Vintage for the over 40 crowd

[W-D Forties]

I think a lot of us on the Lounge (as in life) got into vintage through the various youth cults of the 80's. Fast forward and a most of us are now in our 40's and still like to 'dress up'. I wore a lot of vintage when I was a teenager in the 80's mainly because it was cheap, available, unusual and easy to mix and match. It was only as I got older that I really appreciated the history behind the looks.

Dita is nearly 40 now, but I know what you mean about some of it (the pin up looks) being geared towards a slightly younger age range. I think a lot of the loungers blog though, and as Lizzie has said, we err towards the more 'mature'!

[Miss Stella]

Speaking as a 50 year old , I think vintage is less age related than modern clothes and that one of the great advantages, think style not age I would say.

Well said, Paul!

I will be 50 next Monday- Its all about knowing your personal style and owning it
I do put on jeans and a t-shirt occasionally to cut and stack firewood, ride the Harley...things like that but I certainly feel more content and confident wearing classic styles and those in, my case, are either vintage or vintage-inspired. I've done the "wear what the media says" thing and they can keep it! I dress how I feel best. Now, IMHO, there is an art to wearing vintage so we don't look dowdy or costume-ish. But isn't that with any clothing?
I think it would be great to start a blog for us older ladies who wear vintage though....encourage others to be 'classy not trashy'
Best style advice for any age~
"Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory". Coco Chanel

[Miss Stella]

Has anyone seen advancedstyle.blogspot.com? There are a lot of classy ladies and gents Ari has photographed and he has a book that has just gone out.
he also has photographed many, shall we say 'unique' individuals over the years...

[Vera Godfrey]

I just turned 40 this year. I don't always dress vintage, but when I do, I tend to go for a 40's look as I find it very classic and "forgiving" for my age and figure.

[Espee]

Hmmm the catalog figures of mature women are only seven or eight heads high, instead of nine or ten!
(A quick estimate.)

[swinggal]

I think it's more about sophistication and chic as you get older. I don't feel the need to change the way I dress as I age because I always try to aim for those two aspects anyway, even in my every day life, and I have been doing that since my 20s.

A classy, classic look has always been my thing even when not dressed in vintage. I'm not one for flowery fabrics and flounce either and have always preferred blocks of colour in my vintage looks, I think that is ageless really. I love resort wear too and 30s style, wide, high-waisted flowing pants and cute blouses are a staple of my wardrobe. Renée Perle (below) is a great inspiration and very much my style. I also love Coco Chanel because she wore a lot of darker colours, like I do. For me, simple is best with accents.

[Red Diabla]

Hi all,

I haven't been on FL much lately and just kind of realized how much I've missed it.

I wanted to bring up something I have been thinking about for a bit. I follow lots of vintage blogs, sewing mostly, but general vintage too. I am now 41 and I've realized that there isn't a lot of content geared toward the over 40 crowd (let alone over 50 or 60). I'm thinking fashion specifically, but the whole vintage genre as well. So, is it that there are just less older women interested in vintage or are we out there and subject to the whole invisible thing that society at large does? Perhaps the whole pin up/rockabilly/wiggle dress thing is dominant because most of the crowd is young and that is what they want? Are there women in their 50s and 60s who love vintage style? I know the women in their 40s are out there, just not terribly visible.

I for one am at that stage where I acknowledge that I don't want to be a flirty sweet young thing, but I am also wary of veering into dowdy territory. I can still wear vintage styles that in their day would really have been for the younger crowd, but I also don't want to look like someone trying desperately trying to stay young. I know some of you get where I'm coming from. A big emphasis in the commercial side of vintage (repro clothes, fests, dance culture) is on the young and flirty or young and hot or young and...

I've been toying with the idea of starting a vintage blog that would specifically try to represent the perspective of people my age and older in the vintage scene. I've poked about and haven't found any blogs or sites that do that. Are there any that I have just missed? A blog that is prominent done by someone not in their 20s or 30s?

I know this opens up a whole big discussion about our youth obsessed culture, etc., but I am curious if this perspective is represented in the vintage scene and if so, where.

Thoughts appreciated.

I don't have much in the way of resources for you, but as a 43-year old, I hear ya! My ramblings are as follows:

You touched on how invisible women can be when they get older, except when they try to look desperately young. I think it's when the desperation shows through that it's a problem. As for the rest of us, I get frustrated seeing dresses or skirts that I think are cute, but the hem is too short for my liking, due to my age. Which is depressing when it starts happening a lot. It doesn't help that I'm so white I'm clear, but that's a different issue.

There's something to be said in feeling confident with what you're wearing, and that will kill most desperation with vintage styles, since you're not going for a modern Jersey Shore hoochie-mama look to begin with. There's more leeway working with vintage styling when one is middle-aged these days, because the connotations between age now and age when these clothes we love first came into being are so different. A 40-year-old now can wear a dress originally meant for a late-20's/early 30's age range that's vintage and no one would blink an eye...in fact, that 40-year-old will most likely get a lot of compliments!

I think it comes down to the individual and what that individual is attracted to fashion-wise to make vintage work for them. There's leeway for the middleaged to look pretty darned good; we just have to believe it and run with it!

RD

[Patricia Lynn]

I'm over 40 and while my blog isn't specifically about being vintage over a certain age (its more about the vintage places I go and things I do, events I attend, things I'm sewing, etc.) it does reflect, I guess you would say, a more mature bent. I have a child and can't flit about on weeknights and party as I would have when I was younger. I find if you dress in 20s, 30s, 40s or even 50s styles as actual ladies of that time would have worn them, vs. pinup interpretations of vintage styles you can pull off vintage classically at pretty much any age. I'd read your blog if you were to start one.

[Idledame]

I think there would be interest in a blog specifically for vintage older women. Do tell us if you start or find one!

[Louise Anne]

What about doing a collaborative blog together for "Vintage for the over 40 crowd" if you already on bloggers I think you can add people as authors to a blog
This way the work load will not fall on one person and you can keep your own blog the way you like it now.
and together we will show a range of look we wear and how we use vintage etc.
Even if your are 25 years old maybe with vintage it could be interesting to try a more mature look once in a while and post it on there

Each blog post could also be advertised in this thread as it made so every one can keep up to date and go over if it interests them.

If any one interested in doing that please add your name below and I set up a blog add you as a author and see how it goes.



As for weaing style two young style I think if it suits you wear it , in real life where I live I haave seen some ladies in the 50's wearing shorter skirts and they can look very classy I feel it's more what else your wear with it that gets the look working right.