend large-ish sums.) But I’ve also spent extraordinary amounts of time just looking at clothes - in person and online. I also get as much, if not more satisfaction from ‘dressing’ my relatives - even if they’re not exactly clamouring for my attentions!

I guess we should all choose what we like. Here is Beatrix Ost being full on Easter Egg. Is this fashion? Or art? Catwalk maybe but not for most women surely?

Ha! True. Now jeans are one thing I can’t get on board with. I love love love the look of them but have never found a pair I didn’t want to rip off come 8pm. And I’ve tried a lot. I’d definitely be more comfortable pulling on the rope in an architectural blazer 😂

Try this hat. Worn on the train to New York. It’s not fashion. It’s human art. Would most women wear this? Ever?

Love jeans. Lycra in jeans was a game changer. No brainer to find a great pair and try different cuts and lengths.

I've actually got a head dress like that. I've worn it to parties.

I’ve found jeans that objectively fit but I just don’t feel comfortable in them. Not sure why. I’m a real hourglass so just prefer the way I look and feel in dresses. I’m fed up of trying to wrestle with my inclinations at this point!

I like layering dresses with other things as if you get a plain colour and simple shape they’re a great canvas.

Here it is - my Medusa look. I'm not going to model it I'm afraid as it's too identifying.

It's amazing!

Not quite as dramatic but I bought this at the end of last year. I already had it in black. I wear them and other similar hats in winter.

i tried on a 1930s tweed coat yesterday that reminded me of the riding coat you've described Natasha. Too tight and too expensive sadly but I hope someone with a smaller waist and a bigger budget finds it.

Flo would you pm me the details of the coat ?

I would wear something like that .

Done

I think we all know what camp we are in now. The hats have decided it!!