What is everyone wearing - 45 plus?

[checkedcloth]

Had another unsuccessful trip to the shops

I’m desperate for some new clothes, but just can’t find anything the suits me or I like.

The shops are filled with wide leg suit trousers, knitted long dresses and clumpy boots.

any bought anything good lately?

Wide leg trousers often look bad with winter coats. When I had bootcuts, I looked fine with them and a fitted top, but then with the coat I looked like a penguin.

Thank you for your condolence @checkedcloth & @MetaDaughter - I've decided not to buy a brand new dress now because I've found an Oasis dress I had in my wardrobe.
It's black with a pattern of tiny white stars. It's a similar shape to the River Island dress.
I would wear it to the funeral with the black blazer, black opaques, and black Chelsea boots (see pic for dress without blazer).
As Mum has seen me in the dress before and liked it.

Btw my hair is not done in the pic obviously!

@checkedcloth There's a section in the book where she describes how you can determine your 5 "neutrals" and I found that really helpful (the neutrals can be anything from an aesthetic, to a fabric, to a colour, to a silhouette). Once you have those, you can then try to focus on buying and wearing things that have at least 1 or 2 of those neutrals in it.

I was floundering a little bit like you - had been buying stuff that just made me feel bleurgh and dull, and this made me more focused on what I should be looking for and wearing. (Similarly to you I was struggling a little bit with my age, perimenopause, and feeling too much that I needed to be age appropriate).

I'm so sorry to hear about your mum @lookingforMolly

I like that dress.

@lookingforMolly sorry about your mum 😢you look lovely in that dress.

I looked at this several times expecting to see something really fabulous but it really is just ordinary people wearing for the most part ordinary clothes. Apologies in advance if someone takes this the wrong way but I'm not sure I would recommend it for the OP to look at.

Thanks I will wear the dress to mum's funeral then.

I have seen a jacket I like on Vinted, it's another River Island jacket in a 16 looks fairly new, it's quilted leather look black with gold buttons a bit like a Chanel style jacket. £20.
Thinking of putting in an offer to wear with my jeans & dresses in this Autumn weather.
Bit different to a biker jacket.

Perfect dress, @lookingforMolly.

I’m waiting for the weather to get colder and then I can get back into my beloved leather trousers! Worn usually with fine merino jumpers, silk blouses or shirts.

I wear clothes for literally decades until they fall apart and add to them from charity shopping and the occasional new purchase. Most recent new thing was an army green utility dress (Primark) which I’m wearing with a chartreuse vest underneath and big black boots with merino wool socks. Looks similar to this.

I know people always say Vinted or charity shops but for people who are floundering I think that is a potential disaster. Find a few people on Insta to follow whose style you like the look of. It all depends on your lifestyle @checkedcloth - what are you looking for ? Work clothes? leisure etc ?

Lovely dress Molly. I find shortish dresses that shape, either with or without a bit of waist shape, suit me best. Quite hard to find though.

@LastHives Most people on here ARE ordinary people wearing ordinary clothes though. If they’re anything like me, they like clothes but don’t want to be high fashion and want to prioritise looking relatively okay for the occasion and not feeling or looking like a pillock.

I love those M&S jeans and have just ordered them, thanks!

I agree with this.
Some of them are very expensive clothes, but they look perfectly ordinary on. The one exception is @EllaPaella as she looks good in everything!
I think there's an art to mixing up inexpensive clothes to look fabulous & there's no need to spend vast sums of money. However I do believe that shoes, coats & knitwear need to be the very best quality you can afford & it's better to shop for items in natural fibres as much as possible.

Yes I'd say that's exactly what it is and that's why I recommended it: normal people with normal busy lives and normal bodies who care enough about clothes to stop and take a photo of their outfit most days. It's one of my favourite threads. But sorry if I gave the wrong impression.

Yes I am aware of that. I guess I just don't get why there is a thread devoted to that but that's just me. I had an expectation and got it wrong. Yes one man's meat etc...

OP I'm 52 soon and as I let my grey hair grow out I decided I needed a wardrobe overall.

I had my colours done as a start it has massively helped me. So whilst this is a WAYW thread, for me it's easier as now everything works in my wardrobe after a massive cull.

It also make shopping easier. But finding your style is something you can often tag onto getting your colours done.

my focus is none work clothes, I wear full corporate dress to work so that’s very easy for me.

This is weekend stuff, mostly casual taking kids to sports stuff but also would like to feel good going for a drink etc…DH and I have more opportunities to go out a few drinks alone now..

I think what is really important is to work out whether you have a yellow (warm) tone or blue (cool) tone to your skin (and its not as simple as skin colour). Once you do that then you only look for colours which suit your skin tone as other wise you will looked washed out but a bonus is all these same toned colours go together. I have olive skin which I assumed was warm being brown! But I am a cool colour so buy dark purples, navy etc my son is a warm colour so we buy him autumn shades such as leaf green, mustard etc. It cuts down on your shopping. As a base - cool toned people suit white best and warmed toned people suit cream best. Also cool toned people suit silver jewelery best and warm toned people suit gold jewelery.

I find an outfit I love the look in on Pinterest on people with a similar body shape to mine then go over to Vinted to try and buy the same or similar items to recreate the outfit. Seems to work pretty well for me!

@ittakes2
thats very interesting re cool and warm , I am cool , light blonde , light blue eyes
I keep putting on a cream jacket ( as a trial for interview ) thinking no , but can’t put my finger on why I don’t like it
but love the navy one ,

I’m off out for lunch and drinks later. I’m wearing M&S high waist boyfriend jeans in faded black, an Arket vest, All Saints silk mix kimono and black New Balance. The kimono dresses up an otherwise very casual outfit.

I do something similar to this.
I've started importing picture of outfits I like & keeping it in my mood boards of the Whering App. I already have similar clothes from previous years, but it's giving me ideas on how to rewear them.
I also use it for hairstyles & colour to show the hairdresser.
@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie your outfit sounds fabulous.

I'm still reading in bed. When I get up I'll wear this with either an Oska boiled wool jacket or a thick Palava wool cardigan on top and opaque tights and if I leave the house , flat lace up boots.

Oska denim dress