I’ve never been particularly fashionable.
This isn’t something that happened when I turned 40. I didn’t spend my twenties effortlessly putting together outfits only to wake up one morning confused by wide-leg jeans. I’ve pretty much always been confused.
Now I’m in my forties, fashion has changed, and apparently we’re tucking shirts differently.
My Daughter Has Sparkle. I Have Beige.
My daughter walks out of the house in rhinestones, glitter boots and enough confidence to head straight to a red carpet. I walk out in a neutral top.
People stop us all the time to compliment her outfits. Meanwhile, no one has ever stopped me to say, “Wow. That beige really speaks to me.”
The funny thing is, I don’t remember fashion feeling quite this confusing when I was younger. Maybe I wasn’t any better at it. Maybe I just had fewer choices.
If flare jeans were in style, that’s what I found in stores. Then skinny jeans took over, and suddenly that’s what I was wearing.
Now I walk through the women’s section and find skinny jeans, wide-leg jeans, bootcut jeans and straight-leg jeans all hanging there together.
Which sounds great. Wear whatever you like!
Except apparently I relied on the store to tell me what I liked.
Now I’m just standing there wondering which jeans I’m supposed to buy.
Then There’s the Tucking
I’m equally confused about what we’re supposed to be doing with our shirts.
There’s the front tuck, side tuck, half tuck and no tuck. At this point, I’m mostly adjusting fabric and hoping for the best.
I also desperately want to be a dress person. I want to be someone who throws on a casual dress and somehow looks effortlessly put together. You know the type: hair done, cute sandals, looking completely comfortable for no apparent reason.
I own the dress. In fact, the dress has been ready for months. And yet somehow it still feels like I need formal approval to wear it to the grocery store.
Then there are those transformation videos where someone shows you how not to wear an outfit. They add a belt, a necklace, or a blazer and suddenly everything looks better.
I try the same thing and somehow just look like I added a bracelet.
And Then There Are the Cat Shirts
I love cats. This is not new information. And yes, there are some very cute cat shirts.
On kids, they’re adorable. On teens, fun. On grandmas, iconic.
On me? I’m still not sure.
Am I quirky? Relatable? Or giving “she has fully committed to the cat lifestyle”?
I genuinely don’t know.
I know the obvious answer is that I’m 46 years old and should just wear whatever I like. And I mostly believe that—right up until I’m standing in front of a mirror wondering whether my shirt needs to be tucked, half-tucked, front-tucked or left completely alone.
So no, I haven’t figured out midlife fashion.
I haven’t even figured out regular fashion.
But I do own a very cute cat shirt.
I’m counting that as progress.
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