In 2015 Sandra Bullock was voted People magazine’s most beautiful woman. You might remember it. First, because she’s so likable and super easy to root for.

Second, because she had just gone through that super public break-up with her cheating loser ex.

Then, to show up on the cover a couple months later looking crazy awesome… Can we all agree #bestrevenge possible?

Even better? She was 50 years old.

Which created massive chatter about 50 being the new 30.

That was nearly a decade ago, so it always surprises me when clients say, ‘I want to dress age-appropriate.’

My knee-jerk response is, What does that even mean anymore? If you love how you look and feel confident, who cares how old you are?

That, however, is not what my clients want to hear.

So, I share the Sandra example and a couple more…

Like, Betsey Johnson is 78 and still doing cartwheels on the runway. (I don’t recommend cartwheels. I tried. And ended up pulling a muscle that should never be pulled.)

And Iris Apfel is 99! I know, bonkers, right. And I’m pretty sure no one has the chutzpah to tell her to take off all those bangles and dress her age.

While those examples totally make sense to me, they rarely ever satisfy my clients. They are asking for a roadmap. Some parameters to follow. I hate the R-word, but they’re looking for some rules to follow.

So, I came up with a better explanation. And here it is. Go ahead. Take it for a test drive.

#1 – Your Figure Is Bangin’

No denying the truth though – No matter how much we work out, eat healthy, and all that other boring stuff, our bodies change. Pregnancy, Menopause, Covid Lockdown, whatever.

We make a mistake by not acknowledging the changes. Or dressing for the shape we had 10, 20, 30 years ago.

What we do instead…

Step #1 – Understand our new shape. Embrace it. And no stinky self-talk.

Step #2 – Choose your favorite feature(s) and then accentuate the ever-lovin’ heck out of it/them

Here are a couple articles that dive deeper into all that.

I guarantee – 10 years from now, we’re going to look back at pictures from today and think we looked so young. And so thin. And pretty flippin’ amazing.

#2 – Speak Without Saying A Word

A million people have said something along the lines of, style is the best, fastest, easiest way of telling the world who you are without saying a word.

Sounds almost cliché but think about that for a moment.

What impression did you want to give the world at 20?

It was different at 30.

A whole bunch different by 40.

And heck, by 50, you’re barely the same woman you were at 20. (Can I get an amen to that? I don’t know about you, but my 20-year-old self was a complete ding-dong.)

Put Your Clothes To Work For You

My point being, when we dress with the message we want to send in mind, we won’t go wrong. Walking into a business meeting, you want to come across as smart, organized, prepared, maybe powerful. Dress with those words firmly in mind.

Meeting your husband’s co-workers for the first time? Different message. Different outfit.

Cocktail party with everyone in the neighborhood? Different message.

The message you want to send will tell you if the outfit makes sense and does its job. Keep that in mind, and you’ll always be confident in your choices.

#3 – Tacky Is Tacky No Matter The Age

Young girls can get by with tacky because we chalk it up to them not knowing better. It’s tougher when we get to a certain age because people expect us to be savvier.

In doubt about where an item falls on the tacky meter?

Here’s a helpful R of thumb:

You can never go wrong with the classy choice. Now classy means different things to different women. In my mind, classy means:

• Timeless styles
• Loose enough to move comfortably
• Showing a tasteful amount of skin

Easy, peasy right.

Slap A Bow On It:

There’s a lot of questionable things that happen with age. There’s also some awesome stuff. The best one is knowing who you are and confidently embracing it.

Because now more than ever, age is just a meaningless number. And remember, you’ll never again be as young as you are today.

So, are Sandra, Betsey, and Iris special? Heck, yeah! Absolutely.

But then, so are you.

‘Til Next Week.

Hugs & happy shopping.