There’s this notion that fashion is only for the young. A lot of the fashion advice, especially for older women and femme identifying people is about making yourself as unremarkable as possible. Wear neutral colors. Cardigans are your friends. And for goodness sake don’t ever reveal any bit of skin that you don’t absolutely have to.
I turn 40 next year, and I say fuck that noise.
And thank goodness that at least one blogger agrees with me. Advanded Style is an amazing blog and book series, filled with amazing older people who are all supremely stylish. And they’re all stylish in different ways. And most importantly, pretty much all of them look comfortable.
Before I say anything else, obviously, whatever age you are, you should wear whatever the fuck makes you feel good.
Not here for your bullshit
As I get older, I honestly care less and less about what people who aren’t in my life. It still hurts when a stranger says something nasty, but it doesn’t actually affect the way that I live my life. From talking to a lot of my friends who are 40 or older, I’m finding that many of them feel the same way. We’re more or less middle-age now (and ain’t that a kicker) and it’s time grab that particular bull by the horns.
My style is still changing and it’s unlikely it will settle before next February. Part of it is about what’s available, part of it about changing preferences, and part of it is that as I play around with fashion, I’m starting to discover things that suit me better than others. To the surprise of exactly no one, a huge chunk of my style is reliant on knitted items.
And lately, I’ve started to sew again. I have a pretty specific body type which means that I have to either take what I can get or make it myself. And even with eShakti, I’m kind of done taking what I can get. I would much prefer to wear something that makes me happy than something that happens to fit me, and not necessarily all that well at that. And I want to be able to control my silhouette. So I’m learning tailoring and finding inspiration from Youtubers who do historical, vintage, and costume sewing.
What about the advice?
I realize that this is not exactly the advice post that the title seems to warrant. And let’s face it, there’s no one over 40 who actually needs my advice on how to dress themselves. For inspiration, there are definitely places like advanced.style where people much more fashionable than I am show off their looks. But honestly, whatever age you are, do what makes you feel good and seen. If you feel good in neutrals, have at it! But if wearing jewel-tones makes you feel good, don’t let any asshole tell you they’re not for you.
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