'Edgy' older women...

[ProstituteHair]

Gah!

I know I'm about to start a thread I've started before but there have been a few comments in S&B this week about 'desperate' older women trying to look fashionable and 'I wouldn't listen to 60 year-olds', both comments to OPs who were favouring a fairly safe style of dress in their 30s and trying to shake it up a but feeling a little moribund.

There's absolutely fuck-all wrong with a safe and classic style in it pulls your chain. Really, I have no beef there. It can look incredible.

However, who's to say that the 30-year-old advisees know more about fasion than the 60 year-olds they were belittling. Some 60 year old have worked in the fashion industry for decades. Some 30 year olds have no care about fashion beyond looking respectable.

And that's ok.

But it's not age-based, and there's an absolute joy with older women and fashion, it can be much more unconstrained. It's certainly not desperate for older women to be edgy or fashionable, I'd argue that the truly edgy dressers are older women (or men).

And the young too.

There's space for both, I'm not sure why it has to be stratified along age lines.

People either love clothes and want to look incredible or they like clothes and want to look respectable, (or they think it's all complete bolloocks and just want to cover themselves appropriately for the weather, and that's ok too!!).

Totally agree OP.

Although truthfully, I only ever stray into S&B by accident. Come to think of it, presumably most women like that would agree with you.

I was unstylish when I was a young thing. I am still unstylish at almost 50 😂.

I’m definitely on the “classic” rather than the edgy side (although I’d argue that classic done well looks just as sharp), but style is like anything else- the longer you’ve been doing it, the more you know. So I’d always value the advice of an older woman who looks amazing. And of course, that’s always been the problem with S&B- ultimately you have to take a lot of it with a pinch of salt, because you can’t see anyone! I wouldn’t take style advice from about 90% of the women I see on the street…

Gosh, I love summer!

I think that's bang on.

I think you're right, and I think there's an aspect of classism at play here too, because the harassed young mothers are probably more likely to buy cheaper clothes as I think you're less likely form out for the expensive stuff if you're always in a rush and haven't got time to try on/work out whether the pricier stuff is worth it before buying. I'm seeing quite a bit of snobbery on S&B at the moment about buying cheaper mass-market stuff, and I don't think this was quite so evident a couple of years ago.

@CharlotteRumpling I literally Google imaged Lesley Manville for ideas ten minutes into the first episode 😁 it was a fantastic wardrobe but I think she's really beautiful anyway.

(Thought Magpie Murders was a bit shit though tbh!)

I'm quite enjoying this lady on Insta at the moment - instagram.com/lindavwright?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I also think that it is only a 'type' of you're woman who writes off older women, I have had compliments from young women on my style, however they were not the 'love island' lookalikes, generally professional women with a bit of their own style to begin with, I was told only last week by a group of women on a evening out in the east end that they wanted to be me! all young and still sober so I'll take that.

Whilst I appreciate the sentiment, I hate the pitting of generations against each other.

The society in which girls and young women are growing up in is still very misogynistic and some of their attitudes are a reflection of this.

I have so much more confidence in my 50s than I did in my 20s, but I am sure that I thought that 60 was ancient back then.

Of course there are stylish and fabulously dressed women of all ages, but there can also be a sneery and patronising tone from some oh so fashion forward posters on S&B sometimes. People's dress can be influenced and constrained by so many things, not all of them financial. I have a disability, for example, so my footwear is solely dictated by what I can bear to keep on my feet rather than what is stylish (so if you saw me wearing Skechers and pity my fashion sense, you will not appreciate my pain - both physical and sartorial).

And if you think there is a lack of representation of older women in the fashion world, I see you that, and raise you visibility of disabled women. There is an even thicker cloak of invisibility for us.

Is there a website? I need inspiration.

Whilst I appreciate the sentiment, I hate the pitting of generations against each other.
The society in which girls and young women are growing up in is still very misogynistic and some of their attitudes are a reflection of this.

That's a very fair point, and it's one I do try to remember and practise with young women in my real life. But I'm afraid I rarely have the patience for it any more on Mumsnet.

I follow Linda Rodin on Instagram and shamelessly copy her outfits, even though at 75 she’s twice my age.

Just yesterday I saw a photo of Fi and Jane on the Times radio social media and I noticed Jane had those chunky DM sandals on and Fi had some quirky hexagonal glasses, they stood out to me as where I live (not London) older (they're not that old 😄) woman don't dress like that, I thought they looked great.

I like fashion, but it exists, commercially, by constantly telling women they need to buy things, in order to fit in with their age/social/professional demographic. The industry needs to stratify us, in order to sell to us - the ageism is a feature, not a bug.

There is massive ageism on S&B threads. That said, as someone in my 50s, I am sometimes incredulous at the recommendations made to young women for weddings etc.

I agree it can be sneery. Also posters generally agree you should find your own style, wear what suits rather than necessarily what's in fashion, etc, but then are very quick to criticise anyone's choices they deem to be unstylish/frumpy/ageing. It feels very contradictory to me.

I saw an incredibly stylish older woman just yesterday - she looked awesome in a kind of thrown together art teacher sort of way. She had long grey hair in a messy bun and just looked amazing.

It's tricky. Like lots of posters have said that even though they are oldish they like to wear "quirky" clothes, bold prints and strong colours. But isn't that exactly the kind of thing that ages you ( if that's what you are trying to avoid)?

Hard agree.

I'd extend it to class too. I work near Chelsea. I fail to see why the uber wealthy, carefully correctly dressed young women of Chelsea are automatically considered more stylish than the young WC women I work with. It's just disposable income to purchase what they've been informed is the latest trend and the leisure time to have a thin body. IMHO personal sense of style and genuine enjoyment of clothes transcends this. Some of my colleagues are absolutely into clothes, care about their style and look brilliant. Even, gasp, still wearing skinny jeans from time to time.

I’m currently making insultingly low bids on this beauty. I remember when it cam out and it’s the last real fur Gucci sold.

I’m not trying to look younger. My criterion for clothes is comfort, looking fit (as in healthy), trolling my daughters conversation starting

The coat is striking, the fur is repulsive.

"Ages you" in the sense that young people currently following fashion are wearing very plain neutral tones at the mo, yes.

But "ages you" actually, I disagree. In fact the reverse: I often have to really look at faces to judge age at the mo because I think current fashions are very "grown up" and can at first glance make people look older. Case in point from a distance and before actually meeting them, I got a school mum and grandma mixed up because mum is all camel tones and black and sensible coat and grandma is dressed in excellent trainers and colourful prints.

I'm in my 50s, and sometimes feel that the only two options I am "allowed" are:
(a) quirky
(b) invisible.

Of the two, I find quirky more exhausting.

I follow the influencers everyone always recommends on here for my age group. I admire their confidence and sense of fun, but my honest opinion is that their choices are often really unflattering. Wearsmymoney did a feature on a recent trip to NYC and I thought all her outfits were terrible (tho I would never comment negatively to her directly - she is brave to put herself out there).

I don't think there is anything wrong with classic. The problem is usually more that Brits don't actually do classic - they only do quirky or fashion-dead.

Back when all this was fields... S&B used to be a very open place with a broad range of styles/tastes and a willingness to help people find what they were looking for, whether governed by taste, finances or something else. Now I feel like it's becoming a nest of vipers like other areas on the site. There is a lot of putting down choices or suggestions - usually because the poster doesn't like it, regardless of whether it's actually what the Op asked for. Most of the "young mum, lost my way" posts then end up in a bun fight about whether All Saints biker jackets are mainstream, edgy or even passe, and don't even go there with white trainers!

One of my most stylish friends wears clothes that are actually not to my taste, but I can tell they are quality, well-suited to her and impeccably styled. She always looks fabulous. I still wouldn't wear a single item of it. Personally, I dislike patterns and bright colours that make me look like a clown, but I love tailoring, unusual draping or something technically challenging in the design or cutting of it. From a distance and for people who don't care, I probably look boring in a neutral palette, but I can appreciate the creativity and skill needed to make them, and sometimes so do some others.

I’m 59. There’s definitely some clothes that look great on my 20s dds but would look ageing and frumpy on me (I think). That’s largely because I have pretty much zero interest in fashion though and I think it’s obvious when I wear them. I have other friends my age who can wear that stuff and look great.

my ‘style’ is definitely focussed on functional but I usually look ok. I rarely comment on S&B because I believe it’s all very individual