Aging (Un)Gracefully Is More Fun

Ageing (un)gracefully is more fun + Dated style rules that you can forget right away

Aging (Un)Gracefully Is More Fun – I Promise

Ladies, I am telling you: Aging (un)gracefully is more fun! And it’s far more fashionable than conforming to ancient style rules. Read first how I got this post idea and then meet 9 stunning women with bold and unapologetic style.

A few weeks ago my blood boiled when I read a blog post written by another personal stylist sharing her so called “style advice”. It annoyed me so much that I decide to write my own response to it in my own blog.

She wrote in her article that women should stop wearing bright and bold colors after a certain age. The actual number was not specified so I was left wondering. Was it 80, 60… or, please don’t say so, 40.

Her nicely written, yet toxic and ageist words, made me think of all the fantastic women who are too shy to look their best. They hide their dreams and potential because they are afraid of other people’s judgement.

I hope this post will set you free from those chains!

What’s Age Got To Do With It?

The stylist in question (who shall remain unnamed) advised to start using a softer palette that agrees with ageing skin and ageing hair. From color theory point of view I can understand this sentiment.

The various color theories are based on a certain harmony created with your own natural colors and clothing, makeup and accessories complementing them. From that point of view dressing up and shopping for new becomes easier because you keep on repeating a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But what if you’re not the type of woman who wants to look like that? What if you like to mix vivid colors with pastels, leopard print with florals, stripes with polkadots and top it all with extravagant accessories and statement makeup?

What’s out there for YOU?

Age Has Nothing To Do With Great Style

We all know that boring story telling women to shrink and to disappear somewhere far in the background. The same narrative wants to make mature women, women of color, disabled women, LGBTQIA+ women, and let’s not even start about mothers, invisible.

If not invisible at least not too loud and, heaven help, not too assertive. Those same voices are telling us about our impending expiry date: How we need to be skinnier, younger looking, more likeable… and less us.

Here at I on Image we’re having none of this negativity. We wear what we love and we do it with passion and panache. I want you to take the space you need to be YOU, to be loud and to be too much, if and when it suits you.

I will never tell you to stop wearing something that you love just because the society will feel better seeing you in a more conventional outfit. Instead, I want you to love fashion, have fun with your style, express yourself – and stop the traffic.

Age has nothing to do with great style. Anyone with creativity and curiosity can have it. The odds are that the more you do your own thing, the better you look and the better you feel. It’s never too late to start. Fashion belongs to everyone and you can hop on the train whenever you feel like it.

Also, you can choose to hop off the fashion train whenever you want. Just because I love fashion so much, doesn’t mean that you need to dedicate your life to it. But as your personal stylist I will keep on reminding you on the positive effects of fashion in your life.

Stop Limiting Your Best Self

We tend to foster a set of ancient fashion rules that serve nobody. Who really cares if we do our own thing? Does the opinion of others matter so much? I am inclined to say no.

Many judgemental people have no style or their style is copied from someone else. They just can’t stand to see a woman standing on her own feet and celebrating herself. That’s the moment when someone comes thumping a toxic style piece written by someone equally toxic and telling us that we can’t wear this or that.

Spoiler alert: We can -and we should!

Limiting beliefs in fashion, just like in any other field, shrink us and chain us. We live then on the terms of others and forget ourselves in the process. Also many people limit themselves and engage in self-sabotaging behavior.

I know it’s really scary to become your best self. That part of you knows no boundaries and can do anything. It might be too big for your current lifestyle. Perhaps you are destined for really amazing things but how can you find out if you never try?

10 Dated Style Rules That You Can Ditch Right Away

Here’s a set of ridiculous style rules that you can forget right away. Only by forgetting these limiting beliefs you’ll start having more fun with your age (in)appropriate style.

  1. No bright colors for older women, only muted colors or pastels
  2. Don’t wear clashing prints after a certain age
  3. Don’t mix black and navy together
  4. Also: No brown and black together
  5. Hide your body shape with clothing
  6. No mini skirts or mini dresses for mature women
  7. Cover your decollete after a certain age
  8. Don’t wear white after Labor Day
  9. Black makes you look older so avoid wearing it at older age
  10. Also: Black makes you look slimmer so wear it to hide your fat

See how insane those rules are? They have so little place in my style books. Hope you are ready to ditch them too!

Forty, Fifty… Fabulous

The good news is that there are plenty of incredibly fabulous women out there who inspire and motivate others. They don’t give a rats about so called style rules and do fashion in their own fantastic and unique way.

I have selected my 9 favorite influencers on Instagram. They are all strong amazing women with great fashion sense and strong personal style. Their feeds are always full of stunning outfits and clever styling ideas.

I am so happy that I have connected with these women and that I can call them my fashion friends. They mix high-end fashion brands with highstreet and vintage finds. Their accessory choices are always like a following a mini-masterclass in style.

Meet them on the grid and start feeling instantly stronger and happier about your style choices. Increased confidence is a pleasant side product that you get to enjoy in this very chic company!

@annielabellalifestyle

@cathirae

@dianaghenderson

@dressaholicstyle

@hinchology

@leila_ks_n

@lifesadressup

@mycupoftweed_

@see_bymanu_keine_ist_wie_ich

Forty, fifty... fabulous - 9 Instagram influencers with amazing fashion and fabulous style
Forty, Fifty… Fabulous – 9 Instagram Influencers Who Inspire Me.
Photo Credits: Influencers listed above, visit my Instagram post for tags

Thank you so much for being a part of this post!

I appreciate you ladies so much 💖

Get More Inspiration In My Blog

Here at I on Image style never rests. My blog is full of amazing style inspiration for you 24/7. I am feeling passionate about making women of all ages feel more confident and I have written in those lines in my blog over the years.

Read more about my female-friendly, age and body positive approach to image and style in my blog archives

See, aging (un)gracefully is so much more fun! You choose yourself how you want to look and how you want to age. Bye-bye dated fashion rules, hello fantastic style!

Tell me, who else has great style? I must have forgotten at least 1000 women. Please help me to find them all!

8 thoughts on “Aging (Un)Gracefully Is More Fun

  1. Lisa's Notebook says:

    As soon as I read the title of this post it reminded me of one of my favourite poems, which I hope you won’t mind me quoting in full here, because it’s EXACTLY what you’re saying. Thank you for writing this post, Jenni, it’s giving me life and reminding me that my style has NOTHING to do with my age! xx

    When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
    With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
    And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
    And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
    I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
    And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
    And run my stick along the public railings
    And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
    I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
    And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
    And learn to spit.

    You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
    And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
    Or only bread and pickle for a week
    And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

    But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
    And pay our rent and not swear in the street
    And set a good example for the children.
    We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

    But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
    So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
    When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

  2. Sumedha says:

    Lovely post! And I totally agree with what you said. And who even gets to say that people would not look with some styles?! It’s our choice.

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