This is a subject that has crossed my mind quite a few times and mainly starts popping into my head when I feel my birthday starting to slowly creep up... There have been a few times that I have put outfits on and if I have felt skinny enough to wear them, have still pondered if I am now too old to be wearing them.... At 27! (ahem, nearly 28).
So, Am I? It's odd because if I see someones mum or a middle aged lady who has kept up with fashion and dresses up to date I always think she looks fabulous! and I always think it makes them look younger. Style icons like Kate Moss, Victoris Beckham or Sienna Miller dress for their figure and not their age. Why can't we?
I think this comes from my mum who whenever we would go shopping when I was a kid would say 'of course you can wear that, you're young and can get away with anything when you're young' or, if I pointed out something for her I remember her saying 'I couldn't wear that now.' My mum was 36 when I was 14, I have friends who are 36 now and dress really trendy still. It's no age at all. My mum is by no means frumpy; she is beautiful and classy and - I know like hundreds of women everywhere - is ruled by weight when it comes to outfits she chooses to wear. She has never been fat at all in fact I always remember the boys I was friends with fancying her because she was so in shape and attractive. She did a lot of dancing to keep in shape and for enjoyment. She had a better figure in her 30s than I did in my teens. Yet, still she would think a lot of outfits in fashion at that time were not suitable for her.
I think this is because she was worried about crossing the thin line between 'trendy' and 'mutton' and this is what put her off. After all, we have all seen those poor unfortunates who haven't got a clue (or a mirror) and go out in the most monsterous outfits that even Eddie from Ab Fab would turn down. Ill fitting and so awful it makes you ponder just WHERE on earth do you buy an outfit like that?? There is never any chance that Mum will look like that yet it is always a thought at the front of her mind. She ummed and ahhhed for months whether or not she should get eyelashes done for my wedding abroad last year, I told her it was a lovely idea and that she will look beautiful (she decided against it in the end).
I think I am very different in thought when it comes to fashion and I do think a lot of that comes from the fact I am of a different generation. You can even keep trendy when pregnant now whereas when my Mum was pregnant it was a big floral tent or nothing.
I do still find myself getting those little voices in my head though... Cartoon Nicki who sits on my shoulder whispers that maybe the outfit I'm eyeing up should be put back on the rail and left for someone ten years younger.
Hmmmm, no! I can't even BEGIN to think like that. I don't claim to be a fashionista but I love shopping and I love new trends so I don't think I could give it up if I didn't want to. I am sure the older I get the more other things will become more important and that's fine but I will always want to be me. And hopefully I will be me as much and for as long as I can...