I have been thinking a lot about how we, as older women, dress. It seems problematic. I think we don’t trust our instincts or else we are mired in jeans and t-shirts or loose sweaters. I am a little tired of looking at myself in this attire everyday. I want to look like this woman above, bohemian or gypsy-inspired. I find it too easy to grab that proverbial comfy gray sweater and jeans. So I started exploring and researching clothing that seemed perfect for the gray-haired bunch or the group of us that seem invisible to any marketing scheme for great everyday clothing.
I find that Gudrun Sjoden’s clothing fits the look that I want as I get older, and I greatly appreciate her representation of aging women as chic, adventurous, and savvy. We are….we just need to get out there and show it.
I think it is all about layers, colors, leggings to add some pizazz and a hat or a scarf or an edgy accessory to set the whole thing in motion. I am striving for this one piece at a time.
These shoes, for instance, seem to make any outfit look fun. And they are non-leather, a requirement I have that is unwavering, so even vegan shoes can be fun. You just have to look a little harder to find them, but it is always worth the hunt.
The older woman on the left is exactly the image I am striving to meet.
Do you remember Oilily? I loved their clothes, and there used to be quite a few stores that sold them. Now I am not sure they are still in business. I know they were selling children’s clothing for awhile, but somehow the spirit of the company is not the same for women as it was. Here are a few other photos when their designs were so great and inspiring.
This is the look I am after as I grow into my older years. Why not? It is fun and adventurous and says so much about how we can strive and thrive and be present in our lives.
I have spent the last several days sorting through all my fabrics matching things, creating looks, feeling a sense of confidence in this mode, this fun and funky style. I have pulled out many of my old linens, some plain and some very colorful and floral. I find this all so energizing. And footwear and socks are key too. Be outrageous once in a while. Wear that hat you have been afraid to put on your head. Sling that multi-colored handbag over your shoulder. Wear those funky, quirky beads. Sing a song as you go along and giggle deep within. It honestly feels so good to be a little more free, a true crone, a colorful dragon let loose in the park!
Just yesterday i got an email from Gudrun with her new summerclothing.
I like that she has not only 18 year old models. No wonder we like this style of clothing, its a little hippy powerflower.
I really love it.
XXXm
I have subscribed to her catalog because I find her so very inspiring and, yes, I love the way she uses older models. I can’t wait for her fall collection, my favorite season!
Oh, I love this more than I know how to say, and really, I am hardly ever at a loss for words. This is how I dress my characters in stories that I am writing. I love to write about a character who is wearing a turban and a wild silk muumuu and an old-lace mantle, with harlequin leggings underneath. I spend hours clothing my imaginary people, and oh, how I wish that I went out in the world dressed like this myself. I think you might just be nudging me in that direction. I feel as if I just opened a door, and a whole new world lay before me!! xo Kari
How fun to be able to dream up outfits for your characters. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time. That is almost as good as dressing yourself this way. I have dolls waiting for clothes to wear (waiting for me to sew them!) and I always tend to dream up the most amazingly quirky and fun ensembles. I think it is my other side coming out and wanting a little self-expression.
And this is why I make striped socks and wear red shoes! I’ve loved Oilily for a long time (probably since when I saw those pictures you’ve featured in that magazine…it’s floating around here somewhere). I recently looked through Gudrun Sjoden’s web site. I’ve been thinking making some vests would be a good step into making things more fun.
Red shoes! When I could easily find them in non-leather I would never be without a pair. They are definitely the best part of one’s wardrobe, and they go with everything in spite of what some people would claim. I would always wear every pair out. And the striped socks are the perfect combination. Vests are a great way to explore a little adventure, one of those great layering pieces.
How I love your post about clothes, and I so agree with you. Colour and fun is ever so much more important than beige, safe and elegant now that we are growing older. Let us cast caution to the wind and breathe springtime into our wardrobe. I often buy things from charity shops and change the buttons, or add a bit here and there, to make it personally mine. Have a look at this website:www.skrunch.co.uk for further inspiration.
Thanks for your post, so inspirational and a comfort!
Oh I loved the website that you referenced! What fun. I sent her an email telling her how much I loved her ideas. This is the trend of the future for sure. Yes, lets grab the gusto and wear the colors and have fun with them. I always am asking myself “why not?” Actually, I am a little tired of being predictable and safe and proper. It is time to try a new look, maybe one that was always there from the beginning, but it took this long to be revealed. Age seems to help us along in not being so tidy!
You are right!!! How I love color and yet I will say that some of the things I wore when I was in my twenties are not appropriate for my sixties. That shouldn’t be so because our psyches need boosting up just as they did in our twenties. You gave me a little more confidence to pull more color out of my closet.
I just read Deb G’s comment about red shoes. I did buy some red sneakers (in a fit of madness) but I haven’t worn them yet. I think I will haul them out and proclaim my place in this “mad” world.
Get those red sneakers out of the closet!!! It is time to wear them with pride and madness. Believe me, there is nothing like red on your feet to set you in motion in the world! Honestly, you cannot be sad or perplexed or safe or proper or bored or shy if you are wearing red shoes. They boost you along and put a little jig in your step.
oh be still my heart. i just discovered Gudrun Sjoden’s clothing this past autumn and delight in every snail mail I receive…… love the look. the color combinations can’t be beat. wow, i had forgotten oilily. similar. and way better than hanna anderson (too frumpy). your idea of sewing the look for yourself is great — Sjoden’s are pricey given the relative value of the dollar. your pics are great. your choices divine.
I guess this is why sewing clothes is so great. You can pick any fabric or color or style and just go out on a limb. I think part of this all started because I was so bored with the clothing in the stores, but I also love the idea of going to resale shops, buying a piece and fixing it up and personalizing it. I think Hanna Anderson might be too frumpy too, but I love her things for children. I can hardly wait for my Gudrun Sjoden’s catalog to arrive.
i love all of this. yet i am stuck with the jeans and the t shirts for now…. at least until they wear out. most of my wild stuff is in the form of accessories….
Wild accessories are great. In fact you can wear jeans and t shirts or sweaters everyday, and if you go out and throw on funky beads or a great scarf, then the whole look becomes great! I am not against jeans or cotton shirts, they are the staples in my wardrobe. But I am feeling more inclined these days to put my fabric collection to better use than fillers for shelving. You already do justice to your collection by the incredible quilts that you create. Georgia O’Keefe always wore black so she could concentrate on her art and not be distracted by clothing or competing colors. I always thought that was so sensible…more time for creative pursuits!
oh boy you’ve touched a nerve with this subject! I’ve been thinking about this very thing, a lot lately. I’ve been stuck in my jeans-and-tank-top uniform for 35 years and it feels so much like me that I can’t take it anymore, I want “me” to look like one of those women in those pictures!
How about the clothing by “free people?” these are the clothes I wish I were 35 years younger in order to wear easily.
My goal for this summer is to make clothes for myself that I feel like myself in. Clothes like you’ve pictured in this post. Summer clothes are so easy to sew and I can stick with the tank top template and shape and embellish them in a zillion ways. Don’t know if I really have the time for this, but!
Well we have to start somewhere. I notice form your blog that you spend a lot of time at your sewing machine, so I am sure it is a little difficult to spend more time creating clothing. I think a fun alternative would be to go to resale shops or the Goodwill, buy something, and do a little remodel with it. It really is amazing what can be discovered in these places. I may, in fact, stop by one I have been meaning to get to for the last several months. There are so many different ways of “doing” clothes. Let me know if you create something you love!
I love these clothes! This is how I picture you – an artist that will try anything with confidence. Different colors, textures, patterns…it all works! I think this look is especially great for Portland – the bright colors are perfect for rainy days.
Absolutely true! On a dreary day stepping out with color and fun hats and shoes and tights and confidence is like lighting up your life! It may take a little more effort, but I am beginning to think the effort is worth it. I wore those shoes yesterday in the pouring rain with a funky raincoat and I felt like a new and renewed person!
I l-o-v-e the style you have shown!
I had to purchase a new pair of shoes for
work and I chose shiny red shoes! I needed something
that was functional yet fun and as I grow older
I do not care much what others think.
What you have chosen is such an inspiration.
Thank you!
p.s. love your shoes!
You are speaking my language. Great that you bought those shiny red shoes! I think it is so true that as you get older you really tend to not care much what other people think. I had always read this, and now that I am at that age, I would agree with the idea wholeheartedly.
I’m getting braver in my attire, too. Inspired by:
http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/
~Sharon
What a fun blog you referenced. I think it is important to keep this spirit high and always present in our minds. It is such a wonderful way to embrace our lives at an older age.
i love to dress this way. go for it.
The patterned leggings are intriguing. Obviously designed in on-trend colors to go with the garments.
But why wear anything on your legs when the sun in shining? I found that a bit of a non-secquitur. They looked uncomforabley warm to me.
AmI mistaken?
I think Mo’a's comment answered the question of “why tights in the summer” since Scandinavia is more chilly than places in the US. Sometimes I live periodically in a small town right on the Pacific Ocean and it is almost always cool there too. I tend to wear tights even in the summer, especially if I wear a shorter skirt. As I get older, I have problems with varicose veins and since I never tan, my bare legs are not that attractive! I feel a little more comfortable with something on my legs. I also like the cropped tights too. They are a little less warm on a hotter day.
Thanks for this post. It looks like the key is COLOR. My own wardrobe has been industrial drab for the longest time but I never leave the house without a scarf in a screaming color…I used to have a pair of purple high top sneakers…time to go looking for them again.
Oh purple high top sneakers!! That sounds like so much fun. Go dig them out and wear them. I think they would be great with cuffed, cropped jeans and funky socks. I wonder if I can find some too!
I love, love, love this post. I have been thinking so much about dressing in a colorful way.
I used to wear Laura Ashley and Dione vonFurstenburgh’s colorful dresses…I would love to go back to that.
I have dressed in black for many years now. I use big jewelry, colorful scarves, red and purple gloves, purple or red shoes and colorful purses as accessories. Lately I have been adding colorful jackets and T shirts to get my feet in the water. In the summer I often wear sarongs as skirts and top it with a T shirt.
When I was young/younger
When I was in Berlin last week I noticed that like most people here in the US people dressed in Jeans, T shirts and black jackets. One has to have a lot of courage to dress in the Gudrun Sjoden’s style. I see her type of style a lot in Scandinavia in the summer…colorful tights and all…since it is not generally as hot there as it is here in the US.
I agree that it does take a little courage to wear this look. Yet, I am tired of how I have looked. I definitely want to wear more color everywhere from head-to-toe. Living in Portland, Oregon where it rains a lot and the sky is often gray, I think color is such a great way to enter a day. I also think as women get older, it might be fun to try some fun styles and singing colors. I am drawn to this more and more. I really love Gudrun’s style. And I also think it is great that she is using an older woman for a model. It is about time!!
What a fantastic post, truly inspirational, I adore the bohemian, free-spirited look that shines out from every picture! As older women, our culture tends to cast us as dowdy and past it, but that is so much rubbish, we are (hopefully) becoming the wise women we wished we could be when we were younger and more sprightly. I love your vegetarian brogues, fantastic! You are lucky to have the perfect figure, face and hair, so you will be able to wear whatever you chose with real style, it is all about confidence and a sense of adventure, we must refuse to let the media stereotype us, and express ourselves boldly. The Leonard Cohen song Suzanne springs to mind: “She is wearing rags & feathers from Salvation Army counters…” I always have seen Suzanne as an amazing, eccentric older lady… Here’s to bringing out the Suzanne in all of us! xxx
I loved your comment. I completely agree with you about how older women are stereotyped. It is rubbish. I think, however, we are turning the corner. I see a lot of women with gray hair now and being comfortable with that. I recently read that the models on the runways are now putting gray streaks in their hair, a trend they say. I do think a lot of this has to do, as you said, with confidence and having that desire to be a little adventurous too. I think if we all banded together and dressed any way we chose then we might gain the respect and attention we deserve. No more being invisible or silent. I like Leonard Cohen too, and what a great song. Suzanne is one to emulate!
I often stop by after reading my daughters blog at Be creative. I look for mentions and pictures of Mendocino but really injoyed this blog about having the courage to change. What you wear or how you live your life. Thanks for the thoughts.
I am so pleased that you took the time to leave a comment. Thank you for your special thoughts. I think this is why we who write blogs feel it is all worthwhile when someone stops by and leaves some feedback, some feelings that reaffirm why we spend time posting. I know sometimes people do not like to leave a comment, but I want you to know how much I appreciate what you said! I am going back to Mendocino tomorrow for a month so I will post some recent photos for you.
What a fabulous post on funky free spirited clothing for us older galz. In my mind I could see cloths like these and the pictures from Vogue and Oilily are incredible.
As you mentioned, these cloths whisper of the bohemian and gypsy, and I love them.
Now to hunt for these at prices I can afford and piece together.
How fun!
Safe travels and thanks so mucch for sharing this.
I think one might find fun and funky things in resale shops too. I find that always an adventure, especially when you can save a bundle of money and be “green” at the same time.
What a pleasure and great comfort to find a blog like yours. I especially agree with the ‘age renaissance’, our wish for a rebirth after a life spent to seduce, attract, be conformed, respond to other’s demands. The elder age is finally for us, but free from the horrible grey, brown, black. I live in Rome, I’m Italian, and I feel that our sense of elegance cannot be expressed only through colors which deprive us of our fullness of life. here color is something trasgressive, if chosen by an older lady. I’ve decided not to dye my hair anymore, and people are really astonished. But I’m feeling great! I’ll keep on reading you.
Congratulations on your decision to no longer dye your hair! I think it is such a relief, a special freedom as well as a confirmation that getting older is quite nice and liberating in many ways. When I decided to stop coloring my hair (it was blond at the time), my two daughters felt I was too young for gray hair. Now they love it. I also think chemicals on your scalp for so many years are not wise.
Rome, Italy? I am curious as to how you found me! I am delighted, but it always amazes me when someone far away stops to visit and leaves such a nice comment. I am so happy that you did, and would love to hear more feedback from you on women, aging, culture expectations, etc. Italian women are similar to French women, very elegant and well-dressed. Please stay confident with your hair color. We are beginning to establish our own values by presenting ourselves just as we choose. I think it is an exciting time for us if we maintain this assured image. Thank you, Angela, for taking the time to share your thoughts on this subject.
‘how I found you’: difficult to say… in search for inspiration, you appeared and I decided (it is my first time!) to leave a comment.I love your life-style and your positive feeling. I also love your hand-sewing. It’s not artificial, more tactile:well, it’s the only method I can use. It’s fun, Italy is the country of taylors and nowadays nobody is able to sew, haberdashers have disappeared and people consider craft as anti-intellectual, out-of-date and not suitable for ‘liberated’ women. Textile blogs are quite a few, for the reason given above and for general feminine lack of technological confidence.
I love using scraps, (my ragtime…), fibers, plastic bags to create garments which I also dare to wear.
Creating and playing with clothes and colors is not only a personal issue, it has psychological and social effects. Our pleasure, pride, personal choice is so easily communicated! It would be interesting to investigate on different national styles and on how they influence people’s lives.
I am completely fascinated with this subject and what you are doing with your sewing and creating as well. About ten years ago when my husband and I bought a condominium in San Francisco (since sold a few years back), the young real estate woman who showed us the property asked me what I did. I told her I spent a lot of time searching for old textiles and trims and then using these in my sewing projects. She was aghast and shared that she would never learn how to sew even a button because she felt sewing was way too domestic for her. I gathered it was quite beneath her! However, in the US I see a trend towards home sewing again, clothing as well as decor. How sad that some consider this unsuitable and unfashionable. I simply cannot imagine my life without this outlet and creative pursuit.
I would love to see some of your creations if you are willing to share them. I am in complete agreement with your ideas about this kind of self-expression being not just personal but psychological and social as well. And yes, how we communicate to others what we create and have the confidence to wear. Researching this whole subject would be fascinating as well as inspiring. Thank you, Angela, for such stimulating thoughts and for sharing what you do. It seems so sad that some of these age-old crafts are becoming extinct.
Wonderful insight