Classic Denim Jacket - Any Way to Look Current in It?

[CeRaVie]

The shops are still selling them and plenty of people still loving them with a midi/maxi dress. It’s easy.

My jacket has sentimental value, so I am keeping it but I just feel so naff wearing it. Is there any way to wear it and still look stylish? I know all about wear what you like, but I am not sure I do like to wear it 10 year after buying it.

I'm in my late 50s. I saw a group of women of about 65/70 all in maxi dresses, denim jackets and trainers and it looked so ubiquitous and dated that it completely put me off wearing mine again.

Weirdly my youngest -vintage loving- teen has just commandeered my oldest denim jacket ‘because it’s a waste that you don’t wear it’.
My current one is about 20 years old. I don’t want to wear a cardi in summer, so it’s this, a linen shirt, or a khaki twill shirt. I wouldn’t call them shackets though.
What’s wrong with cross body bags? What’s the alternative? I can’t be carrying my bag like the Queen!
Although I’m not a fan of those Marc Jacobs style ones with the thick woven strap that seem to be everywhere.

Totally fine to have no interest in fashion, but why are you spending time responding on S&B threads?

My denim jacket is a wrangler one that belonged to my dad in the 1970’s. It barely does up on the bottom button now (because my 40+ year old hips are wider than my dad’s were age 20!) and it’s faded but I love it and I do t care if people tell me it’s dated or not in style. I wear it with a silk shirt, suit trousers and docs or floor length skirts and sandals, and a loose cami top. Dated? Don’t care.
I have to say I’ve never liked the flowery dress and white trainer look though, nothing against those who choose it.

I think both of the outfits described are hideous and totally clichéd. Horses for courses.

And I think fuck off. HTH.

Why do the posters who think they are oh so fashionable have to make snide remarks about how other people wear their clothes?

I like to look stylish with a nod to what is current.

Also, I have never owned a pair of white trainers.

I've always owned a denim jacket. If you love it, wear it with whatever you like. I don't think they've ever gone out of fashion and if they have, who really gives a shit?

Exactly. This is STYLE and Beauty, not Fashion and Beauty. A classic denim jacket is just that, a classic. Like a white tee.

Well the Gen Z uniform seems to be wide leg sweatpants/jeans and a tight cami top with a sweatshirt tucked up and scrunched in showing the waist or a hoody worn zipped but hanging off the shoulders, so forgive me for not giving a Fanny what they think 😂

Because they think they are oh so much cooler than the rest of us.

I notice they never post photos of themselves and their edgy outfits however. 😁

@CapitalAtRisk has said they find fashion “fun and stimulating”. How on earth have you translated that to band T-shirts and converse?! 😅

Look, we are in style and beauty, responding to a poster who is specifically interested in what’s current. If you’re happy to wear an outfit that’s not deemed current, that’s no problem! Scroll on by. Don’t be here, being defensive and slating people who do keep an eye on what’s fashionable. No judgement at all on people who wear flowery dresses, trainers and denim jacket with a cross body bag. This was me about 2 years ago!! I’ve just adapted my look a bit now because I get inspired by current trends. I’m not judging you, so why are you judging someone like me?

Anyway. To the Op, def keep it, but could you maybe find another interesting shape of denim jacket (maybe a different shade of blue) to mix it up a bit? Prob loads on Vinted if you search denim chore coat or Shacket :) I got a vintage St Michael one!

Your look sounds great!! 😍

I agree, I think denim jackets feel dated depending on what you wear them with. I don’t think good quality vintage pieces ever really go out of fashion.

Fashion fucks the planet. “It’s all oversized jackets now”. This is just to make you buy stuff that you don’t need. It sounds pathetic

my mum had one jacket for twenty years

the fast fashion is pointless and killing our beautiful planet

@Justsomethoughts23 I don't have "no interest". I just don't blindly follow what someone paid to sell new clothes tells me I ought to do. And, as a pp points out, it's "Style and Beauty", not "[Fast] Fashion and Beauty".

A great chunk of the criticism of a type of outfit favoured by middle-aged women is rooted in ageism and sexism. It's the clothing equivalent of calling people Karens. Being middle aged and female is not something our society lets us enjoy and when a particular style is favoured by that group, it becomes an object of particular ridicule.

I suppose it boils down to how you conceptualise fashion. Is it a set of rules - X is in, Y is out - that, if you flout, you can expect to be thought less of? Or is it more like a buffet - here's an assortment of new looks! - that you can pick and choose from each season ?

The latter appeals more than the former. Must admit I've never looked at anyone and thought "blimey she's unfashionable", although clearly some people on this thread have.

Having said that, last autumn I picked up a denim jacket in Oxfam to supplement my old blue one. It's a classic, slightly stretchy cut but in bright ketchup red. A lot of fun to wear, and at the time I vaguely remembered reading that the colour was trending.

The saddest thing I’ve found about this board - over about a decade and a half - is how the majority view is geared to shaming people who express an interest in fashion. On an anonymous forum apparently about looking stylish.

The repeated emphasis on some eternally concrete dichotomy between style and fashion is truly ugly. And incomprehensible. As well as wrong. The very best things you’re picking up in charity shops are those that were carefully ‘designed’ - by people who studied and gained qualifications and used their talents to create clothes that drove evolving fashion.

I’m in my sixties. I care very much about clothes. I’ve generally seen what’s on catwalks for next year; I have a modest wardrobe of lovely things mixed in with perfectly ordinary things. Each garment was fashionable when it was bought - some last for years, others for just a few months. Unless something suddenly looks completely wrong (cropped chinos for instance) I wear stuff until it falls apart. My friends mostly don’t care about clothes - or at least, not in the same way I do. They’re at the peak of careers in academia, the arts, law, with full and successful lives. I wouldn’t dream of trying to steer them away from Fat Face, or deeply unfashionable jackets joyfully snatched from charity shops - and I don’t care that the Vogue app isn’t on their nighttime scrolling list; they wouldn’t dream of trying to make me feel ashamed that it’s on mine.

This is a thread where someone is asking what’s current. Those of you excoriating posters who are trying to help her answer that question should be ashamed of yourselves. Or at least - find other threads that suit your own interests.

My two denim jackets have been worn every spring and summer for 3 years and I love them. Both M&S ones but charity shop finds and each cost under a tenner One Is basic blue denim and the other a much darker shade. I've been eyeing up some purple 🟣 ones online and am rather tempted 🤩

I have to say this is not the nicest thread in the world - snidey on both sides. If someone is asking how to make something look more modern then saying “ wear what you want” isn’t that helpful.

I think you can take an item which might not be “ on trend” and make it look more current by pairing it with items which ARE on trend. What that is with a denim jacket would depend on what your personal style because “ on trend” is not a personal style. It’s helpful if you can work that out ( maybe with something like Allison Bornsteins 3 style words). I like something a litter sharper and slightly androgynous so with a classic denim jacket I’d layer over an oversized shirt ( that’s longer) and have both top buttons on the top done and the bottom ones undone. Alternatively I have some high waisted pleated wide leg black trousers and I’d wear it with a graphic tee shirt or white tee and possible a tote and some Teva type sandals.
I have a couple of jackets - one is a men’s Wrangler trucker style I got from a charity shop 5 years ago. I’d wear it double denim but I don’t have the right shade of jeans so I wear it with a tailored pair of wide legged trousers in the same shade instead. It gives a monochromatic look. The other is a non traditional super fitted one I’ve had since the 90’s. I’d wear it with super wide legged trousers and play with the proportions. You can definitely still have fun and play around with these things and look current without forking out for the latest shape and colour.

@JadedFilly

Im with you on this - I think about fashion and personal style a lot but I think my friends would glaze over if I started banging on about it so I tell ChatGPT instead. It can’t escape me 😂

I like the floaty dress and trainers look. It works because it’s comfortable and looks nice. The older I get the more I really don’t care what anyone thinks.

I saw a woman in her early twenties on the train yesterday with an oversized denim jacket looking very cool. Gen Z are doing the oversized shacket thing as well.

I’d say an older demographic go for cropped - and actually you wonder how many really. Being able to buy stuff on net a porter doesn’t make you “in” (nor does saying “in” I expect!)

I agree with the people saying that a vintage classic denim jacket never goes out of style. As I said, take a look at street style accounts like Watching New York and you’ll see loads of cool, interesting looking people wearing denim jackets. They are all beautiful in different ways, different races etc and have their own senses of style, many on the more creative/arty style. That’s what true style is!

It cuts both ways @Divebar2021
Some of the snidiest comments are from the fashionable posters. The posters who are less fashion forward are merely posting in defence.

I have taken on board some of the ideas on here and am ignoring the ones that don't suit me like the oversized shirts and jackets. They just don't flatter me at all.

@RampantIvy

yes and as I said snidey on both sides. I just find threads on S&B attract posters whose only contribution seems to be “ wear what you want” which is not that helpful if you don’t know what you want. Glad you’ve picked up some ideas though.