Quality dresses for older women.

[sunshineonmonday]

Hi, can anyone recommend somewhere I can buy dresses for an older woman please? Just everyday wear, good quality, natural fabric, simple but not old fashioned, maybe plain colours, maybe not, but nothing ditsy floral, flouncey or revealing. I'm well into middle age, have a nice figure, I need new clothes for Spring/Summer.

Another collaboration I liked was Roksanda Ilincic for Jigsaw (she did two - I think?). The second one was more party/evening pieces, but the first had some more daywear-type pieces, like these. Strong rich colours, so not for everyone - but lovely. Still expensive, but in the sale they were standard Jigsaw prices (& I really wish I'd bought that skirt!).

You can still pick pieces up secondhand, from the usual websites.

These were really lovely special dresses from her second collaboration with them. Not for walking the dogs in though!!!

And I've just remembered a really old one they did with Antonio Curcetti ... I still have this belted silk tunic dress! Again, still findable on Vinted/eBay etc.

I agree. It's so restrictive.

Also EleanorMc67's posts I'm sure unintentionally have made me think how misogynistic the concept is - Cate Blanchett- a talented, beautiful woman, but oh dear, she's chosen a dress that doesn't make her glow.

Has anyone ever told George Clooney or Jacob Elordi they really shouldn't wear black tie on the red carpet because it drains them? Or that Harry Styles wears colours that don't suit him?

Obviously if an individual woman wants to apply this rule to herself, that's fine, but a general rule of "Don't wear that - I don't care you like it, it's not your colour" is restrictive and misogynistic.

The point of having your colours done is to show you how you look when those colours are close to your face. Colours are either flattering or not.

You aren't 'told' what to choose! You're given swatches of colours that work well with your natural colouring- your skin, hair and eyes. You can take it or leave it- your choice.

It's a consultation where fabric is put up to your face. Some shades will make your skin look sallow , drain you, or show up shadows, others will make your skin look brighter and compliment your eye and hair colour.

If all of that is meaningless to you and you don't care - fine!

And yes, men do take notice of what colours suit them. My DH doesn't suit some colours close to his face, others are more flattering. So yes, George Clooney will have advice. If he takes it is his choice!

If all of that is meaningless to you and you don't care - fine!

Completely meaningless, but you have been arguing on here that you can't imagine how other women can get dressed without taking this into account.

And it is misogynistic - men in general do not "get their colours" done. I mentioned black tie - there's not a man on the planet who isn't improved by putting on a well cut dinner suit and dress shirt. No one says it "black drains them"

I think fabric plays a part in how colour works too, black velvet is quite different to black crepe etc - hence probably why most men look good in black tie, the suiting fabric. Men do also have colour consultations, James Martin and Chris Evans have both extolled the virtues, I’m sure there’s many more who probably don’t admit to it. They do say burgundy universally suits everyone, I’ll wait to be proved wrong!

Black tie is not a black shirt. Men are wearing a white shirt near their face.
It's when the colour is s solid block next to your face.

Black tie is black jacket and a WHITE shirt if you didn't know.

It's the colour next to your face, under your neck, that counts.

Which shows you don't understand having your colours done.

🙄

I don't think you need to have your colours done if you know what suits you.
You don't have to use the terms the colours analysts use.

Most people look better with certain colours next to their face than with other colours. It might be a case of cream looking better than white, or a cool-toned lipstick looking better than a warm-toned one.

I notice clothes but sometimes it will be a great dress but not right for the person wearing it. It can be a case of the clothes wearing the person.

I had my colours done, and while I agreed with the analyst, I don't wear colours I don't like.

Oh ha ha ha. "if I didn't know" Did you miss where I mentioned "dress shirt"

So apparently all men have the right colours to wear black dinner jacket, white shirt and a black bow tie (worn right under their faces) with no problem. Rather shows that "colours" is indeed all in your own mind.

This is S&B.

If you want to argue the toss ad nauseum over having a colour analysis maybe hop over to Feminism chat or AIBU.
And you're still missing the point over a colour near you face.
A black bow tie is hardly the same as a black polo neck jumper.

Honestly.
Just stop digging.

Not sure why insisting this is "Style and Beauty" stamps foot improves your argument, nor why misogynistic aspects should be disregarded because it's style and beauty.

Although tbh until the examples given on this thread I hadn't considered how misogynistic "your colours" are.

@PhaedraWas , your posts have made me want to get my colours done again.
It was a few decades ago when I last had it done.

I take a black tie event as an excuse to dress up, and I usually wear an LBD.

Absolutely love this. I adore those colours for my clothes too. Though my hair goes from blonde, pink and then back to my natural brown I do like using those colours. Same for the house I like everything you have written x

Heartily agree with @PhaedraWas @EscapadeVelocity and @Floisme. 'Turning heads' ye gods. I have had way too much male attention in my life. I don't seek it nor do I like it. And while one may know that certain colours make your face look 'brighter' or whatever I will never ever only buy clothes with that in mind. Not sure if black suits me close to my face tbh but I don't care as I like wearing black.
And how has 'flattering' become synonymous with 'shows off your body' or 'makes you look thinner'? It IS sexist and misogynistic.

It's not about turning heads or attracting male attention. It's about feeling good in myself.

And how has 'flattering' become synonymous with 'shows off your body' or 'makes you look thinner'? It IS sexist and misogynistic.
I don't think it has become synonymous. To me flattering means the garment shape suits my body shape, or the colour goes with my hair and complexion.
I don't want to look thinner.

The current balloon trousers don't suit me, and neither do A-line skirts. I don't wear them because I don't have any, and I don't have any because I wouldn't feel comfortable in them.

The 'universally-flattering MN wrap dress' would make me look like a sow that's just farrowed. It would not flatter me.

But is it the colour bit, or the someone telling you bit, that you don't want to listen to? Would it apply to someone telling you a particular shape or length doesn't suit you?

(I'm assuming here that the "someone" is a professional stylist or similar, who has been asked/engaged to give you advice - not a random person in a changing room giving their opinion unasked for!!)

Friends and family will tell me (in a tactful way). If they say it, they probably have a point. Usually it will be in the context of clothes shopping - 'this one would suit you' and they're often right. It doesn't mean I'm restricted.

I'm conifdent in my own style and trust my own opinion above anyone else's.

Maybe I should have chosen the equally gorgeous, equally well-dressed Colman Domingo instead of Cate then ...

Perhaps no one has ever told Harry Styles that, say, bright red or orangey-brown don't suit him - but I'd probably think it (if I ever paid any attention to Harry Styles, that is!).

Musing on whether one thinks certain colours suit a woman more than other colours is not, IMO, inherently misogynistic - anymore than it's misandrist to dislike certain colours on Harry Styles? That it happens more with women, yes - but then we generally experiment more than men. Women ARE, however, analysed & critiqued far far more for the length of their skirts, tightness or lowness of tops etc than men. That's misogynistic.

(Harry in cool pastels that suit him, & in rust-browns that don't, IMO. But I dislike both outfits, irrespective of colour! That jacket, on the other hand, would look pretty good on me ...!!!)

I'm sure you could figure out if they've changed much yourself? As I've posted elsewhere, I realised of late that going from auburn to strawberry blonde over the last decade has affected the saturation of the colours that suit me.

I hadn't realised, until I started commenting about it, that colour analysis was now a "thing" again. And now that I've looked, it seems to be bloody everywhere on the internet!! I thought it had died out with the (probably decent, but slightly cringe-y) Colour Me Beautiful vogue in the 1980s - but no ...

My attraction to colours I like that suit me is innate - but having looked recently at what's supposed to suit me, I will continue to avoid greys & beiges, as I like colour - & to wear black or white as I like their drama & neutrality. But I do make sure my lipstick & accessories are equally dramatic!

Despite it being supposedly "in" right now, no one could ever persuade me to wear sky blue. It was the colour of the shirt I wore as part of my convent school uniform ... never again 😬!!!

The misogynistic element is the level of scrutiny which women undergo - having to have the right colours is part and parcel. It is inherently misogynistic because it's a standard which isn't applied to men

You picked Harry Styles because he's an outlier. I simply don't believe men outwith celebrity circles fret about their colours to the point of saying, as is seen so often on here, "I'd love to wear.... but I can't" or are analysed in the same way.

The "cool pastel" outfit is horrible and nasty colours. It makes him blend into the background. Tbh those pictures are possibly the first real examples of what I assume people mean by getting "your colours" right. The "cool pastels" are wishy washy and make him look pale and wishy washy. The orange brown is vibrant, interesting and by far the better of the 2. Whether that's a real effect or just that the orange brown is so much nicer, I don't know.

I'll usually listen to my sister or a particular friend, though tbh they rarely criticise my colour (or other) choices in clothing. Being of a similar age we will, however, discuss whether something might be bordering on dated/frumpy-looking.

I would pay less heed to my best friend, though, as she is on a lifelong mission to persuade everyone to love & wear purple - her favourite colour! And she still wears the same styles as she did in the 90s, as she has little interest in fashion. They're "her" though.