I Can’t Handle the Truth
By Glinda
I don’t know why, but it seems I’ve run out of clothing stores.
It’s not that they are all closing down due to the economic times, although that could be an issue sooner than I think.
It’s just that almost all of the clothes out there are either too “young” or too “old.”
And I fall somewhere in between.
There is a time in everyone’s life when they need to look in the mirror and admit to themselves that a teenager will always look better in something than you do. I’m definitely at that point.
I have to say that I’m not a big fan of older women who dress like teenagers. I think it makes them look ridiculous. Perhaps they are feeling young at heart, but that doesn’t mean they need to wear low-rise jeans, midriff-baring tops, and hoodies. I live in the land of women who do everything in their power to deny their ages, and at the mall I once saw what must have been a woman in her sixties wearing a very expensive, very trendy outfit that would have looked at home on a sixteen year old. Sixty? I’m sorry, but no. It looked very, very, wrong.
But I’m in that awkward age range that certainly is long past young adult, and yet isn’t middle-aged, either. Designers, it seems, go for either one or the other. And while there are things that I like, I certainly can’t afford them. It’s that damn lack of money thing that keeps getting in my way. Of course I have good basic foundation pieces, but sometimes I’m looking for something different, you know?
So I find myself wandering aimlessly through clothing stores, seeing nothing that I feel fits my age or my attitude.
Or maybe I’m just in denial myself.
January 29th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
And I AM middle-aged and I still can’t find nice clothes that don’t make me look like either the mother of the bride or a wannabe Hayden Pannetiere. Surely there has got to be a middle ground, and it has got to be less expensive than Ralph Lauren.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
There’s definitely a middle ground. You need to find those little neighborhood shops that aren’t for teenagers but have fashionable yet not-too-trendy pieces for adult women. Sometimes they’re in strip malls and in the damndest places. And there’s always Anthropologie.
Incidentally, I’m a middle aged woman, but I’m not about to surrender to the siren call of mom jeans. Low rise it is. There are plenty of low-rise styles out there that are still age-appropriate.
I think part of the problem is that since the end of last summer, stores don’t seem to be putting in much in the way of new inventory. I’ve noticed lately that nothing really inspires.
January 29th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
No, I don’t wear mom jeans, either.
When I say low-rise, I mean low, low rise. Like skimming your vagina low rise.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Some women don’t have a sense of the appropriate. Even if you have a fantabulous body and can wear low-rise jeans and a high-rise top, you shouldn’t. At least, you shouldn’t wear it for the photo they are putting in your law school magazine along with the story of how you’re such an amazing student.
Just sayin’, Miss UW-Madison law student.
http://law.wisc.edu/webshare/02J6/v32n2.pdf
January 29th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
There does seem to be a real dearth of stores out there for actual grown-up women who don’t want to look like teenagers, but still want to look stylish and sexy. I stumbled across a new store called Cassis, which is phenomenal (Raincoaster, they still only have them in Ontario, Quebec, and N.B., but keep your eyes peeled. http://www.cassis.ca) Other than that, I tend to stick with the less crazy stuff at Old Navy. They don’t have them here, but I’ve always thought that Ann Taylor had pretty nice-looking stuff.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
I like the gap and New York and Company. You can get things that aren’t too trendy and not too age-specific. I do a lot of making my own look. Of course, I wear mostly black, so that makes it easier.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I don’t mind Banana Republic, but the quality’s not in accordance with the price. Old Navy is great for schlepwear, but I don’t find anything professional there, nor is that what the designers want in that store. The Gap used to be good and offer classics, but they went through a horrible “Japanese teenager” phase with weird fashiony things and I don’t think they’ve fully recovered.
Talbots? Well, I’m a preppy at heart, I guess it’ll do. Mind you, of all places the catalogues of Victoria’s Secret often have some good clothes, and the jeans fit really well, too.
January 30th, 2009 at 11:13 am
How about J. Crew? I can never afford anything full price but I did go a little crazy yesterday with their winter sale. I bought some pieces I’m very excited about actually – fun but not in a teeny bopper’ish kind of way, I think it’ll be good quality, and I can work it at the office or when I want to get dressed up over the weekend (you know, every 3 months or so).
I have to say I think Gap has gotten better. I’ve bought some pieces there that have been professional yet not staid nor stale. The quality is not the greatest, but it’ll do given my budget. I still refuse to pay full price there as well.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Try J. Jill or some things in Chicos…
February 1st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I also love boutiques. They have fun clothes that aren’t geared toward teens or the granny sect.