Things you think can make you look older than your years!

I probably have similar items, sorry pieces, in my wardrobe but she looks chic whereas I look like a sack of potatoes in mine.

Hers look designer, though, and mine aren't

Not just clothes.
10 minutes on Zoom convinced me I was older than my mum. My reasoning was that she had subdued lighting.

The thing in my life that makes me look older than my years is my passport photo, and, sadly, it was taken 8 years ago!

Oh I’m loving this thread! It’s making me really laugh some of the comments! I didn’t realise pale pink nailvarnish or sketchers were aging ??

Mine is my bus pass, lixy, Just hope I never lose it, and someone posts it on our local Facebook.

"If we wore them at our age, we'd look like our own grandmothers." Gaga

Could get very depressed here. I wear no makeup ( usually have a slight tan) sketchers/ flowery dresses with no sleeves and much more objectionable stuff!! I do mind my hair though. However l get lots of compliments, feel great and even my dd who is very direct with me says its all OK.
So l will pretend not to have read half of that. Sometimes when l meet my friends l try to remember afterwards what they wore and realise l haven't a clue as we were so busy chatting. Here's hoping they don't remember either.

Audi10

Oh I’m loving this thread! It’s making me really laugh some of the comments! I didn’t realise pale pink nailvarnish or sketchers were aging ??

Me neither, Audi10
And, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!!

Nothing worse than those women who eye other women up and down with a slight curl of the lip. They are probably very unhappy.

I do mind my hair though

My claim to eternal youth - I don't dye my hair ?

Never mind all the ‘what not to wear’ going on here, to my mind the most ageing thing of all is poor posture.
It can creep up on us all and if we’re not aware, can become a habit.
Lots of older folk, men and women, walk in a stooped way with their head jutting forward, so it matters not a jot what they are wearing, the posture immediately shouts old person.

Obviously some poor folk have a medical problem which affects posture, but for the rest of us, if we remember to stand up straight, it can take years off us.

In my head Kate as she used to be. Slim, tight leather skirts, barely black tights, suede stilettos. Fabulous shoes and coats. Knowing what's what. Chatted up everywhere.
Kate now in reality - fat tum, flat shoes due to bunions, a coat with a hood in case it rains, Blood pressure tablets. Unsure about everything. Not sure how that happened.

Callistemon it is more that someone who looks really good catches the eye. And JenniferEccles is right about posture. I have a cousin, in her 80s, very tall and slim, perfect posture and always draws the eye. What does she wear? I really cannot remember, but she could make a binbag look stylish.

I started off enjoying this thread and a lot of the posts are gently humorous or self deprecating in a witty way.
But some have a rather nasty superior edge.

Jezz you can always tell when you’re on gransnet.
Crimplene? ? wasn’t that last used in the 60’s?
Although a young pretty woman would still look good in it.
Any woman over about 50 becomes pretty much invisible so doesn’t matter what you wear.

Not strictly on topic of dressing, but further along our road there is a sheltered housing complex.

However, the road sign is situated outside our house! ?

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Pickpockets at work?

A quote from Jane Austen (Northanger Abbey)

Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it. Neatness and fashion are enough for the former, and a something of shabbiness or impropriety will be most endearing to the latter.

Although, nowadays, I suspect it is the men who will prefer the 'shabbiness and impropriety' and the women who will go for 'neatness and fashion'

And Kandinsky I do not agree that women over 50 are 'pretty much invisible'. I think many women over 50 make themselves invisible by thinking they are.

I do think that colour makes a difference- dark indigo denim jeans for instance rather than beige “slacks” , or that pastel green one used to see elderly ladies in. White near the face too seems to reflect the light and lift your look.
I wonder if we become more timid about colour as we get older? Ironic, really, as a head of white hair can carry off just about any colour . You only have to look at the Queen recently in that zinging yellow coat at the opening of the Elizabeth line or the pink she wore yesterday to Chelsea.
I have a sneaking fear that floral patterns may be a no-no too, shame as I have a couple of floral shirts I like , but if you like what you are wearing and wear it with confidence, who else should it matter to?

Having read most of the above I looked at the things in my wardrobe this morning.
Comfy? Yes. Modest? Yes. that'll do for me.
I have some things that are decidedly frumpy but they work for me and so they stay on the rota!

Love the 'pickpockets' interpretation! Mawthemerrier

I’m certainly not invisible! But I would be if I got a neat Queen-style hairdo or a short back and sides, chucked out the makeup and wore head to toe beige and Hotter shoes. My neighbour, who is younger than me, ticks those boxes and looks 10 years older. Very invisible.

Invisible to the opposite sex I meant.
Isn’t that why women once they get to a certain age ( & men for that matter ) try to look younger? To still look attractive to the opposite sex?
Why bother otherwise?

I’ve just had an extremely quick look at the ‘chic at any age’ blog.
She undoubtedly looks lovely.
But it’s a reminder that you need to know what your colours are (ie your colour ‘season’)
I’m an autumn, and can also get away with some winter colours too; but I would look awful in that lady’s colours. (Summer?)

For oneself. I’m certainly not trying to attract another man (one’s enough!) but I try to look my best every day, whether I’m going out or just doing housework or gardening. Self esteem and not ‘letting myself go’.

I do think posture can make a big difference to how you’re perceived, assuming you’re not affected by mobility/health problems.

A colleague once told me how she’d mistaken another colleague - seen some distance ahead - for a really old lady, purely because of the way she was walking. We were all only very early 60s at the time.

Since then I try to remind myself to walk and stand ‘tall’ - and I’m thankful that I’m still able to.

if you like what you are wearing and wear it with confidence, who else should it matter to? Exactly what I was thinking, Maw. If you feel comfortable you can forget what you're wearing, and just be yourself. At this moment, I am wearing a pair of plaid pyjama trousers,a red fleece and sheepskin slippers but when I've had a shower, dark indigo jeans and a hyacinth-blue top plus a pair of trainer style shoes. Comfortable and non-age-specific.
But a word about cosmetics. Lipstick leaking into little lines around the mouth is worse than no lipstick, but a primer can help. Mis-application of blusher looks like a warmed-up corpse. Go and get a lesson at a make-up counter in John Lewis.