I’m turning 29 next month. Twenty-nine is practically thirty and means I am just that much closer to finally Living The Dream. 
The Dream being, of course, to actually be able to carry off the jeweled turban. I even bought one, a 1958 Dior jobber in aqua silk satin. I try it on every few months and each time I put it back in its box, muttering “not yet.”
It was once said that to wear Dior you had to have a waist, but to wear Balenciaga you had to have a personality. Some clothes and accessories (an Hermès scarf, an Aquascutum bag) just demand the inner swagger of life experience that sweet young things –bless their hearts– simply don’t have.
Francesca and Plumcake want to know:
If you’re a woman of a certain age, what can you wear now that you couldn’t wear before? For our younger gals, is there anything –like my jeweled turban– that you love but just feel you’re too young to wear? Let us know AND if you’ve had the joy of finally aging into something, tell us about that, too!
What Susan said!
Comment by dcsurfergirl — June 21, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
Getting close to fifty…. Gorgeous bright red curls!!! Who said blondes have more fun???
Comment by Michele — June 21, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
I dont understand the thing about heady beautifully strong perfumes… I never would shy away from my choice of fragrance and i’m 25. I mean i have tried other perfumes thru out the years but i always return to my favorite one. It has become my signature scent and i receive lots of compliments on how great i smell. Dont be afraid of a perfume you are drawn to just because you aren’t sure you are old enough to carry it! (just don’t put too much on. Lol)
Comment by Sarah — June 21, 2008 @ 10:31 pm
Jo, I lurve me some rhinestones. It’s become an addiction, and I pant like a dog in heat everytime my comp 1 teacher comes in wearing her gorgeous 40’s and 50’s brooches. It’s just one of the reasons I stay in that class. ;)
The Goodwills around here don’t usually have great jewelry, so I have to go to the vintage stores if I want to find something good. Usually they’re kind of expensive, so therefore my collection isn’t that big.
I will have to try the cold weld stuff, that sounds like a fabulous idea. It never even crossed my mind I could do the same with my jewelry I do with my clothes…
Comment by fantasmicalfrankie — June 22, 2008 @ 12:12 am
cat- I’m 38 and a size 18, and I wear mini skirts. I only wear them bare legged for very casual occasions, but I can really rock a minidress or miniskirt with opaque tights and high boots. You should try it.
Comment by Dee — June 22, 2008 @ 10:48 am
I’m only 23, but there’s very little that I have wanted to wear but didn’t, or didn’t think I could pull off because of my youth. I bought my first suit at 14, and I dressed for school the way my mother did for work. I rocked my suit, my perfectly-creased gray trousers, my cardigans, my lack of tennis shoes.
I’m more conformist now; I have caved in and adopted the informality of my professors and the other graduate students, who assume I’m going to a job interview if they see me in a suit. Perhaps when I have a job, when I move away from Los Angeles, I will again assume the formality that better suits my personality.
Comment by JaneC — June 23, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Nope. Sorry. Just a friggin’ litany of loss, really. I ALWAYS looked “old enough” to wear anything I wanted to wear (what 17-year-old doesn’t want to be told she looks 37? No, me neither.); it’s a matter of having the good sense and good taste to NOT look like mutton dressed as lamb – short skirts, bare midriffs, bare legs – long gone.
Comment by La BellaDonna — June 23, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Well a lot…
Firstly SERIOUS evening wear…
My opera gown is this silk velvet, silk chocolate brown Sunny Choi thing of beauty with a train and everything.
I could not have pulled that Sophia Loren-worthy number at 18.
Donna Karan and Norma Kamali come to mind too….
My Kimono ’20’s/Deco devore velvet duster….
Wow..and gasp… fur. 1970’s Studio 54 nonchalantly slung mink with a Halston-esque dress is just right after 30 :-)
Love,
MillaX
Comment by MillaX — June 24, 2008 @ 12:07 am
I adore this discussion, and have already forwarded it to my friends…
Tachina, I love your comment that you’ve always worn big jewelry, but now everyone assumes it’s real :) I’m 23 and maintain a slightly eccentric appearance, what with the colored eye makeup and obsession with big jewelry and scarves and vintage clothing. I hope that, at some point in the future, I will transition from being able to get away with these things because I’m young and quirky to being able to get away with them because I’m worldly and fabulous.
Also, I’ve always thought long, loose grey/white hair looks gorgeous, and plan to tool around town in a lipstick red vintage Vespa and driving gloves and say the words “fabulous” and “darling” a lot.
Comment by Emily — June 24, 2008 @ 7:11 pm
stiletto pumps. i always used to look like i’d raided maman’s closet. now i look like they’re MINE.
Comment by silverpatronus — July 1, 2008 @ 12:50 pm