Edited By Ella Querin
While on vacation in Palm Beach, Florida, after a grueling month of studying for finals, I enjoyed my well-deserved winter break. During my time there, I noticed a change in how millennials and older women dressed, almost as if they were clinging to their youth.
One night at dinner, trying to enjoy my long-awaited Cacio e Pepe in peace, I found myself staring at a nearby table. There were two families as the couples tried to distract their screaming and crying children with iPads (obviously). While they were bustling around, I realized that the mothers were somewhat dressed like their own children. One child wore a long white ruffle dress, while her mother matched in a pink ruffle top with puffy sleeves and jeans. The other daughter wore sparkly white shoes, while her mother wore pink sparkly ballerinas, a mix between the infamous Ganni and Miu Miu, but not quite.
After observing the first pair of millennial moms, it was interesting to note that older women were trying to dress younger, but it seemed like they had no other choice.
My mother realized this as well after looking at the family opposite us. She told me that as a 50-year-old woman in the age of online shopping, she struggled more than ever to find items that stood out to her. She feels many brands are designing pieces to appeal to the younger crowd, from over-the-top florals to puffy sleeves and large bows. Many of these items have been in style for decades and were once considered “tacky,” but now they’ve resurfaced. The fashion game for older women makes them feel like we’re going back in time, but why are we?
After researching and looking at the brands and trend patterns previously mentioned, I realized she was right. Many of the items that were being sold looked like something an American Girl doll would wear. Take the brand Sea, for example, a company that prides itself on creating vintage pieces with a twist of a modern approach. They use lots of “lace, embroidery, knits, and fabrics,” which is clearly depicted throughout their designs.
Zimmerman, a luxury brand founded in Australia, is known for its signature pastel and floral dresses. Once more, the tops are nothing but button-downs with Peter Pan collars. The featured puffy-sleeved dresses can make one feel like they’ve returned to the Victorian Era.
Love Shack Fancy is a brand with a massive cult following in the United States. Initially deemed preppy, with their white ruffle mini skirts and colorful prints, floral (of course,) the pieces were essential in one’s closet if one attended boarding school, which I can attest to.
I recall begging my mother for a skirt to fit in with girls my age, embracing the floral, no matter how baby-ish it may have looked. It then became popular in cities, and before you knew it, everywhere you looked, teenage girls were walking around in pink, blue, purple, and cream-colored skirts, tops, and dresses.
Considering it was more of a teenage/children’s brand, it has died down a bit as it’s become somewhat passé, as we girls who are now in our late teens realize that this era of our lives is over. However, to my surprise, over break, I realized more adults were wearing Loveshack than girls my age or younger. How the tables have turned…
While scrolling through Net-A-Porter, an online shopping website, to see if my mother was really proving her point, I was amazed to see that items that were in new collections still left no other option for women but to style themselves as younger, even as a personal choice. Brands like Dôen, Erdem, Chloé, and Alémais kept up with the puff-sleeve or the Victorian sleeve, let’s call it, and of course, floral. I would have definitely donned this denim Chloé shirt as a child with a pair of corduroy pants. Same with the Dôen black dress, with tights and black strappy flats. Older women shouldn’t feel the need to do the same.
What I want to know is why this sudden shift in taste. Why has everything become about keeping up with the younger image, making it harder for older women, like my mother, who wish to dress their age instead of going back into her teen years I wonder if something will change soon, and women can go back to simple items and not feel like they need to dress like they’re going to a tea party anytime soon.
I’m curious if anything will change, societally and fashionably, and if we will go back to the simple age-appropriate items. Not all women desire to dress for a Victorian tea party or a club outing. Regarding the constant pressure women have for things such as their face or skin to appear “younger” and how it’s not okay to see one’s wrinkles on their face, it shouldn’t be something in fashion as well. When women were younger, they found something that worked for them and stayed with it. It remains essential to change one’s appearance every now and then, and one will look different in the clothes they wore when they were 22 or 17. It’s a matter of gearing down a little, and hundreds of women out there do excellent jobs of this.
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