|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Fashionable, Not Frumpy: Fashion and Beauty Tips for Elderly Women
| Article
# : |
13600 |
|
|
Section : |
LIFE
|
| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1988 |
2,089 Words |
| Author
: |
Mary-Ellen Banashek
Mary-Ellen Banashek has written on beauty, health, and fashion
for many national publications, including Elle, Town &
Country, Mademoiselle, Redbook, and McCall's. |
Recently I noticed two older women who personified the best and the worst of fashion. The first woman looked to be about fifty. What initially caught my eye was the way she teetered. This was not surprising, considering she was clad in a tight miniskirt, a scoop-neck, skintight spandex top that revealed brown age spots, and opentoed spike-heeled shoes. Her long, brassy blonde hair was swept up on one side and caught with a large silk flower, and she sported enough bright blue eye shadow to win a place on a Mardi Gras float.
The second woman, who passed by a few minutes later, was wearing a draped-front, knee-length navy skirt, a silky blouse, sleek pumps with slim two-inch heels, and a burgundy-and-gray paisley shawl thrown raffishly across one shoulder. Her graying brown hair was short and tousled, and her makeup looked more like the glow of health than face paint. Although she may have been a good ten years older than the other, this woman looked younger and more vibrant.
Why did one woman look so fashionable while the other missed the mark by miles? The successful dresser had obviously taken to heart the two most important fashion concepts for the woman over fifty: current and appropriate.
"The most important word for any woman is dressing appropriately," says fashion designer Bill Blass. "Age is just one of the considerations to take into account. The others are your body type and the situation you're dressing for, whether it's as a working professional, a corporate wife, or a hostess. There is no such concept as 'dressing for women over fifty.' There is only dressing appropriately, no matter what your age."
These days, however, any woman who does not have the firm flesh of youth--and that usually means any woman past her mid-twenties--may be wondering just what "appropriate" is. Shorter skirts are back, for example. But just what is a shorter skirt? On the runway, they may just cover the derriere, which is fine for the models. But for most of us, adopting a too-short look is a mistake; for the woman over fifty, it's the kiss of death.
The fifty-plus woman certainly knows something about fashion, and she probably knows what styles look best on her. While she wants to avoid appearing foolish in clothes that are inappropriate, she also wants to avoid the "little old lady" label. Sometimes, in order not to make a fashion blunder, she'll bend too far in the other direction and get stuck with an old, unflattering
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
