Pensioner Chic

[Metatron]

It always makes me smile when I see older gentlemen keeping the vintage flame alive.

I saw a few cool looks this morning:
Jeans, sports coat, polo shirt with large collar and zip, flat cap.
A man who I see frequently who wears turned up jeans, and either a leather jacket or a tweed coat, plus flat cap.
And this guy was my favourite: Pleated trousers, plaid sports coat, red checked shirt with open collar over the lapels, closed toe sandals. You've gotta love the almost dandy look ruined by the silly sandals. And yet it's those little unstudied imperfections that make this pensioner cooler than I will ever be.

I was watching an interview with Frank Zappa, probably the last one before he died, and he was describing the composer Nicholas Slonimsky:
''I was impressed with his wardrobe. He had that look. He had the look of a real guy from that era. The right kinda shoes, the right kinda tweed, rumpled, worn for a thousand years sports coat, pants too short, He was wonderful. He was a fully developed character''
I think he nailed it with that description.

I look to these people for style inspiration.
Any cool, every day normal pensioners in your neighbourhood?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Any cool, every day normal pensioners in your neighbourhood?

Well, I'm not sure. What's a "pensioner"?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Pensioner = Senior

 

[HudsonHawk]

Pensioner = Senior

D'oh! I get it now.

As for seniors in my neighborhood, most around here wear bermuda shorts and tshirts with black socks and white walking shoes.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

D'oh! I get it now.

As for seniors in my neighborhood, most around here wear bermuda shorts and tshirts with black socks and white walking shoes.

Among the pensioners in my area it's usually the Asians who tend to dress better. As for the rest, some sort of tracksuit-based ensemble still seems to be de rigeur.

 

[Gregg Axley]

D'oh! I get it now.

As for seniors in my neighborhood, most around here wear bermuda shorts and tshirts with black socks and white walking shoes.

Black socks go great with bermuda shorts, especially if you are wearing wingtips and cutting the grass. At least one neighbor (as I was growing up) did this. :eeek:

 

[HudsonHawk]

Among the pensioners in my area it's usually the Asians who tend to dress better. As for the rest, some sort of tracksuit-based ensemble still seems to be de rigeur.

Those one-piece jumpsuits are also popular among the senior crowd in my neck of the woods. And I guess they're ok if you're out working in the barn. But when you think they're perfectly fine to wear out to dinner, you've lost it. I told my wife that if I ever bought one, just go ahead and put me in the home because I've completely lost my mind.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I have a couple of theories as to why tracksuits (sweats) are popular with the Senior crowd. One of them is that in their mind there's an association of tracksuits with athletic and thus youthful. The other theory I have is that for pensioners on a fixed income comfort takes precedence over style in their clothing choices.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I have a couple of theories as to why tracksuits (sweats) are popular with the Senior crowd. One of them is that in their mind there's an association of tracksuits with athletic and thus youthful. The other theory I have is that for pensioners on a fixed income comfort takes precedence over style in their clothing choices.

Another reason I've heard is that for many years they had to dress up for work, and when they retired, they gave up the dressy look, embracing the freedom from requirements of employment. Same reason many no longer wear watches. They simply don't care what day or time it is any more.

 

[Late to the Party]

Button down white shirt, string tie. Jeans and cowboy boots, straw hat. Everything clean and pressed. I suppose he's been wearing the same thing when going into town for decades. He does not move very fast anymore, but he looks good!

Mostly, I see sloppy Walmart specials on all ages and genders. Well dressed casual really stands out.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Another reason I've heard is that for many years they had to dress up for work, and when they retired, they gave up the dressy look, embracing the freedom from requirements of employment. Same reason many no longer wear watches. They simply don't care what day or time it is any more.

I have photos of my grandparents from the 1920s and 30s, some of which I've posted before, and they were really sharp dressers, particularly my grandfather. When I knew them in the late 1960s, early 1970s, they took to wearing plaid flannel shirts -- they both enjoyed fishing. My grandmother reverted back to a Jazz Age bob and typically wore flannel shirts and jeans. She was probably one of the first women I'd ever seen wearing jeans. My grandfather never retired. He ran his seed business until his death in 1976.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

My Dad owned ONE pair of blue jeans after he graduated from high school in 1937, and we bought them for him to wear in his 40th anniversary picture. He wore them ONCE. He wore 40 year old dress pants to mow in, along with his rough-out Army shoes. He owned a couple of pair of sweat pants during his 3 weeks in the nursing home, but that was it for those.

Another old friend (25 years younger than Dad) would NOT wear a t-shirt even though we had them for a team he coached. He said he couldn't possibly go outside wearing underwear.

My old boss, who's still working at 85, wears jeans every day, with a shirt with pockets. He's an electrician and appliance dealer. I helped him unload a truck load (20 plus) of appliances. We lifted them off the back of the semi-trailer and put them in the warehouse. I've never seem him in sweat pants either.

No sense dressing like a slob.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Another old friend (25 years younger than Dad) would NOT wear a t-shirt even though we had them for a team he coached. He said he couldn't possibly go outside wearing underwear.

This brings up another one of my pet men's fashion peeves...guys who wear a crew neck undershirt with an open collar such that the top of the undershirt is visible. They wear them like that out in public, at the office, on dates, etc. What on earth ever gave guys the notion that its acceptable to have any part of your underwear showing?

 

[Mojito]

My grandmother always had quite shortish hair (curled in her later years), and her style was very much reminiscent of the 1920s, the era she most loved and in which I think she was possibly happiest until the 70s and 80s when she could travel all over the world. She wore drop waist dresses with a fairly straight shift cut made of brightly coloured, jazzy material and long strings of beads in every type of stone and colour, and always looked wonderful - she used to live with us when my father had overseas diplomatic postings, and she was adored among the Embassy and Consular staff for her sense of style and fiesty personality.

 

[Wally_Hood]

This brings up another one of my pet men's fashion peeves...guys who wear a crew neck undershirt with an open collar such that the top of the undershirt is visible. They wear them like that out in public, at the office, on dates, etc. What on earth ever gave guys the notion that its acceptable to have any part of your underwear showing?

Going back many many years, National Lampoon riffed on the suicide note left by George Sanders, in which he said he was leaving because he was bored. NL made a faux list of the things that bored him, among which was this very fashion arrangement.

 

[Metatron]

Oh man I spotted a perfect one today.
Hmm I think I should be the sartorialist for old men.

Mustache, grey Pleated trousers, powder blue sports coat with parachutist pin on the lapel,
yellow shirt with massive collar worn open over the lapels.

Perfect 1950s look! That man is truly sticking to his guns.

 

[casechopper]

This brings up another one of my pet men's fashion peeves...guys who wear a crew neck undershirt with an open collar such that the top of the undershirt is visible. They wear them like that out in public, at the office, on dates, etc. What on earth ever gave guys the notion that its acceptable to have any part of your underwear showing?

Would it be preferable to show ones chest? I prefer to see undershirts rather than chest hair. Or is the issue wearing a shirt open collar at all?

 

[PHIL1959]

im often perplexed when people justify their sloppy dress sense by saying i 'had' to wear a suit for work.
having self respect in one's appearance costs little.

 

[Metatron]

Would it be preferable to show ones chest? I prefer to see undershirts rather than chest hair. Or is the issue wearing a shirt open collar at all?

Well, clearly you are going to wear a shirt open collared some of the time. I think with two buttons undone you don't see much chest hair and it looks good. But then I don't agree that showing an undershirt is bad either. As long as the colour doesn't clash with the shirt and you are well dressed, who cares...

 

[herringbonekid]

since half the people you pass in the street on a warm day are wearing a t-shirt, i hardly think they qualify as 'underwear' anymore.

although, have you ever thought that a lot of people today are basically wearing late Victorian workwear (jeans), 1900s underwear (t-shirts) and 1920s baseball boots (Converse) as normal everyday wear ? and they think we 'vintage dressers' are crazy !