It's Not Easy Getting Old

A company with a sensitivity to the needs of older women, Sigrid Olsen, is shutting its doors. This is part of a new trend that limits options for this segment of the buying public, according to a recent New York Times article. Other lines like Dana Buchman and Ellen Tracy are being downsized significantly, while specialty retailers such as J. Jill are closing stores. What’s going on here? Since the US population is aging, why are companies targeting older women closing shop?

Apparently the problem is caused both by producers and consumers. On the supply side, the older market is not as profitable as lines aimed to younger customers. Older women don’t buy as much. They often have a look they are comfortable with and don’t experiment as much with new styles. In addition, they don’t have as many occasions where special clothes are required. Financially the big bucks line with the young.

But older women have to assume some responsibility as well, as much as I would like to blame corporate capitalism for our problems. Apparently most of us don’t want clothes that are somehow easily tagged as “old.” That means that retailers who try to meet our needs get overlooked in favor of lines that span the generations. Some of us even insist on wearing clothes intended for teenagers in order to prove that we are still young-looking and fit.

Are we at an impasse? I continue to think that there is a big market for comfortable, elegant, and well-designed clothes for older women. But we need to make our needs known and use the power of the purse to support the brands and stores we love.

Make Do and Mend

A lot of environmentally friendly advice these days stokes the flames of American consumerism. Replace your old drier with a new one; trade in your polyester clothes for bamboo. While the results can make ecological sense in terms of energy use, we still end up with more things to toss into land fills.

The concept of “made do and mend” proposes another alternative. It originated in war-time Britain, when everything including clothes was rationed. (The US had its own less radical version.) Booklets urged women to reduce, reuse, and recycle just about everything. One of these manuals, recently reprinted, is packed with tips on how to lengthen stockings, create stylish patches, and recut old garments into new designs. At an exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in London, I even saw an elegant dress made out of a silk map!

As the name implies, make do and mend is particularly well suited for clothing. It takes only a few darts and a hem to convert a long boxy jacket, popular years ago, into a shorter more form fitting version. This is yet another reason to learn how to sew!

Pants in the F amily

Glamorous photos of Katherine Hepburn might lead you to believe that everyone wore pants in the 1930s and 1940s. Not so! In this subset of fashion, Hepburn was an early adopter. How do I know? I have been reading Ph.D. dissertations by home economists who study what people actually wear, not what fashion magazines or movies tell them to wear. This fascinating subfield is called “clothing behavior,” a term that surely deserves its own investigation. (Can you make your clothes behave?)

According to one study that examined the clothing choices of three different age groups, women over sixty-five wore dresses almost all the time in the mid 1960s. While younger women donned pants to keep house, shop, and serve the family meal, their mothers and grandmothers wore dresses for everything, including house cleaning. Those more formal days are long gone, and now I rarely see a woman over sixty-five in a dress. When did the change take place? Maybe we can correlate the rise of pants to the disappearance of gloves? Now there’s an interesting hypothesis for a dissertation.

Hearth and Home

In one of those happy accidents on the internet, I stumbled upon a wonderful website hosted by Cornell University called Hearth, which documents the history of Home Economics in the US. Perhaps you do not think that this is an interesting topic, remembering you own seventh grade experiences or humorous depictions of Home Ec classes in movies. I hope this site will convince you otherwise!

Historically, Home Economics departments were havens for academic women who were not welcomed elsewhere at the university. They taught design, marketing, nutrition, hygiene, and a host of other topics that now are integrated under other programs and schools. The website is a treasure, with full text journals, the texts of rare books, and amazing photographs. In my quest for information on how older women have dressed (and been advised to dress) in the twentieth century, this is an amazing resource. There are sources on design as well…and the best thing is that you can search it all in your own hearth and home.

The Big Black Dress

It was Chanel who made the little black dress famous in 1926 and changed the image of black from old to young. Ever since black clothing has made a statement for youth, from the beatniks, to the Goths, to Project Runway.

But before Chanel, what we might call the “big black dress” was the monopoly of older women. This was the wardrobe staple of women over fifty. According to a 1902 article in Ladies Home Journal, “A gown of black silk for an elderly lady is always in good style for either an afternoon, evening, or house gown. One is never at a loss for something to wear when a black silk is among one’s possessions.” The magazines are filled with drawings of appropriate black clothing, cut for the aging figure.

Today’s fashion journals and commentators often advise against black for older women, warning that it can be too harsh against older skin. But perhaps this advice is partly based on the assumption that black is for the young. I say: one good turn deserve another. Take back the black!

Me and my Menopot

I think one of the worst side effects of menopause is the pot belly that develops as a result of estrogen loss. Dr. Pamela Peeke, in her book Body for Life for Women, calls this rounded belly a menopot, a clever term linking it directly to menopause. Now I have never been a willowy person, but until the last decade I could always boast a flat stomach. Not any more. If I tucked my shirts in (which haven’t done in years), I might look similar to Twiddle Dee.

Peeke compares menopause to a reversed adolescence. Just as estrogen flooding the system changes young bodies quickly, the end of estrogen does the same. Despite all the happy-face books on how we should honor this stage in women’s lives, many of the changes are not for the better—muscle loss, bone density loss, and the migration of fat upward to the belly. There are solutions, however. Eat a lot less and exercise a whole lot more. The good doctor recommends marathons.

Power Couple--Red and Black

In several "how-to" fashion books I have read recently, the experts warn against older women wearing red and black. Stacy London, from the TNT show What Not to Wear, warns that it evokes images of Raisa Gorbachev; Sherrie Mathieson, in her style book Forever Cool, is even harsher. She doesn't like any combinations of primary colors and black; for her, red and black are a particularly bad fashion cliche.

However, a New York Times Magazine feature on the power journalist, Eleanor Clift, shows just how powerful--and hip--this combination can be. Why ban colors from your wardrobe, especially ones that bring attention to you and what you have to say.

Dame Mirren

Helen Mirren once again showed her wonderful sense of style in a beautiful Academy Award dress. It offered an ingenious solution to one problem of vintage women--less than stunning upper arms. The amazing beading made a potential weakness into a strength--and I also loved the draping around the waist.

Lauren Hutton--OH! Icon

The LA Times ran a style feature on Lauren Hutton today, surely a fabulous example of someone old and hip. My favorite quote from the article could have come straight from the fashion classic by Elizabeth Hawes, Fashion is Spinach. Hutton says: "Fashion is simply what is offered; style is what we pick out of that, how we wear it and the way we put it together."

Fashion Manifesto--Old and Hip (OH!)

Inspired by the recent spate of fashion books directed to boomers, I have decided to come up with my own fashion philosophy. Here it is in a nutshell: It is foolish to pretend that you aren’t old; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t be hip.

What is “hip” anyway? The word gained popularity through the beats, who used it to mean “cool” or “in the know.” (One entry in the Oxford English Dictionary speculated that it came from fishermen’s slang. When they wore their hip high boots, they were ready for anything and thus “hip.”) Let me give my own spin: the “hip” are people who are original, interesting, and comfortable in their own skin.

What are the qualities of the Old and Hip? (Let’s call them OH!)

They are not afraid to admit their age.
They have used their life experiences to develop unique style elements, like a collection of Taxco bracelets, bakelite buttons, flea market scarves.
They have found a way to merge style and comfort so that their clothes facilitate their endeavors and reflect their personalities.
They do not follow prescriptions about required colors, fabrics, or silhouettes; instead, they draw on life experience to figure out what is best for them.

As a 57 year old woman who collects vintage kimono and makes clothes out of them, proudly wears elastic waist bands in her pants, despite fashion advice to the contrary, adores orange, and only wears comfortable shoes, I like to think of myself as one of the OH! Certainly Diane Keaton is. How about you?

Dont Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

I have never added up just how much money I spend every year on beauty products and treatments. Probably the sum would shame me. Still, I’m sure it is less than the $7398 that Charla Krupp , author of How Not to Look Old, admits to spending on her upkeep. Looking young requires a team of experts, from stylists to colorists, from manicurists to eyebrow sculptors. Although I am hardly immune to the siren song of forever young (after all, I bought the book!), I don’t have the inclination or the income to keep up with the beauty routines recommended here.

To be fair, this is not a book about plastic surgery; many of the interventions Krupp recommends are not expensive or terribly time consuming. Buy skin care products, get a better hair cut, hem your skirts. Nonetheless, the underlying message is dire: without taking steps to hold back Father Time, you can easily lose your self-respect, your significant other, and even your job. (She’s in television and so has a right to be worried.)

Krupp divides women over forty into two groups determined by style, not age. The Old Ladies (OL) consistently lose out to the Young and Hip (Y&H). OL style consists of red lipstick, elastic waist pants and sensible shoes. Elements of the Y&H aesthetic include pink lipstick, feathered bangs, and bare legs. All women can be Y&H if they will only abandon their OL ways.

But do we all want to be Y&H? I for one want many more alternatives to aging with style and grace that the one vision offered here. But then again, I have tenure and don’t have to worry about losing my job.

More is Less

I subscribed to the magazine, More for awhile, hoping to find a publication that was really made for older women. It is not for me, however, because the purpose seems to be to convince women over forty that they can be as sexy and appealing as their younger sisters. The covers feature glamorous, thin celebrities, many of whom have had "work done." They look every bit the part of a younger woman--but looking like a younger woman is not really my goal. While I appreciated some of the articles about reconsidering life choices, I came to the conclusion that the magazine was really intended for forty-something women who were still in shock about their age. But what about us in our fifties, sixties, and beyond? Surely botox is not the only thing on our minds.

Age-Specific Insults

Words rooted in the Latin “matron” often show up to describe older women, or to chide younger woman who don’t dress stylishly. “Matronly” counts as a devastating critique on the reality show, “Project Runway.” Recently, I came across the word used as a verb. Style mavens Tracy London and Clinton Kelly advise women not to wear semi-sheer stockings because they can “matronize” an outfit in a hurry.

According to the OED, originally matron described a married woman of mature years. Only later did it pick up the unpleasant attributes of censorious, bossy, frumpy, and broad in the beam. But perhaps this is not surprising, since almost any word associated with age comes with negative baggage. Even to call someone “mature” can be read as an insult. This is why I think it is so important to find positive expressions for being a grown up woman.

Vintage Colors

As we age, should we change the colors that we wear? In her style book for boomers called Forever Cool, Sherrie Mathieson makes the case for rethinking the colors in your closet. She is not interested in the standard "seasonal" color palette that has gained great popularity in some circles. Instead, she argues for unusual combinations that reach beyond the ordinary. Here is some of her advice: avoid the overdone combinations of jewel tones and black, especially red and black; stay out of the way of teal, a color that cries out "1970s!"; and avoid like the plague retirement home or wannabe psychic colors like lavender and light pink.

After we have excised these staples from our wardrobe, what should we put in their place? Mathieson looks for the unexpected: greens, golds, and especially oranges that convey a sense of independence. She also advocates bold color combinations, like combining a green jacket with a bright orange bag.

Have I changed my style after reading this book? Well, lucky for me I already like orange, so I haven't had to add this color. I have no intension of throwing out my red and black combinations, despite her good advice. But I have invested in a few pairs of more colorful shoes.

Fashion versus Clothing

Fashion historians make the distinction between fashion, a constantly changing phenomenon, and clothing, a necessity for protection and propriety. Some have even gone so far as to insist that fashion is a distinctly “Western” phenomenon, since the clothing styles of less industrialized societies does not change much over time. Well, I say: Give me clothes over fashion any day.

I was reminded of this in a New York Times article about an Iranian designer, Simin Ghodstinat, who makes inspiring clothes based on traditional Asian patterns. Her aim is to make beautiful designs that are still modest. Although this is not her overt purpose, in the process she protects Iranian women from prosecution under the state regulated dress codes. Although she calls her line “Tradition,” she alters old lines significantly, changing the cut and the fit, sometimes transforming traditional men’s styles for women. Most of all, she has innovated with fabric, using the bright colors of Indian textiles. The result is timeless, not disposable.