Do ladies really have to dress old & frumpy after a certain age...?

[W-D Forties]

It's all about knowing yourself, and I think that comes with age. I have a much clearer view of what suits me now than I did at 20. When I'm Helen Mirren's age I think I will have it cracked!

Lets also not forget, a lot of women in Hollywood look marvellous for 'their age' with an awful lot of surgical help!

 

[Rathdown]

I think the way women of a "certain age" dress is generally a reflection of their socio-economic status.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I think the way women of a "certain age" dress is generally a reflection of their socio-economic status.

That seems to be my observation. When people get older and perhaps are on a fixed income, clothes becomes more of a want than a need as there are fewer occasions in their life that require dressing up such as, for example, business attire for work. As a result they don't really buy as much clothes and when they do what's comfortable tends to take precedence over style. At least that's my theory.

 

[melancholy baby]

I vote for the classics myself. Aand a classic is whatever YOU like to wear from year to year that always looks good on you.
Sean Ferrer said of his mother Audrey (Hepburn) that she stuck to similar colors, lines and styles throughout her life. His also commented that it was unusual for a woman to do so-but men do it all the time.

 

[Bluebird Marsha]

All I can think of is, how my grandmother dressed in Kentucky from the 60's to the 80's- and compare it to how she dressed in Florida from 1986 to 2003. Even in pictures, her look in Kentucky was "dowdy". Steel gray hair in a bun, a house dress, and very little, if any make-up. She did always wear Tabu perfume, but the frump was in. Once she moved to Florida, the hair got cut and permed, pants were worn, and sometimes lipstick made an appearance.

I've seen some of her dresses from her "youth". I have one of her evening gowns, so she was not an inherently frumpy person. But it's like some mark was hit, and anything fashionable went bye-bye. Kids, grandkids, "the change"? But whatever it was, moving to Florida gave her a more youthful look in her 70's than she'd had in her 50's. I had a great-aunt roughly the same age, and I don't think that woman could look frumpy if she tried. (But she was a former model who flew with the WASPs, and lived in California- must have been something in the Pacific air ). Was it something everyone expected you to do? It's frightening to see a picture of your grandmother when she was my age, and think just how OLD she looked.

I don't think that dowdy look is one I want to resurrect!

 

[40'sfetish]

I want to grow up to be these ladies
http://seniorplanet.org/dont-dress-your-age-six-inspiring-women-say-no-to-drab/

http://http://seniorplanet.org/dont-dress-your-age-six-inspiring-women-say-no-to-drab/

Funnily enough, in my teens and twenties I always had short hair, pixie cuts mainly, it was in my 30's that I grew it long, now in my 40's it's somewhere in between lol

 

[GHT]

My wife has always bucked convention. She wanted something original to wear at big burlesque party, so she made herself a copy of the faux uniform that Christina Aguilera wears in the Candyman video.

It gets better, (or worse) depending on your perspective. She likes to wear classy corsets to burlesque shows, so when the tunic comes off:

What am I going to do with her? She should be sitting at home knitting cardigans, not cavorting around like that. Not at 64, she shouldn't.
But I'm glad that she does.

 

[Callque]

Look at this woman and tell me she's not gorgeous, sexy, and glamorous.

Her in American Horror Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY-CdsvFDBM&app=desktop


She's 64 and I don't see any signs of frumpiness on her.

 

[sheeplady]

What am I going to do with her? She should be sitting at home knitting cardigans, not cavorting around like that. Not at 64, she shouldn't.
But I'm glad that she does.

Reading your last line made my day. Your wife is awesome (and beautiful)! Go Mrs. GHT!

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Jessica Lange has always been the exception to the rules. And the plastic surgery has been quality work. That hasn't hurt her a bit. Plastic surgery isn't the question. It's to know when to say when with it. Look at the much younger Rose McGowan to see an example of someone who is either addicted to surgery, has a poor surgeon, is a poor healer, or doesn't know when to stop. A disaster.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

One of my idols, Leslie Uggams, at 70 FRICKING YEARS OLD. No plastic surgery and she looks as good now and she did in her youth. If a 70 year old can look this good, then I know it's no excuse for me to slip on my appearance as I enter my 40s:

 

[HadleyH]

Christie Brinkley, 59, outshines models a third her age ...this is what 59 looks today.....there you have it ladies and gents.

 

[imoldfashioned]

I see young women dress frumpy or just take no personal pride in their looks ( in Onesies or PJs at the Mall or Hypermarket ...!) & women in their Twilight years dressed to the Nines!! It does seem a mindset rather than an age thing. Some folk are BORN OLD and some that are OLD in years are in heart and dress FOREVER YOUNG

 

[TimeWarpWife]

Ok, I'm officially old now. Twenty years ago I was looking at fashion magazines and celebrities for inspiration on how to dress. Now when I watch Hetty Wainthropp Investigates or Miss Marple (the latter with Julia McKenzie as the elderly sleuth), I find myself thinking, hmm, that's a nice looking sweater and skirt combination. :eeek:

 

[Late to the Party]

I"ve been fighting the frump lately. The frump came from a number of things - mostly being rather overweight and not employed outside the house. I'm 51. So I challenged myself: whenever I do anything outside the house related to my home business (I make doll clothes) I need to dress as a representative of my company, even for the shortest and most trivial errands. So I started doing that and the frump is going away slowly. So are all the clothes in my closet as I lose the extra weight. So I get to make new ones, Hurrah!
I have a shorter haircut than in my avatar and I love it. 4 inches all over. It is about as far from helmet head as you could want and I love my gray.
Morton in The Arts of Costume and Personal Appearance (1955) had this to say about colors for gray and white haired women, "These woman may draw on a great variety of colors if they understand their coloring ... And indeed, those who have clear complexions and fine eyes can make themselves most distinctive, providing they have courage and taste. ... But the white-haired woman with good clear skin, especially when she is fair, affords a magnificent canvas for artistic achievement in color ensembling. She may choose from all the range of blues, black and chalk white, coral, blue-green, ultramarine and purple tones from light to dark ... In this way our white-haired lady is able to eclispe all the young things in her striking beauty."
That's the section I turn to when I need a pep talk.

 

[TheSacredFemme]

I really liked Super Kawaii Mama's post on the cultural myth of "age appropriate" behaviour and clothes. http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/2014/02/21/cultural-myth-age-appropriate/