Ladies of a Certain Age ~ for those invisible powerful, dynamic, vital women

It’s here!  The 2014 Spring Fashion Report for Ladies-of-a-Certain-Age and just in time for your Easter shopping!  This is the only place where you can get a quick overview on what’s hot, what works and what does not work for Ladies-of-a-certain-Age, fashion web site links,  a “Secret Shopper” review of stores and how they “get” or “don’t get” the Ladies-of-a-Certain-Age market, the fastest growing market in the country!! AND what’s in my own closet for spring.

Here goes – hang on to your seats!

Quick overview:

Clothes

• Black and white is still in
• The color of the moment is orange – specifically cayenne and celosia orange – followed by dazzling blue
• Geometric patterns
• Neutral colors – specifically sand, paloma (gray) and hemlock (soft green)
• Sheath dresses
• Hints of the Hippie – pheasant blouse, chunky beaded jewelry

 Hair, nails and eyes

• Long – often in updos
• “Dirty-hair-don’t care-separation” (Proenza Schauler stylist quote)
• Dark purple or blue nail polish at the bottom of the nail – streaking around the cuticle
• Cat eyes – eye liner – lots of blue shadow

 Shoes

• Chunky heeled boots
• High wedge sandals with ankle straps
• Ballet shoes in black or a hot color

 What Works and Doesn’t Work for Ladies-of-a-Certain-Age:

I love black and white and I think it is always in style.  I must say, however, last summer I was at a conference with lots of ladies my age and I felt like I was in a herd of zebras!  The oranges of the season are interesting.  I like them in small amounts.  For example, a belt around a black dress or included with other colors in a scarf.  The neutral colors – especially sand and gray – paired with black and white – I think are blah, blah, blah.  (Sorry Ann Taylor – I saw a lot of these outfits promoted by you.) God, I love sheath dresses.  God, I hate Spanx.  Hair – dirty??? Updos??? I don’t think these styles appeal to many of us.  Frankly, I have better things to spend my money on than getting my fingernail “moons” painted blue!  Cat eyes are lovely; but, I don’t think that lots and lots of teal blue, and lots and lots of liner, go with “crows feet” and wrinkles.  Uncomfortable and not really good for balance, chunky heeled boots are just plain ugly and the high wedges with ankle straps hurt and are easy to fall in. 

 Fashion Web Sites:

 I used these web sites for my fashion research:

http://www.glamour.com/fashion/2013/09/most-wearable-spring-2014-trends-from-nyfw#slide=1

http://www.elle.com/fashion/spring-2014-fashion-trends

http://www.pantone.com/pages/fcr/?season=spring&year=2014

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/hair-articles/spring-2014-runway-beauty-hair-makeup#slide-20

 Secret Shopper Reviews:

 This season I reviewed four stores that readers told me they loved and wished I would evaluate: Dress Barn, H &M, ARC and Wardrobe Works, an upscale consignment store. Also, I shopped my own closet!

 Dress Barn:  I had never been in a Dress Barn store before; but, one of my readers told me she loves this store because of the prices and because she always finds appropriate pieces for her.  I found the store in the University Hills Shopping Center neat and clean.  The clerks were ladies of a certain age!  The reader was right: the prices are reasonable and the clothes stylish, but not over the top.  Unfortunately, their web site shows mostly white women under 40. I saw women our age of many ethnicities in the store and younger women, too.   The clerks were very pleasant; but, from the appearance of their clothes, were not dressed in the latest fashion. (I wish Dress Barn would allow them to wear some of the clothes in the store. ) However, the mannequins were fashion savvy!  There were lots of clothes – mainly dresses – that were perfect for “the office” and some casual clothes.  It was a nice experience, but not memorial. 

H & M: Now, this store in Denver’s Cherry Creek Shopping Center is memorial and I will be back despite the loud music and the few clerks who were all half my age and obviously were not wearing H & M fashions!  What I liked about H & M were the clothes and the prices.  I was a little apprehensive to go into this Sweden-based company because my experience with IKEA has been so frustrating.  Of course, the web site does not reflect us or many people in the United States.  I’d say if you know what you want, this is a good place to shop.  Just don’t expect to get much help and wear your earplugs.

Wardrobe Works: A couple of my readers who really know high-end fashion recommended this upscale consignment store just west of Broadway on 12^th Avenue in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood.  The best part for me was to go into this old row house that had been repurposed into shops and not torn down.  The shop is small.  Frankly, I only recognized several labels.  The prices were reasonable.  The best part – and I have found this to be true in three other Denver consignment stores – was the personal attention and knowledge of the shop owner.  She was not snobby at all and has a wealth of retail experience.  There’s free parking in the back.

ARC Stores:  Another reader suggested I shop ARC.  While I have donated to them many times, I had never been in one of the stores.  The parking lot was crammed and the red BMW really stood out and I almost got “creamed” by another luxury car.  I shopped the ARC on South Broadway.  What I saw were street people and the owners of those cars and all the socioeconomic groups in between.  My reader told me ARC stores are well organized and I found this to be true.  I think it is a great place to shop for jeans, casual tops and jackets, and household goods like decorative pillows and tablecloths.  I bought a couple of pillows for the chairs on my front porch.  The cashier was so kind.  But, I must tell you, the smell in the store was not pleasant.  I did not stay long.

My Closet:  Well, as you know, I have been “dumped,” b y Ann Taylor, a store I shopped for decades, because I am a retired woman.  Ann’s clothes are for women who work.  Well, don’t tell Ann, but I still get her emails and still buy some of her casual clothes.  In her latest emails, I noticed lots of black and white and beige – actually Pantone Sand and Paloma, and lots of geometrics.  Geez – these rang a bell and I went to my closet and found a black and tan geometric scarf boarded in something every similar to the hot orange of this season and a lovely scarf I used to wear lots with a black background and sand and paloma and cayenne roses and radiant orchid berries.  They are perfect for this season.  What I am stressing is that our closets are good places to “shop” for what is in, sometimes.  (I threw away those chunky heels years ago, thank God!) Also, I found my “Jackie O” jacket I bought at Ross years ago and mentioned last year.  It is black and white AND DAZZLING blue geometric.  I have loved it for years.  I have both an orange narrow belt and a freesia (yellow belt) that will work just fine.  I love my black French purse and probably will not change it out.  Sorry, in Galveston this year I saw the latest purses with a special outside pocket to “pack your heat!”  I did not know what that phrase meant until I went down there.  (Did I tell you my children and both son-in-laws went to Columbine High School? Get it!  I wished I had flipped the sales clerk the bird!!!!)

 What’s In My Own Closet for Spring:

All of my black and white items from last year and the Jackie O jacket and yellow and orange belts and scarves mentioned above.  I wanted one of Ann Taylor’s trench coats ($200 +++), but by the time she had her 40 percent sale, the black color was gone.  I saw one for under $70 at H & M and will return to buy it.   Like a lot of us, my wardrobe is not what it used to be either, now that I am retired.  I spend a lot of time in yoga and golf clothes.  Both work just fine for my life now, playing with grandkids, going to the grocery store, and “bumming” with friends.   Last year I did buy a lovely floral sheath at Ann’s.  I am happy to report it has many of the Pantone colors in it and I don’t need a Spanx to wear it.  Yes, I have two pairs of “ballet” shoes and might get another in a “hot color.”  But, I also need new hiking boots and golf shoes.  I’ll need to find a real deal on the hot-color ballet shoes, because the hiking boots and golf shoes will last me many years.  Those “hot little things” might be good for just this year!  

Did I tell you I am going to Ireland (again!) next month?  I’ll let you know my thoughts about traveling as a lady of a certain age and what I packed!