This is something that I've been itching to discuss both on the blog and on the site. Recently I've started to receive angry comments on the site because I suggested that there is such a thing as age appropriate dressing and that not every style looks good on every body type. While everyone can wear every style, that doesn't mean it will look good.
I was recently at Steve & Barry's and there was a teen trying on a pair of SJP Bitten low rise jeans. The jeans were about two sizes too small for her and she had a rather large muffin top (spillage from the top of her jeans). I cringed when she came of of the dressing room… not because they pants looked horrible (they did) because I remembered what it was like to be a teenage girl wanting to fit in. Yet her mother, kept telling her how "great she looked". I can imagine how hard it must be as parent to want to encourage and nurture your child, there's so much pressure on teen girls as it is, but was that parent doing a disservice to her daughter by encourage her to wear an outfit that frankly looked horrendous on her?
Are there limits to what a person should wear based on age or body types or do you think everyone can and should wear anything they like?
size for me affects one thing in style, what size you wear and what things accentuate your true beauty and how you can express your style… No curves and you can wear very low cut dresses and shirts but you will have a less womanly shape and you may look wrong in certain curve needing dresses… Also, being skinny doesn't mean you don't have curves… And being skinny and tall is not all its cracked up to be. One of my best friends is both skinny and tall with no curves and wishes she had curves and was more womanly…
In that case, fooling yourself into thinking you can wear low rise size 2 jeans when your hips/butt are pushing out the rise and into your back/tummy is mostly wrong for your self.... Maybe mid rise size size 5 jeans would be best for you… I think plus size/not skinny women look smashing in mid rise dark wash skinny jeans with a pair of pointy toe high heels… maybe not with round ballet flats, but they still look hot…
Age shouldn't be a barrier, if you want to wear a crazy printed dvf dress and you are sixty, do as diane herself does.... She wears what fits her young personality, her profession, and her lifestyle… So if the job you are striving for, your personality , and your life warrants gray pinstripe suits and pointy toe heels, yet you are very young don't let it be a barrier
She as a teenager should've not worried about what the size tag is, but about how that size affects the fit, and how the fit affects the look.
We as women either fixate too much on these barriers or don't think about them at all… Some of us think of the body fat we have as unattractive, whereas if you eat healthy and excercise and get the right amount of sleep and are still plus sized you are definitely healthy and therefore attractive… If your skin is healthy, clear and vibrant and you are fit and healthy (eat fruits and veggies and limit junk foods), you are beautiful and attractive…
Some of the most beautiful woman I have seen are plus sized, they have a proper feminine shape, have clear radiant healthy skin, eat healthy and may not be able to wear the crazy tunics/trapeze tops but look beautiful nonetheless…
I'm not saying that if you are plus sized you are healthy/beautiful, or if you are thin you are unhealthy/ugly… I'm just saying that fashion choices should not be decided because of weight, size, age but should take into consideration who you are and what your shape is, and what you love. In the end balance of size/age appropriateness and what you want to wear is best.
I agree with TBF and Chocoyummy...style should be about what flatters you not about size or fashion trends. If more women would just accept their body shape and dress to enhance that they would look and feel a whole lot better. And it is TOTALLY POSSIBLE to dress fashionably no matter what your age and figure shape. Everyone should keep in mind that there is a difference between fashion and personal style.
The bare midriff style and the "everyone in capris" rage really made me wonder if some people didn't own mirrors or went shopping with friends/family who were clueless. It is bad enough that a salesperson says something awful looks great but your shopping companions shouldn't.
size for me affects one thing in style, what size you wear and what things accentuate your true beauty and how you can express your style… No curves and you can wear very low cut dresses and shirts but you will have a less womanly shape and you may look wrong in certain curve needing dresses… Also, being skinny doesn't mean you don't have curves… And being skinny and tall is not all its cracked up to be. One of my best friends is both skinny and tall with no curves and wishes she had curves and was more womanly…
I too think size affects style. It started when I was younger. When ever my mom came back from visiting her family she would always bring us some new clothes. For me it was the "you're thin you can wear this type of clothing" and for my sister it was "you're chubbier so you have to wear this". Needless to say I had the trendier stuff and my sister had the less desirable items. I remember being jealous of my sister b/c she could fill out her tops, wear a one piece and not look like an ironing board and hold up a strapless dress, I couldn't. Now I dress according to my size and not so much my age. My sister does the same. Should I thank my mom for that? I don't know.
We need to be true to ourselves, learn to love, take care of our bodies and embrace our size. If you usually wear a size 8 and you're trying to fit into a size 6 it may not work. Should that mom have been honest with her daughter?? Perhaps so.
I've had hips and a butt since I was about ten years old. Pre-Jennifer Lopez, it was really hard for me to find things that fit properly because I have a fairly small upper body. My family didn't have a ton of money so my shopping locations were somewhat limited. I don't think I owned a pair of jeans that fit me properly until I was about sixteen because of this.
I think when you're a teenager you're still trying to figure your body out in a lot of ways. And for some people that body is still changing at that point. The mom should have told her daughter to try on another size. I wonder if her motivation is to pressure her daughter or if she just has bad taste and didn't notice?
The age aspect I don't think would apply to most of the women I know. Most of them are in their mid to late twenties now but their wardrobes are as such that they could be still worn when we were all sixty. But we tend to dress in classics rather than trends for the most part. I'm not sure that there are really many looks that couldn't be at least adapted to fit any age.
I personally think there is a such thing as age appropriate clothes. I don't want to see my 50 something mother in low rise jeans even if she is a size 4(this is true). We set a false sense of reality for teens and young women by pretending we are the same age as they are and dressing like them. Being fashionable has nothing to do with age. I consider myself and my teens fashionable but we don't share clothes and never will. I consider my mom very fashionable but we don't dress alike. Its all about if you are comfortable in what you wear. And that size thing, is just a number, nothing more. Especially considering we wear different sizes from different brands. For me I just want to look cute and be comfortable.
Yes, we have to dress age appropriate. Yes, we have to dress size appropriate. We also need to dress height appropriate. Shorter gals can get away with those short short minis & it looks ok because you don't see a foot & a half of legs. Tall gals should totally stay away because it looks like you are wearing a tube top on your bum.
There are some styles that look good on everyone &, in my opinion, those styles fall into the "classic" pieces. A classic white button down blouse. A pair of nicely tailored trousers. Cardigans. Polo shirts. Etc. All these tend to look good no matter age, size or height.
There is more to say but for whatever reason my mind is not working. LOL
I really think that a big chunk of style is being age and size appropriate. I love the What Not to Wear book because it describes how to do that. What is appropriate for me to wear (a size-2 office-working young mom in my late 20s) may not be appropriate for my mother (a size-10 kindergarten teacher in her late 50s), and vice versa. You certainly won't see her in skinny jeans and ballet flats on the weekend, or a pencil skirt and round-toe pumps at work. She is a slacks/cardigan/loafer woman; it suits her age, occupation, and size. When she wears a skirt, it's an a-line. My sister in law, who is plus-size, laughs at my closet, then finds floaty dresses and tops with necklines that bring attention to her face and tops it off with accessories. She doesn't have children, so she can buy dry clean only pieces, and she has a section of her wardrobe for "going out," whereas I have a section of my wardrobe for "staying in and getting oatmeal all over my clothes." All three of us look good, but we choose the trends and pieces that suit our ages, lifestyles, and body types.
On the flip side, there's my mother-in-law, a woman entering her 50s whose wardrobe comes from mainly Forever 21, a woman who is infamous for velour tracksuits with high heels…
In any case, I also love how InStyle Magazine shows a trend, then makes it age-appropriate. What looks slammin' in your twenties does not necessarily translate to your 50s, and what looks awesome on a woman with curves will probably not look all that great on a boy-shape. Style really is about looking YOUR best for YOUR age/size/lifestyle!
On the flip side, there's my mother-in-law, a woman entering her 50s whose wardrobe comes from mainly Forever 21, a woman who is infamous for velour tracksuits with high heels…
In any case, I also love how InStyle Magazine shows a trend, then makes it age-appropriate. What looks slammin' in your twenties does not necessarily translate to your 50s, and what looks awesome on a woman with curves will probably not look all that great on a boy-shape. Style really is about looking YOUR best for YOUR age/size/lifestyle!
Track suits and high heels...heeheehee
It's great that you mentioned that section in the InStyle Magazine. I always look forward to it. It's nice to see that some trends can transcend age if done appropriately.
As a former clothing designer of womens career sportwear, I have strong feelings about this topic as well. But first a few important statements I need to emphasize:
I do not think all styles are appropriate for all ages and shapes.
I also believe that just because a woman is over 30 or 40 years old - that does not mean she has to dress like a frump.
I do not believe a woman should cut her hair because she is over 40 either.
Now, that being said, I think all forms of media tend to influence young women tremendously in their clothing choices. I also feel that in this day and age, there is no excuse for someone to dress in ill-fitting clothing. There are stores in all price ranges from Old Navy up to high end stores offering similar alternatives to the high end designs.
There is a TON of information on the Internet, in magazines and in books that can be borrowed, that give advice on how to dress appropriately for one's shape and age. When a female goes into a store and chooses for example, low rise jeans, and her body shape is the kind that should not be wearing it, she is probably choosing that style because her friends wear it, she saw it on TV or in a celebrity magazine or whatever. That girl's mother should have gently persuaded her to choose something more appropriate for her body type. Is that the image she wants her to project to the public?
What about the influence the media has on being excessively thin? This too is a similar subject.
So yes, I agree certain styles should be limited to certain ages and sizes OR make them proportional to the wearer's size or age.
A 50 year old woman should not wear a micro-mini skirt, however if she is in great shape, wearing one that is slightly above the knee can be a stylish and more appropriate option.
A plus size young lady who wants to wear low rise jeans? She should be choosing a cut that is more appropriate & flattering to her size & figure. However, ARE clothing designers GIVING the public appropriate choices in their creations?
Designers out there should NOT be designing clothing for only sizes 0, 2 & 4's. In the real world, the average woman is NOT this small.
Yes, she wears velour tracksuits with high heels (Christmas '06—she almost broke her ankle storming away from me when I shooed her away from my 11-day-old baby for fear of germs), spaghetti strap tanks that show off her back tattoo (every summer since she got it in '03), a plaid miniskirt and knee-high boots to my son's baptism (February '07), a see-through leopard print blouse to a funeral (no jacket), Happy Bunny socks, carries fake Prada bags… This woman is begging to be on What Not to Wear.
Also, she thinks that my son is a fashion accessory. Um, no.
Yes, she wears velour tracksuits with high heels (Christmas '06—she almost broke her ankle storming away from me when I shooed her away from my 11-day-old baby for fear of germs), spaghetti strap tanks that show off her back tattoo (every summer since she got it in '03), a plaid miniskirt and knee-high boots to my son's baptism (February '07), a see-through leopard print blouse to a funeral (no jacket), Happy Bunny socks, carries fake Prada bags… This woman is begging to be on What Not to Wear.
Also, she thinks that my son is a fashion accessory. Um, no.
Yes, she wears velour tracksuits with high heels (Christmas '06—she almost broke her ankle storming away from me when I shooed her away from my 11-day-old baby for fear of germs), spaghetti strap tanks that show off her back tattoo (every summer since she got it in '03), a plaid miniskirt and knee-high boots to my son's baptism (February '07), a see-through leopard print blouse to a funeral (no jacket), Happy Bunny socks, carries fake Prada bags… This woman is begging to be on What Not to Wear.
Also, she thinks that my son is a fashion accessory. Um, no.
You can't make this stuff up!! ROFLMAO You are totally right - Uber WNTW candidate!
Pretty much. I love Stacy and Clinton.
Did I mention that a big part of style is the occasion? As in, velour tracksuits are awesome when you're a brand-new mom with the stretched-out tummy and too exhausted to get dressed? (But they go best with fuzzy slippers and a giant mug of coffee.)
