Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 21:47     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Beige, brown, gray
Any jeans except skinny
Tuck in your shirt
Wear a belt


i’ll take skinny jeans over the current trend of the weird jeans with the gigantic open bottoms that also stop right before the ankle. They look ridiculous and I have yet to see a single person that they look flattering on. Barrel I think they are called? The worst ones yet.


Barrel legs are The Worst.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 21:44     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You seem like a good candidate for the classy cotton shirt maxidress in blue/beige/black with a gorgeous big stones necklace and good flowy shiny hair. Think Nigella Lawson.


Love this suggestion, and the underlying idea to dress for body type rather than trend.

Late 60s, 5'1", have morphed from flat chested and thin to busty and curvy, and wear shirt dresses from many brands as a daily uniform. For example : Marimekko and Eileen Fisher. Both run 50% off end of season sales. I also buy from more expensive and less expensive brands. You can find 100% cotton, linen, silk, wool. Shoes change the look from fun and casual to dressy and sophisticated. While I like the chunky necklace look a lot, It's too busy and overpowering on me.



This signals "elderly."


It's ok for someone in her late 60s to wear high quality clothes that aren't youthful.



LOL. Thanks.

I'm the late 60s poster. No clothing will make me look young. I'm old. That's just a fact, not a problem. It is still possible to be well dressed, though it doesn't necessarily follow I'm well dressed and I'm certainly prepared to be disabused of any such idea. I was trying to think what would work for the much younger OP and thought the poster recommending shirt dresses was genius, because they really are timeless. They've been around since the 1950s. Available in so many versions from classic to avante garde/edgy. You can belt them or wear loose. It's an incredibly versatile garment. An easy silhouette.

It was surprising to me it read elderly to some, so thought maybe it was the brands that seemed elderly.

Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 20:12     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Does a shirt dress from Max Mara or The Row signal elderly?


Is Ina Garten your style icon? Unless you’re a size 2, they’re not going to be flattering, they’re going to look like you’re wearing your Jammie’s outside. Plus you have more money than sense.


LOLOL not the PP but I'm a size 2/4 and totally ok with being perceived as wearing my jammies outside and having more money than sense. Also, I own several shirts dresses.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 20:11     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You seem like a good candidate for the classy cotton shirt maxidress in blue/beige/black with a gorgeous big stones necklace and good flowy shiny hair. Think Nigella Lawson.


Love this suggestion, and the underlying idea to dress for body type rather than trend.

Late 60s, 5'1", have morphed from flat chested and thin to busty and curvy, and wear shirt dresses from many brands as a daily uniform. For example : Marimekko and Eileen Fisher. Both run 50% off end of season sales. I also buy from more expensive and less expensive brands. You can find 100% cotton, linen, silk, wool. Shoes change the look from fun and casual to dressy and sophisticated. While I like the chunky necklace look a lot, It's too busy and overpowering on me.



This signals "elderly."


It's ok for someone in her late 60s to wear high quality clothes that aren't youthful.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 20:09     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you are 55, and large and soft, you don't need to worry about trends. Find some good jeans, avoiding the skinny ones for multiple reasons, and tuck your shirts in.


This and buy cute tighter fitting tops - we have to go with the shape we’ve got. I’m in a similar boat - 50, size 4, 130lbs, 5’3”. I was always 115 and muscular until perimenopause struck me in the bottom - which suddenly has cellulite despite doing weights. Opposite to you I’ve decided to do the best with what I had and maintain instead of fight the uphill battle - so I spent a lot to buy a wardrobe to fit my new body. I have great jeans and some large leg wool pants that I LOVE. I pair them with very nice tops, some of which are sleeveless- because my arms are still muscular (I have small boobs - so for you get tighter tops). Get a really nice haircut and don’t forget to wear your smile. You’ll look great - embrace the changes in the best way possible. Nothing is worse than a 50+ trying to look 20.


Where do you get your tops? I'm 5'1" and also have muscular arms and a small chest, but shorter tops are in right now and I'm having trouble finding anything shorter than hip length on me. Pants are hard enough!
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 17:42     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:Does a shirt dress from Max Mara or The Row signal elderly?


Is Ina Garten your style icon? Unless you’re a size 2, they’re not going to be flattering, they’re going to look like you’re wearing your Jammie’s outside. Plus you have more money than sense.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 17:29     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:Does a shirt dress from Max Mara or The Row signal elderly?


No.

It signals middle-aged Lacrosse mom who pays for blonde hair that she doesn't come buy natually and drives around listening to audiobooks in an upmarket SUV. Thinks she's an 8.5/10, but is actually more like a 7 -- and that's a DC 7. She's LA/NY/TX ugly. Kids are at a low-tier private, which she is super insecure about, unless she's around people who can only afford public, at which point she won't stop waxing poetic about her kids' school.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 13:42     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:A facelift is definitely one of life's little luxuries at that age. I am getting one around 55-62.

Not a “little luxury” for me, alas. I don’t have six figures in spare change lying around.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 13:31     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Does a shirt dress from Max Mara or The Row signal elderly?
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 13:21     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Maybe. Look at the models on the website. They are mostly young. Maybe that's just marketing.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 13:12     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You seem like a good candidate for the classy cotton shirt maxidress in blue/beige/black with a gorgeous big stones necklace and good flowy shiny hair. Think Nigella Lawson.


Love this suggestion, and the underlying idea to dress for body type rather than trend.

Late 60s, 5'1", have morphed from flat chested and thin to busty and curvy, and wear shirt dresses from many brands as a daily uniform. For example : Marimekko and Eileen Fisher. Both run 50% off end of season sales. I also buy from more expensive and less expensive brands. You can find 100% cotton, linen, silk, wool. Shoes change the look from fun and casual to dressy and sophisticated. While I like the chunky necklace look a lot, It's too busy and overpowering on me.



This signals "elderly."
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 13:10     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:At 55 you should really have your own style and not need to follow trends. You'll look insecure, or like you are trying to recapture your youth (pathetic).


Was that really necessary? Why do you have to be rude to PP?


Following trends doesn't make you look pathetic or desperate, not at all. Plenty of rich mature women are swanning around with the latest couture looks.
The problem with following trends is going in blind - new styles may not actually look great on you. It's one thing for a billionaire who spends hours at the gym or doing injectables and who has an entire cosmetics team at her beck and call to wear whatever she wants because she's slim and has the time, or a stylist, to look super-put together... quite another for a middle class woman without the time or money to perfect her appearance to try on all these styles without an understanding of what looks good on her.

So the first order of business is to understand what looks good on you, OP. It's brain work you need to do, before pulling out your credit card. Ultimately, it will save you a lot of time and money.






There are not "plenty of women," let alone middle-aged ones, "swanning around in the latest couture." If you think that is the case, you don't know what couture is.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 13:08     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:A facelift is definitely one of life's little luxuries at that age. I am getting one around 55-62.


I'm 55 and am seriously considering this. If it weren't for the months of depression that I likely had as a result of going under anesthesia when I had my breast reduction, I probably would have already booked it.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 11:51     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:You seem like a good candidate for the classy cotton shirt maxidress in blue/beige/black with a gorgeous big stones necklace and good flowy shiny hair. Think Nigella Lawson.


Love this suggestion, and the underlying idea to dress for body type rather than trend.

Late 60s, 5'1", have morphed from flat chested and thin to busty and curvy, and wear shirt dresses from many brands as a daily uniform. For example : Marimekko and Eileen Fisher. Both run 50% off end of season sales. I also buy from more expensive and less expensive brands. You can find 100% cotton, linen, silk, wool. Shoes change the look from fun and casual to dressy and sophisticated. While I like the chunky necklace look a lot, It's too busy and overpowering on me.

Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 11:44     Subject: current trends - help me shop
Anonymous wrote:Beige, brown, gray
Any jeans except skinny
Tuck in your shirt
Wear a belt


Yes- I don't notice much but I do notice that everyone is tucking in again. Teen daughter does. I don't know if I can bring myself to do that again. It's very mom jean to me.

The trend and the stores are all about "sets" too. Has anyone noticed that? Especially athletic wear and athleisure.
I also went through that the first time being all matchy matchy. Maybe it was the early 2000s? I guess I'm up for that. Only downside is it's more expensive and you have to coordinate everything being clean at the same time!