Don't know how to dress according to my age

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I am 47 seven and sometimes I feel like I am still wearing outfits that the average teenager would wear. Since I am petite as well people don't take me seriously and treat me like kid. Most women love it when people think that they are much younger than they actually are but I don't. I get fed up with the patronizing attitudes of people who don't even know me. I like to wear simple jeans, shirts and jumpers. Since I am totally unable to walk on heels I always wear flat shoes and boots. When I look at myself in the mirror I am very aware of the fact that my clothing style is too infantile for my age. My hairstyle isn't that great either.I don't like to waste time on styling my hair. I just pull it back and tie it up with a hairpin. I avoid going to hairsalons because being in them makes me feel all panicky and unworthy.

I love clothes and buy a lot of stuff but I usually buy the same items over and over again. I don't have two or three pairs of jeans but 25 pairs. The problem is that I have no idea what women my age are supposed to wear. Does anyone here have some useful tips? It's not my goal to look beautiful because I have come to terms with the fact that I look kind of plain. I just want to be taken more seriously by people that's all.

Your outfits sound fine to me. As long as you're not wearing any young womens tight fitting fashion you should look ok. One suggestion is to swap the jumpers and shirts for jackets/blazers and nice (but relaxed fitting) tops. Jeans are a staple wardrobe item no matter what age you are.

Make a point of spotting women your age in the street and taking note of the type of clothes they're wearing
Maybe try some of the clothing shops that are aimed at older women. They will give you an idea of what styles are most appropriate on older women (they wouldn't sell styles that aren't).

I'm in like the borderline territory now at 30, I dunno if I'm supposed to shop at Supre or Susan's

I can really relate to this thread a lot.

I think short hair is easier and get it cut at lower activity times by a low key, kind person who knows I won't waste time on it and cuts accordingly. Because I have known her awhile, I'm not panicky, and even use the time to ask for social advice. She's nice about giving it, and it's usually really good.

I also shop in a store that mainly caters to women older than me or my age, and I use other customers and sales people for advice. That way, the styles are more grown up and they can tell me or I see on their faces if something really doesn't look right.

If I want to wear something higher for shoes, I shop in the expensive European style brands because some of them are really very comfortable, so works out ok, though I can't possibly wear anything really tall. They're usually called comfort brands or something like that. Sometimes online stores have at better prices, though, and they last so they don't cost as much as it seems.

A lot of it is in how you carry yourself though. I know it's hard to get taken seriously no matter what I wear, and that has to be factored in. Sometimes it helps, though to wear a jacket or blazer. A little, not a huge amount, though depends what you are doing too.

Yeah, it's really hard to find jeans right now that aren't. I hate tight fitting clothes, at least on the outer layer (not at all above wearing an under armor type shirt under a t-shirt or hoodie). But as a woman in her thirties, its so hard to find jeans that aren't tight and emphasize um... assets... I'd prefer weren't. I usually shop at Tractor Supply Company. Their Wrangler jeans and Schmidt jeans and shirts are loose, comfortable, and have the whole "country girl" style I prefer. My style in clothes is more masculine that most so I try to use colors and stuff to make them look more feminine. For instance, my favorite look is carpenter jeans, a t-shirt, and a flannel shirt. So I get women's jeans (really hard to find women's carpenter jeans...) and a hot pink t-shirt with a blue flannel shirt over it. I am very blessed to have a husband who understands my look and doesn't expect me to dress different for him or be what I'm not. I'm not the least bit above wearing jeans and my stepson's hand-me-down superhero t-shirts. I don't really care what the rest of the world thinks about how I look. I dress to make myself look good to me and my husband. It might be different if I embarrassed our boys, but they think it's cool. That's all I really need.

You're clothes sound ok to me.

I wouldn't give in to pressure to dress a certain way unless you are trying to appear professional in the office. If that is the case, try nice fitting grey or black slacks and a simple top not made of tshirt material. The top shouldn't be too sheer, and if it is at all wear a sweater or jacket. A sweater is more appropriate for entry level employees and a jacket is better for management or someone trying to advance. Blue is a good color for a shirt. Bright colors are not. If you buy neutral styles, not bell bottoms or peg legs, you should be able to wear your clothes ten years without going out of fashion.

Jeans don't last so go with the fashion. They are tight right now if you have a reasonable figure.

I find clothes for women my age too frumpy and cut too large to fit. I truly could care less what people think about my clothes. My physical comfort affects me more than one or two jealous judgmental looks from women who gave up on their appearance with their first child.

Actually you sound like you fit in far better than I do

I buy my clothes at thrift stores and refuse to wear anything that does not fit sort of a hippie look, jean skirts and loose mostly cotton tops.

about the hair, I left it mostly unkempt until I finally found a hair dresser who friended me on facebook who knows I am AS and is willing to work with me. She normally requires a wash at the same time as a cut & I told her no way, she said fine.

I'll be 50 in April and sometimes I think about a particular outfit that I have that it's too young for me. I can tell you this though, after giving it a good bit of thought and mirror time, it's all going to depend on your body. If your body is still ok, you can pull it off. I have a 20 year old daughter and can wear lots of her stuff and look damn good in it. However, I also have some more "age appropriate" things as well as tons of vintage things from a variety of decades.

The trick is to match the outfit to the situation. If you are going somewhere on business you don't want to show up in jeans and a crop top. You will want to wear some sort of a business suit or at least a business casual type skirt or pants and shirt with jacket outfit. Then again, if you are going out to the club you don't want to wear mom jeans and a pullover. You can go all out with the Jersey Shore look if you want. It just depends on where you are going and what your body looks like.

_________________
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I'm 50 but I can still get away with wearing jeans and t shirts, I wear skirts and tops when I go out rather then a dress as there doesn't seem to be suitable dresses for my age.
I don't like dresses that are too low at the front.

I don't get why normal-looking jeans, t-shirts and sneakers are supposed to be juvenile. If they were meant to be only for kids then they wouldn't make them in a big enough sizes to fit me. My mother's in her 60's, looks young for her age and wears practical clothes most of the time. Of course she kind of has to because of her job at a scrap-recycling place but that's really how she prefers to dress. My grandmother, who's in her 90's and my mom's parent, never wore pants at all until very recently, her whole life she wore dresses or skirts. But I don't think people make as big of a deal how you're dressed where I live. Of course if you were dressed very unusually like I've heard about in big cities people would notice!

I refuse to 'dress my age'. Should I say no to cool stuff just because I have turned 40? Then ageing really sucks!

I still like the stuff I liked when I was 16, and I have decided that goth and steampunk will be stylish even when I turn 80 (especially when I turn 80 ). At some point I will probably stop wearing miniskirts, but there will still be long lace dresses

Women in their 40s can dress young or old. It's a perfect age to wear anything. I've never dressed "sexy" when I was young so I'm not about to change that. I mostly wear sweaters (cute fitting ones) and t-shirts (again fitted ones) with skirts (knee to ankle length). I have a couple pairs of well fitting jeans as well. I basically try to wear comfortable clothes that are a bit more tailored and with a bit of extra details (not totally plain). For now those really suit me, as I'm a SAHM. Maybe in a few years I'll need something different. My signature is bold bright colors. I don't care if they suit my skintone or what, I like bright colors. I'll wear those "don't look at me" clothes when I'm 80.