How to Dress Well For Your Age
Fashion Style Tips on Looking Great in Your 20s, 30s and 40s
Apr 14, 2008
As we age gracefully, intelligent, fashion-forward women learn to adapt their wardrobe to suit their changing body shape and increasing years.
Dressing for your age means avoiding outfits which make it seem like you are trying too hard to be young. However, dressing in clothes that would be more at home on your grandmother will not do your sense of style any favors either.
Getting older is no reason to stop following seasonal fashion trends. The secret is to give a nod to a trend by taking an analytical look at what is available in the marketplace and deciding which styles and pieces from each trend will work for you. This has as much to do with understanding your body's flaws as it has to do with your age. Whilst a micro-mini dress will look great on a 23-year-old, a 43-year-old with cellulite does not paint such an attractive picture.
Equally, an average-build 24-year-old may not look as great in the same bikini worn by a toned woman of 34. In addition, by the time many women each their forties they have developed their own individual style and have greater poise and self-confidence than in their twenties. This alone allows them to carry off some outfits better than a 22-year-old.
Twenty-somethings can wear pretty much anything, provided that they still follow the fashion rules for making the most of their body shape. In terms of style, dressing frumpily is as much as a fashion faux pas as dressing like you have just come out of diapers.
In the March 2008 edition of Madison, the magazine outlines some simple style tips for what to wear in your twenties, thirties and forties in order to still look great. Stylist Nicole Bonython-Hines gives some recommendations on wearing the classics and adapting your look according to your age.
Key Wardrobe Pieces for Twenty, Thirty and Forty-somethings
Dresses
- Twenty-somethings: This season’s sleeveless ruffle-styles, and lots of volume can be carried off with aplomb when you are in your twenties. The younger you are the more embellishments you can get away with. Shapeless styles look young and refreshing. Necklines can be low, hemlines high.
- Thirty-somethings: Slightly more structured dresses are preferable to the volumnous, shapeless smock-styles. You can wear embellishments, but keep them to the neck or hemline for a more chic look. If you need to hide your upper arms then don’t wear a sleeveless dress. At this age you can get away with layering a top underneath if you feel the neckline is too low or sleeves are too short.
- Forty-somethings: Choose a style that accentuates the best parts of your body. Avoid showing too much flesh. If you are wearing a low-neck dress, then go for a knee-length or longer. If you are wearing a mini, then cover up on top. The secret to wearing twenty-something fashions is to make your outfit classy. If you are curvy then wrap-over styles suit most figures, but particularly those with womanly curves. Hide a wide waist and big hips by choosing a style that hangs loosely rather than clings. Avoid this season’s ruffles and bows in abundance and go for something more discreet.
Jeans
- Twenty-somethings: Be they skinny jeans or loose-fitting, baggy styles, this is the age where you can pull-off anything. Baggy, masculine styles look fashionable, rather than disheveled on a 20-year-old! Experiment with jeans of the colors of the season; this is the age when you don’t have to stick with classic blue or black! For the summer, pull on a pair of white jeans, the neutral color of the season.
- Thirty-somethings: Go for a more streamlined silhouette than a baggy boyfriend style. Skinny jeans are okay if you wear them with a tunic top or fluid blouse. Avoid faded and ripped denim and go for a classic shade or a dark gray. You can even get away with white if you pair jeans with a nautical style or plain black top.
- Forty-somethings: This season’s high-waisted jeans look great on forty-somethings and as an added bonus, the higher waistline holds everything in. Avoid low-waisted jeans and the dreaded “muffin top.” An indigo shade is more slimming and is more versatile if you want your jeans to work with other pieces in your wardrobe. Current wide-leg styles are also classy and flattering, provided they fit well at the waist and hips.
Coats and Jackets
- Twenty-somethings: Show of those young legs with a short coat, cinched in at the waist with a wide statement belt. “Look for detailed styles in ornate fabrics with a volumnous shape,” says Madison, and when it comes to jackets then take advantage of your age by wearing them “tighter, shorter and leather,” to “toughen up girlie frocks.”
- Thirty-somethings: Try a classic shape with a fashion-forward element of the trend of the season such as a wide sleeve or cinched belt. You can still get away with a length that falls above the knee. At thirty-something you can also wear a cropped or oversized jacket, depending on your shape.
- Forty-somethings: Choose rich fabrics in blacks, grays and neutrals. Go for classic lines in a jacket, which can be worn open, with a chunky necklace. Avoid double-breasted jackets if you have a big bust, and choose a style that is fitted. However, a short-cropped bolero or caped-style is an elegant way to cover up flabby arms.
When we get older it is time to consider shopping smarter, often investing in less but more, when it comes to quantity versus quality. It is also about knowing which necklines, sleeve-lengths and hemlines do you justice, without seeming to appear either tarty and brassy or lumpy and frumpy.
