A stylish person you once saw who you can't forget

[iCod]

Me, Southwest West France about 1979
We were still agog by topless women, but there was this one woman who had a gold chain around her tiny waist and she looked brilliant and I just thought today she must be dead by now
Who do you remember seeing that made an impact?

Came to say exactly this! Great thread OP :)

A Woman walking across Westmister bridge, I stopped and turned around because she looked so incredible. Tall and slender with dark long hair wearing a beautifully cut black and cream silky dress that was both fitted and flowy.
Years ago I was stopped in my tracks by a young Man in an RAC uniform of all things, he wore it like it was a Hugo Boss suit, looking very much like a young Ian McShane.

Yes. 'There was this pudgy middle-aged woman in a cheap sundress and beach flipflops. She had chipped nail varnish and needed a haircut and yet somehow...'
😂

I've been offered champagne on the tube on more than one occasion. Once by a couple who had just got engaged, and handed out paper cups to the people near them to share and toast them. Another time, some work mates had just finished a successful project and passed around paper cups and champagne. It used to be quite a thing a few decades ago.

I love this thread so much. I am absolutely not put together but I love hearing about eye-catching style. I’d love to be a stylish old lady!

I think Ms Watts sounds scary... how can someone be so perfect always, so tinkly and unflappable? Either she has a rage cage hidden somewhere in her house, or she's eating those children and drawing her power from their bones... no wonder the OP's mum was wary...

I was at work one hot day,feeling dumpy and sweaty

A lady walked in,tall,slim and dressed like she'd just stepped out of 'Grease' (the movie not a chip pan!)

Hair,black,shoulder length and styled with a scarf tied in as a hairband,red lipstick and black cat wing eyeliner

Slim black cigarette trousers,red ballet pumps and a red blouse

She just gave off that 'something'

Really lovely lady (she asked me for something) she just oozed glamour

If I tried to dress like that,id look like a child who'd raided her granny's dressing up box

I want to say she’s probably Italian but then read about the mixed silver and gold jewellery. I would say every day in Italy in small towns, not just the cities, you see men and women at all ages who stop you in your tracks. Sorry but I have never seen anyone in the UK who I want to stare at!

At a beach bar in south west France. It was as I was heading into my mid forties and worrying about how to look attractive without the youthful glow. Also my hair was thinning.
This lady must have been in her sixties and probably wasn’t even conventionally attractive, but was slim, toned, had a tousled bob and a well put together outfit. She just looked gorgeous and I felt that there was hope 🙃

Mine was a girl I saw about a year ago, it was heavily raining but she still looked incredible. She was wearing a black dress that was the perfect day time style- fitted at the top and kind of flaring slightly. Really cool retro runner style trainers, a khaki long almost parka style rain mac and a large hood and lots of chunky jewellery.
I think heavy rain is very difficult to look good in, but she nailed it. There was something luxe about her casual items and I’ve also tried to re create the look. She was also striking looking with lots of very tight corkscrew curls.

I feel seen!

A London cafe a few monts ago near parliament: the woman at the next table wore a lovely dark blue, almost tweed, trouser suit, simple white blouse, blonde hair piled up on her head, no obvious make up, smelled amazing. She looked so smart and classy, yet like almost no effort had been made....

Ooh - harsh on British people! I walked to work today across Waterloo Bridge and stared at all the beautiful and interesting people that I passed. I saw someone wearing a t shirt that said 'everyday fiction' on it that made me think, I saw someone pausing to take a photo of the london eye which opened my eyes to the beauty of it all, I saw someone wearing a very simple black dress with white piping that just looked so clean and fresh, and I saw someone looking amazing in a lilac t shirt that hung off in just the right way...

An older woman with long grey-white hair (bum length) wearing a full black skirt, mary janes, and a military style grey/black jacket. Lots of silver jewellery. Very put together but still slightly bohemian. She looked fabulous, I drove past her in London years ago and still think of her!

Another was more recently, she was wearing black capri/cigarette trousers, red heels and red buttoned up sleeveless top, with a leopard jacket over one shoulder and matching bag over her arm. Baby bangs, black cat eye sunglasses, lots of tattoos. She was probably mid 20s. Very different styles but they've both inspired me!

I also think it's interesting how many of us note styish older women!

As mid-50s myself i wonder if it's because it's relatively rare to see a truly stylish person (male or female) after a certain age? When lots of people favour comfort over all else.

I suppose we could say it's rare to see v stylish people at any age & that's why we notice them!

Anyway i'm finding all the beautiful older ladies mentioned on this thread v heartening & it's making me determined to keep making the effort! I want to be like them!

I think you can have more time to look for clothes, accessories and make up when you get a bit older . Less frazzled than Mums taking care of children and working hard. Also if you have always loved clothes you don’t suddenly lose interest in what you wear . If anything experience has told you what suits you and also the internet has opened up a whole new world of choice for us older women.

She explained why in all the preceding paragraphs 🤣

A relative of the man my niece was marrying, tall, elegant and she seemed to glide. This was an American wedding and she was wearing quite a simple black crepe dress and had her salt and pepper hair in a French pleat. lots of the New Yorkers were wearing black. She would have been about 70 at the time, it was about 15 years ago. Her daughter said at her own wedding the photographer just really wanted to photograph her Mum, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

That gunmetal slash-neck dress with the subtle sheen at the wedding mentioned above was eerily like an Armani one I wore to a few weddings but luckily the hat description came along (and didn't fit!) before I could get any delusions!

But what I find really lovely about this thread is that a huge proportion of the people mentioned are older ladies. There's hope for us all! It is just a nice contrast to the feeling that at 40 you are kind of past your best ...

Yes, I've just posted something similar!

To be fair most of them probably weren't British! No shade but London is a multicultural city

Very much enjoying the large number of older people described in this thread.

Its nice to read but is it more indicative of the age of posters on the thread?

Well many of them seem to date back in time, and most of the ladies mentioned sound older than me so I'm going to say no.

Also, now I am thinking about it, it often IS older ladies who are stylish - as opposed to sexy or pretty.

@Calliopespa so you think the majority on the thread are under 40? I wouldn’t agree 🤷🏻‍♀️

No, sorry I thought the suggestion - with which I was disagreeing - was that it was older ladies noticing older ladies.

My point was that the stories seem to date back in time and are mentioning stylish women who sound older than me, so I guess what I was assuming was that the posters, whatever their age now, had noticed older ladies back when they were of younger years themselves. They may be older now ... But it seemed to me there was an age gap at the time of noticing was more my point.