Is The Top of "The Hill" Closer Than You Think?

Where would we all be without strangers on the Internet to tell us how to dress? Here is yet another list of Things Women Should Stop Wearing After Age 30. What's really funny about this list is that on a good many of the items the author says that no one of any age should wear them, and I have to agree with some of these but this list was supposed to be specific to women over 30.

From my perspective (way over 30) 30 seems like a strangely young cut-off age for most of the items in the list. Graphic tees? Really? She lost me right there. I sew most of my clothes of course but graphic tees are the one kind of RTW item that I wear often. And "bedazzled anything"? I don't wear a lot of rhinestones and sequins and glitter myself but it seems crazy weird to suggest that a woman should suddenly give up sparkle the day she turns 30. And the weirdest of all? American Eagle jeans. Really? Why? Someone explain this to me please. I could understand if it was low-riders but the ones in the picture are not.

I believe in freedom of choice and everyone minding their own business so I would like to say that age doesn't matter and we can all wear anything we like at any age but, realistically, I'm not sure I could stand by that absolutely. What we wear is a personal choice and what looks good varies from person to person, based not only on age and body type but also things like grace and dignity and other intangibles. It's too complex a matter for simple lists. But please keep making lists. They're so much fun to ridicule.

Future Designer?

This mom let her 3-year-old boy pick her clothes for a week. Honestly not too bad. I've seen much worse on Anne's Wearable Wednesdays. (And we won't even talk about what we see at Walmart.)

My Style

I often half-joke, "I don't have a style; I just wear whatever I like." I don't really think about having a "style." Defining a style and consciously sticking to it seems too limiting. So my style, if I have one, is unplanned and I like it that way. But I saw this idea on Not Dead Yet Style and I thought it might be a fun exercise, even though it won't change anything for me. It is simply to list my "likes" and "dislikes." I am going to change that a bit and frame them as "Me" and "Not Me" instead because the things I avoid are not only the things I don't like but also, in some cases, things I do like but that just don't work for me. So anyway, here we go.

Me
Girly
A bit retro (but not always)
Cottons
Florals and novelty prints
Wide variety of colors
Fitted tops/bodices
Moderately full or A-line skirts
Lace trim and rick-rack

Not Me
Menswear look
Pencil skirts
Excessively full skirts
High-low hems
Cluttered or mixed-up look

As you can see I have more in the Me list than in the Not Me. I'm sure that if I thought about it more, and wanted to go into more detail, I could come up with more for both lists but that's enough for a general overview of my style.

I am interested in seeing your Me and Not Me or Likes and Dislikes. If you would like to join the fun, post your lists on your blog and post a link in the comments or, if you don't have a blog just post your lists in the comments. I look forward to reading about your style.

UPDATE: I see that URLs don't show up as links in the comments so I'm going to post them here for your convenience.

Living in Color