YES, this is a bit of a rant about women, style, and *shock, horror* The over 50's.
"Not the over 50's" I can hear you thinking... old women with no shape, a penchant for beige, elastic waists (and I'm not just talking about clothing!), skirts of indiscriminate length, and blouses?
Yes, the over 50's! No, No, never, and 'god forbid' to the rest!
*Gets out my soapbox*
*Heaves myself up (ignoring the clicky knees)*
*Takes deep breath, and intones - in the tone of an AA convert -
( Alcoholics Anonymous, NOT the Automobile Association - though for all I know, they may also have some sort of membership ritual that entails a summary of breakdowns attended and years in the service)
....but I digress
Is digressing is a sign of my advanced years? I think it might be....
"My name is Hazel, and I've been over 50 for 3 years, 10 months and 1 days!"*
There you go. It's out in the open.
I. Am. Old.
OK. Let me stop myself right there.
I am NOT old.
I may look a bit older than I did a few years ago.
My hair is pretty much grey under the rather uplifting auburn (or "a bright and vibrant red that gives you a vivid colour result" if I listen to what Schwarzcopf say) that I'm favouring at the moment. My eyebrows need not just shaping but defining, and I'm a size or two *cough-or three-cough* larger than I was in my twenties, but I'm still the me that I was, inside my head.
I still:
Although according to my results....
I don't want:
- To look like my Mum
- To look like my daughter
- To be bland
While I've been poking around on the internet, I came across this article by Michele Hanson and I absolutely agree. She was commenting on the section in the Channel Four series 'Fabulous Fashionistas" that focussed on older women who still looked amazing in their 80's.
Her point was that these women have ALWAYS been interested in fashion , and are only continuing to do what they have always done - look fantastic.
I would love to look fantastic/quirky/individual too.
The trouble is, I'm having a bit of a style crisis.
A sudden lack of confidence in my own taste.
A feeling that there is nothing out there in high street shopping land for people like me.
And I wonder....Am I alone?
Take my last shopping trips to look for something to wear for:
1 - The work Christmas party - dinner and disco, with a casino theme.
2 - A work luncheon at a VERY nice hotel in London.
3 - Some new non work clothes suitable for being seen in ( as opposed to mooching around the house in)
The Christmas party.
The shops were full of low cut, "sexy" outfits, that made me feel like Bet Lynch on a bad day, and had my rather ample decolletage threatening to collapse the bodices if I so much as leaned forwards to pick up a fork, or dresses so sparkly that you couldn't look directly at them ( probably a good thing or you might notice that they no shape and turned you into a rhinestones sausage).
So I turned my attention to the internet, and WOW! - Almost immediately I found a site stocking the kind of thing I'd wear!
*Does a happy dance*
And then I realised that it (along with lots of the other websites I visited) was in the USA.
Not a problem, I hear you say.
Well, thats true, but the thought of ordering something that might need returning, the potential customs costs, and the delivery times ( yes, of course I'd left if to the last minute) meant that I had to think again.
And then I realised that it (along with lots of the other websites I visited) was in the USA.
Not a problem, I hear you say.
Well, thats true, but the thought of ordering something that might need returning, the potential customs costs, and the delivery times ( yes, of course I'd left if to the last minute) meant that I had to think again.
Thankfully Marks and Spencers came to my rescue, and I managed to find a dress that was suitably dressy, made me feel great, and was available to try and buy in Bluewater.
The Luncheon.
OK, unless you are someone who regularly does formal lunches, this is a really hard one to dress for.
Do you go for something light and feminine and channel your inner tea dress?
Do you got for formal work wear, since it's a work event including liaising with directors from other companies?
Do you go for some chic cocktail dress, and glam it up a bit, even though it starts at 2pm?
Well, as it turned out, the event was a mix of women wearing all 3! The majority had gone for glam evening wear though, which was a bit of a blow to me, as I had opted for business formal. Still, I felt ok, as my safe black dress and jacket was perked up with a sizeable chunk of green amber (a gift from my mum a few birthdays back), but that still didnt stop me looking enviously over at those chic women who had the knack of getting it just right.
And I admit it, part of me was thinking that they had it easy as they were exclusively around the size 10 mark, with big feet.
Why big feet, I hear you ask?
Well if you have big feet, you can wear heels without having to balance on your big toe, fetish like, if the heel is anything over 2 inches high.
But lets not get me started on that one. I'll save it for a later post, when I fade back to my teens, and shoe shops with rows of heels that increased as the shoe size went up, keeping the line of the shoe in perfect proportion....
And Finally:
The Non Work clothes.
It was really this search that was the catalyst for my post.
I have lost my style identity when I'm not being defined by an event.
In part I think it's because my shape has changed. I've lost my waist - although according to a style advisor I consulted a few years back, I was never actually an hourglass (which is what I'd thought), but a straight with a large bust, which only made it look like I was. Who knew?
So while I tend towards jeans, tshirt, and cardigan, I no longer look like ME when I wear them, I look like some kind of frumpy, style-less, grandma.
*insert your most favoured sad/red faced/horrified emoticon here*
So I've had enough.
I'm on a crusade to FIND MY STYLE!
Now I just have to decide what's appropriate to wear while I go and look for it.
Hmmmmmmmm...
This might take a while!
* Actually I'm older, because it took me ages to get round to posting this.
