Over 50s style

[mrstrickland]

Hi all, I am just about to hit 50, which feels totally fine, I have no issues with ageing (whats the alternative!) but I do feel like I need a fashion overhaul. I tend to wear barrel jeans/trousers with a Uniqlo t-shirt as a kind of summery uniform, plain, kind of boring but easy to wear. I am most at home in the winter in big woolly jumpers, cords etc. I buy expensive jumpers and wear them every year (I defo don't need any more)

I am a fully tattooed person, with 2 sleeves and don't feel my current style reflects me. I grew up on grunge (think Kurt Cobain) and don't really feel that I evolved from this.

I buy all my clothes on vinted and don't like fast fashion. If it helps I am tall and around a size 14 thanks to perimenopause. I work out a lot so have quite big shoulders.

I just feel I look frumpy so keen to make some changes to feel better about how I look. I particularly find it hard going out these days, and usually opt for my 'uniform' but add jewellery 😂

Appreciate some thoughts/ideas. I do like All Saints t-shirts, skulls etc. No florals (i.e. Joules/Boden are not my vibe)

thanks !

I feel this lady, although I don’t always love what she’s wearing, has a certain flare. She has lots of ideas you could adapt.

https://www.tiktok.com/@welcometoheidi?_t=ZN-8ycua0eWizW&_r=1

There’s another U.K. poster, I will go and find her, she’s a charity shop shopper and puts things together well.

Here’s the U.K. lady.

https://www.tiktok.com/@katebeavis?_t=ZN-8ycusB0oG5G&_r=1

I wish I could carry the clothes off that both these ladies wear. Sadly my 52 year old self sticks to just boring jeans and T’s, if I try to dress in what I love I feel like I’m stuck in my uni days of the early 90’s in my rock & tie dye outfits!

Have you had a look at Disturbia?

https://www.disturbia.co.uk/collections/trending

Thank you my 90's self would have loved those clothes, but I am not sure I can pull it off now

Thank you, I will have a look at both 😃

Also same, I feel I peaked fashion-style in the 90s which sadly is no longer just a decade ago 😂

@mrstrickland Maybe some of the clothes from Privatsachen might work for you as a modern reinvented version of your edgier taste?

https://www.oliviamay.org/collections/privatsachen

https://www.idaretobe.com/privatsachen-m24

I have a couple of Privatsachen crumpled silk dresses and they look amazing on and are very well cut (they look stylish but hide the middle-aged waistline). I’m 5’9 (and age 55, size 14) and they work very well on taller women.

Perhaps you’ll want to look out for the new

Pollyanna collection to reach Vinted?

(Not sure anything from its earlier iterations will still be available pre-owned but you could have a look.)

In truth I don’t completely understand your query. Plenty of women arrive at 50 with no inclination towards Joules or Boden.

You may find this thread helpful, though it’s general, not restricted to Kurt Cobain fans:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5379189-beyond-the-high-street?reply=145913010

Really? I'm over 50 and I figured Disturbia was fairly tame for an alt company.
I have tons of their stuff.
Then again I also love Killstar, Joanie, Lucy & Yak and Run & Fly so my fashion credentials are non existent!😁

If you are looking for inspiration maybe you just need to be more specific about what kind of styles you love although their is no law that says you have to wear a certain thing after a certain age or change your style if it suits you.

I’m 55 OP and I feel I have a very clear sense of my style because I’ve worked on my 3 x style words. Allison Borstein has a lot of content online and a book to help work this out. The influencer I immediately thought of was Welcome to Heidi who is older and tattooed and exceptionally cool. Not that I’m advising dressing like her but she has lots of content to help with self confidence.

I really like thesilverkat on Instagram, but I'm not sure she's alt enough for you. She doesn't do florals etc though.

I must be missing something … Surely having extensive tattoos doesn’t determine a style of dressing?

Is 'I must be missing something' code for 'I think your point of view is stupid', like it usually is on MN? It would be disingenuous to pretend that being heavily tattooed (especially as a woman) doesn't often go with a tendency to dress in a fairly alternative style. Besides, the OP mentions her customary style right next to the tattoo comment.

Ha thanks for that @TaborlinTheGreat
Tattoos mentioned to demonstrate I am not a twinset kind of person.
Thanks for those who suggested alternative, but I don't think I am alternative.

Used Joules/Boden as brands I am not drawn towards, because most women in my town around my age seem to wear them.

And the point about Kurt Cobain was that very much was/is my style, but I am looking to move on from it.

I suppose what I am looking for is a style that isn't what everyone in my town wears, that looks modern/up to date, doesn't make me look frumpy. Maybe that is a big ask?! I would love to be someone who looks chic and well put together, but sadly I don't seem to be that person (too messy/chaotic).

Will have a wee look at the other suggestions thank you.

It’s not ‘a big ask’ - I just don’t recognise such a rigid correlation between tattooed skin / music preferences and dress. For instance, I know middle aged women with shaved heads who love 21st century opera and dress in frothy broderie anglaise frocks. Others with steel grey bobs who wear mostly running gear and write award winning erotic poetry. Women with dreadlocks who play the harpsichord dressed in tweed. We can be more than one thing, surely?

In truth, full sleeve tattoos and a little Toast pinafore or & Daughter cashmere top might be delightfully ‘alternative’. So I suppose what I’m trying to say is that in approaching a new wardrobe you can probably rely more on instinct than pre-defined labels denoting who you are.

You may find both:

Alexandra Golovanoff

and

Petar Petrov

on Vinted. May be worth looking at their sites for style inspiration, anyway.

Both have stunning clothes thank you

Amazing! This thread has clearly prompted the AI to offer me an advert for this exhibition:

Yoshitomo Nara at The Southbank

Which has prompted me to wonder if a sort of generalised, vaguely Japanese style might appeal to you. (I probably know more women of my age (60s) who dress like this than those who cleave to Boden.) Have a look at the designers stocked by, for instance:

Envoy of Belfast

Lovely again!
you obviously live somewhere much more sophisticated than a small town in rural Scotland.

Are you never in Edinburgh? I always find it a tremendously satisfying place to get dressed in / for. And with some excellent shopping opportunities.

By the way, where do you get your jumpers from? I’m a bit of a knitwear obsessive, and am gradually transplanting the entire stock of

La Fetiche

into my own wardrobe. (Paris/Glasgow provenance.)

I think a twin set would look really good with tattoos.

I’m being serious. It would surprise people.

Sorry it’s too late to edit and I’ve only just realised @MsAlignmenthad already suggested that 😳

Anyway play against expectations is my advice.

Wears my money on Instagram may interest you. Ex music industry, no tats but tends to come up with jeans and trouser based outfits mainly that are practical yet not boring.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DM4kR-mNVH0/?img_index=1&igsh=MWJmdm9xbmE3dDYwOQ==

I think your style (and music taste!) is very similar to mine, though I'm more on the short and curvy side. Grown up grunge queen is a definite life stage!

The short answer is: invest in some really good pieces from good brands, and be intentional around how you put a look together. I think All Saints is actually a great place to start - not the shredded-hemline / drowned mediaeval princess looks, but the block colours tending dark, clean lines, good fabrics (denim / cotton / leather), gothic-y images, some spikes & skulls :)

Something like this gives you the bones of what might work for you - interestingly-cut barrel jeans, snug fitting wool(?) jumper, smart/trendy studded shoes. Or this - clean lines, sharp shoes, would look great with an interesting leather jacket over it. Or this - the asymmetry of the skirt makes it interesting, plus the slightly boxy top, and I reckon you could easily do flat/biker/lace-up boots instead of kitten heels.

If you're tall and muscly, I think clothes that are fitted around your frame, and especially your upper half, would work best, rather than loose / very thick wool (sorry jumpers!) / floaty. So: well-cut wide-leg / barrel jeans, fitted tops, maybe below-the-knee pencil skirts, interesting boots or DM brogues?

Maybe build a moodboard from All Saints, COS, Arket, Alexander McQueen, Muji, and some of the brands on the not on the high st thread linked above, to see what looks you like?

Great minds, @Floisme!

Have you heard of Anna Cascarina? She is early 50s influencer. A lot of her looks are based around barrel leg trousers at the moment and she has forearm tattoos. Lots of neutrals and the occasional pop of colour and a mix of price points.