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?

What do you mean by a micro aggression, in this instance?

Really? 🤔 In what way?

Can I go against the grain and tell you about a time someone stopped to tell me how striking I was?

I was chatting to another mother at a softplay who I hadn't met before, or since. She said I just have to stop you and say how much I love your aesthetic, your make up, your clothing it's just stunning. She loved that my make up complimented my pink clothing and said how striking I am.

I was very embarrassed as I wasn't expecting that and said thank you very much. I have just turned 40, am a size 16, insecure and also a sleep deprived mum! But that comment made my day!

This isn't a stealth brag, afterall it's an anonymous forum, but
I have ALWAYS told other women how great they look- it's so important to lift each other up instead of dragging each other down. So to have it said to me went a long way.

That's so lovely! Don't put yourself down (women are too good at this), I'm sure you looked great.
Just take confidence from the fact that another woman made a point of telling you. You're obviously stylish! Sleep deprived Mum or not! ❤️

Thank you FleurDeFleur, you're a sweetheart!

In the early years of motherhood, we often lose ourselves a bit. You felt a bit uncomfortable and self conscious, so I'm glad she told you that you looked fabulous! 😻

this really made me laugh

A Spanish guy, late 40s, not model like by any means, average height for Spain ie about 5’9”, medium build . Dressed for the office, like a light brown linen suit and shirt. It started to rain, he was striding across an old town square, he just pulled an umbrella out and opened it without stopping. There was something elegant about that gesture, and the way he inhabited that beautiful place.

I don't think that was fair actually.

2 people, actually. Gilbert and George. I saw them in M and S. I am absolutely certain it was them. Lovely suits.

I have two I can think of. One RL and one on a film.

I was at a very fancy cocktail party abroad. There was a tall slim older woman. She was wearing a silk shirt dress with some amazing jewellery. I mean- HUGE real pearls, massive diamond Cartier cuff bracelets. I am a bling fan and was speechless and certainly embarrassed myself by looking her up and down in silence with my mouth open. It was pure class, but expensive OTT class. Flashy without being brassy. It sounds so so crass, but she was just pure elegance personified.

I went to DH and hissed at him 'That woman's jewels are worth more than our house'. He whispered back 'Her husband owns a bank'.

The second one- I am fat, have always been fat and always ashamed of it. But as a teen I saw a French film called 'Not everyone is lucky enough to have Communist parents' and it was the true story of the film-makers upbrigning. His mother was dressed in standard 50s style and was very very plump. But she just rocked the sort of 50s Communist housewife look. Her husband adored her and she strode around the film with confidence. I've never forgotten it and it inspired me to think that even if I don't feel attractive in my own plump skin, the only thing that limits me, is my own perception of me.

A woman I knew years ago. She had done some modelling work. Tall and slim with blonde hair in a pickie cut.
I remember her wearing a red skirt, it stuck out but not with petticoats just very full skirted and sat below her knee, red flat ballet shoes, a navy and white striped top and a short sleeved red bolero cardigan. She looked so striking.

I remember a waitress in Sardinia. She had short black hair and was wearing little shorts and a matching top in black and white stripes, black espadrilles and small black sunglasses. She looked smart because it matched, but because of the espadrilles she didn't really look dressed up. But then Italy... Everyone looks effortlessly stylish.

You're not a lone voice. 'Mumsy' sounds like shorthand for '40s, slightly overweight flabby woman who's given up taking care of herself and wears clothes that no longer fit'.

I agree, it's such a negative term. I wish adjectives derived from "mum" were more positive.

I saw a couple of people yesterday who looked absolutely fantastic.

1. An older woman (60s?) with dark hair in a sharp shoulder length bob with a straight fringe. She was tall and slim, wearing big dark-framed glasses, a sleeveless mid-length navy dress that slimmed her figure, pearls at her neck, and a bright lemon yellow slouchy shoulder bag and yellow wedges. She looked so put together and cool I wanted to cheer.
2. A young man just below “average” UK man height, wearing the most beautifully cut utility jacket and jeans. His whole look was very casual and would sound boring - black and grey clothes, blue retro trainers - but the shapes (slightly flared jeans, mid-length jacket) were perfect for him.

A barrister we instructed when I was a legal secretary many many years ago. Senior counsel, probably mid 50s at the time. In a dark sea of chalk stripe suits he was wearing a dark brown one in the most beautiful wool fabric and the jacket was the most perfectly fitted garment I have ever seen to this day. He also smelled lovely with a clean smelling but very subtle aftershave, and a very nice haircut. He has stuck in my head for over 20 years because of that suit!

The later addition of ‘matronly’ didn’t help.

Anyway. Great thread. Some wonderful descriptions, especially Mrs Watts.

It was over 20 years ago when I was working in a pharmacy, and this woman came in who was 63, and I was just struck by how stunning she was. I was only 22 at the time and had naively thought that beauty belonged only to the young! I can't recall what she was wearing, but I do remember thinking that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Very well put together, I recall that much.

Summertime, in Weymouth about 10 years ago, I watched a woman in her early 60s? wearing khaki shorts, white linen shirt, leather flip flops, and a bits of gold jewellery literally part the crowds of shoppers as she walked down the street. Such a simple outfit but she looked bloody fabulous, and pretty much everyone stopped to look at her as she walked past.

I am finding this thread very inspriring.

I recall I once came across an older couple who were both just perfectly dressed and comfortable in their own skin. I found them incredibly inspiring and posted about it on here at the time. And got absolutely vilified by referring to them as 'an older couple' as being agist and just a disgusting person all round. I left MN for a time over that. I had done nothing more but express and describe what it was i found so arresting about them both.

I actually saw them when i was out with my father who is in his late 70s and who I tease as being 'a bit of a show pony'. He loves quality fabrics and colours and dresses really well. We had spent a happy hour or so after meeting this other couple talking over coffee and dissecting their sartorial choices because we were both so impressed. They were like something out of The Sartorialist - my father was a devotee of that website. I am a scruff and I thought at the time that inspiration would really change me, but the sheer horror of the virulent pasting I got on MN for daring to sugges these people were 'older' made me leave MN for a couple of years.

@WeAreNotOutnumbered i'm sorry you got hounded off, that's terrible.

The couple you mention reminded me that when i was a postgrad many years ago once a fortnight i had to attend a meeting in another part of the city i was living in.
I mostly walked & got into a bit of a habit of breaking my walk by stopping for breakfast / coffee at a very old world cafe that was enroute. This cafe was once a real fixture but had now seem better days though it was still quite genteel & attracted a lot of older clientele. In its day it was a glamorous meeting spot.

I noticed an older couple, i was mid 20s & they looked to me like they were late 70s.

They were v small & slight and incredibly elegant. She had the poise of a former ballerina & wore her white hair in a chignon which was a rare sight then. She wore wool coats with a brooch on the collar & leather mary jane shoes. She wore hats like it was the 1950s! When it was the 90s
He wore a wool overcoat with a blazer undeneath & a felt hat like a trilby

He was so attentive & gentlemanly to her, fixing her chair, hanging their coats on the coat stand, ordering their pot of tea.

Over the weeks it became clear this was part of their routine as i saw them there regularly. They were always so clean & neat & well turned out - she wore a lot of burgundy & navy & bottle green. Their clothes looked like they were excellent quality when they bought them & they'd cared for them ever since

Seeing them became a highlight for me, it was like a glimpse into a long gone era.

I saw them regularly in that cafe for several months

Then my meeting location changed & i no longer had to walk to that area

I thought about them a lot & even randomly went back a few times but i never saw them again.

All these years later they live on in my mind as one of the most elegant couples i have ever seen

I love that website too! Your Dad sounds amazing.

I love that. I have started wearing brooches myself- now that I am of an age it does not look silly. The first gift DH bought me was a beautiful (huge!) Victorian amethyst brooch that was surrounded by pearls. I used to wear that for black tie events and now wear it alot. he also bought me an enamel, and diamond Russian brooch dated from 1905. I just looked silly wearing those in my 30s I felt, so now i am older I love wearing them.

@LunaTheCat my father is amazing thanks. . He likes to wear three piece tweed suits nowadays in a lovely heather-coloured tweed. (This is in Australia so not that common). Or if going casual he wears cotton shirts with contrasting collars and cuffs. He's also fan of an unexpected sock. He grew up in poverty but has always had a keen aesthetic eye. His tiny courtyard garden is perfection itself. He was a teacher in a small country school but obsessed with Chinese culture so his house is decorated with Chinese vases and silks.

I'm a bit of a mess myself but have started watching youtube channels about dress for my body shape and makeup and am really enjoying it.

Must be 20 years ago at least, but saw Ulrika in an olde-worlde Chilterns pub with her kids on Mother's Day for a nice Sunday lunch. Even if she hadn't been well known, you would still have had to look, it was like sunlight streaming from every pore of her, but she was just minding her own business, not posing or anything.