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How old is too old ?

Miss Neecerie

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,616
Location
The land of Sinatra, Hoboken
PrettySquareGal said:
Oh yes, yes, the comb over.


Over...yes..

but then there is the comb-around-in-beehive-sort-of shape.....and the "comb the two foot long hair from back of scalp all forward to the front, approximating a fringe" (which incidently leaves a really odd looking horizontal part across the back of the dudes head, which he doesnt have to ever see, but the rest of the world does' ...etc....
 

carter

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,921
Location
Corsicana, TX
Originally Posted by 52Styleline
I can be brought to a standstill by an attractive 30+ gal dressed with style and class.

Well, 52Styleline, you've got me by a couple of years, but I have to say that I bow to your superior wisdom. Heck, I can be brought to a standstill by any woman dressed with style and class. This especially applies to ladies over 50 which is, so I'm told, the new 40.

A classy lady is a classy lady at any age.

It's a blessing that we still have our vision. :D
 

olive bleu

One Too Many
Messages
1,667
Location
Nova Scotia
Miss Neecerie said:
Over...yes..

but then there is the comb-around-in-beehive-sort-of shape.....and the "comb the two foot long hair from back of scalp all forward to the front, approximating a fringe" (which incidently leaves a really odd looking horizontal part across the back of the dudes head, which he doesnt have to ever see, but the rest of the world does' ...etc....


Don't leave out the ones that hold it all down with a strategically place Band-Aid:D
 

Foofoogal

Banned
Messages
4,884
Location
Vintage Land
fernande,
Fabulous parents. Your mother is striking.

I just turned 50 and discovered comfortable day dresses. Buying them like hotcakes and trying to fade out my jeans.
I think noone looks good in the Elvira clothes out lately.
I plan on being 109 when I pass so have to pace myself. ;)
 

BegintheBeguine

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Fernande, your beautiful mother looks like someone who is famous. Not any particular person, but maybe you know what I mean. Or not.
I don't want to look too Mama's Family-dowdy but I don't want to look like a teenager, either. When I was a teenager I didn't want to look like a teenager. I look at Cosmo Girl and Seventeen to make sure I don't try to wear anything that would scream trying too hard, because I certainly hate trying. I still wear frills to a formal sometimes, because I used to think oh that's too young, then I think would a teen or non-grown-up 28 year old wear this? No? Then okay, much to rave exclamations from party-goers and my dad.
Silk shantung is a good choice for over 40. Or a low-cut cocktail dress. For me, anyway.
I hope I'm wearing vintage 40 years from now. Stuff that's vintage now, not stuff from now that will be vintage then.
 

hargist

One of the Regulars
Messages
200
Location
Los Angeles
Diamondback said:
Hey, Mac made it work...

Donald Trump still can't, though.lol

MacArthur had a comb-over? I don't remember. It seems like he was always photographed with his hat. Maybe because of his comb-over?
 
Yep, he did.
As Army Chief of Staff, 1930:
p10.jpg


First meeting w/Hirohito, 1945:
itoi12-6-9.jpg


Around Korea:
general_douglas_macarthur_421x548.jpg
 

Doh!

One Too Many
Messages
1,079
Location
Tinsel Town
LizzieMaine said:
My grandmother lived to be 69, and was still dressing like it was 1942, so I guess there's a family precedent...

That's much better than a woman of 42 who dresses like it's still 1969 (if you ask me).
 

Spitfire

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,078
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark.
Age has it's privillege. Being 60+ means that I am old enough to decide for myself, what I am going to wear and when I am going to wear it.
If I want to grow a moustache - I do it!
If I want to wear a cravat instead of a tie - I do it!
If I want to wear a straw hat in the pool - I do it!
If I want to flirt with the lovely women next to me in the bar - I can/might do it, because I am outside competition and harmles (they think;) )

There is no such thing as too old - when you starts to believe in that, you are too old.
The only problem I have with "age", is when people my age won't accept the state of their body, and tries to dress young, trendy ...what have you.
Or gets their faces rearranged. Who do they think they can fool?
Not even themselves, if they take a closer look in the mirror.

As I have stated before, in another thead:
Age is mental. It is something that goes on in your mind!
I know many people my age and older - who are still creative, outgoing, adventorous etc. etc.
But I know even more people half my age, with a mental mind of a mummie.
 

$ally

One Too Many
Messages
1,276
Location
AZ, USA
I think Golden Era attire is generally more modest and appropriate for a lady my age than that skimp on the store window mannequins. I'm at that awkward stage; I'm not young, but not old. So I'm not going to dress frumpy, but I have my limits. Am I cougar age? I remember when there was no such thing as a younger man.
My biggest mistake was to dye my hair when I began getting a white streak in the widow's peak. The first time was too bright red, so I went for brunette and ended up too dark. Now I'm just letting my hair be what it is. I don't like to look fake.
My Mother is my aging idol. She has kept her slender figure all her life. She mostly wears dress slacks and blouses. She doesn't dye or perm her hair, but styles it nicely (she's naturally wavy). The only make-up she wears is lipstick, and she has softened the shade to match her gentler complexion. She has still been wooed by men in her retirement. They tried, she denied. She hasn't dated since my Father died.
We have a beautiful lady in our local swing scene who is a perfect example that too old doesn't exist. I won't post her name, but she was around when big band was something new. She is slim, well dressed, gracious, and she dances with all the men young and old. At first glance, you'd swear she was in her 20s! You AZ chippies probably know who I mean.
 

Twitch

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,133
Location
City of the Angels
At 59 I wear the hats only really. I don't have suits shoes and all that just a couple timeless 30 year old work jackets that can go with chinos of today yet it all looks 40s-50s. For me it's basically just the hats.:fedora:
 

Dr Doran

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,854
Location
Los Angeles
I always assumed that vintage was one of the only styles that truly looked good the older you got. I'm 37 and I can dress more 1940s now than I possibly could have at 23.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,084
Location
London, UK
Miss Neecerie said:
Wait...you forgot the 'grow one section 3 feet long and comb it to magically cover all the other spots 'do'

I started to lose my hair at 26 - I noticed it was thinning at 28. Since then, it was closer and closer buzz cuts - when a number 1 wasn't hiding it any more (a friend recently put up some photos of me taken a couple of years ago, on Facebook - I look like I have a reverse jarhead), I finally did what I'd always said I'd do but didn't think I'd ever need to this side of 40 - and shaved it completely. What hurts is that I'd never wanted a quiff until it got to the point where, no matter what way you tried to justify it, by the time my fringe got long enough to quiff up, it'd be a sweepover. I consolemyself with the fact that I'll never be one of those guys who woke up one day to discover they'd been sporting a sweepover for the past three years and not really noticed..... I'm not that vain, but I think I would have to kill myself if I'd done that..... lol

hargist said:
I don't think this is a vintage clothes vs. age issue. The issue is wearing clothes that is age appropriate.

People run into trouble when their style doesn't fit their age, vintage or contemporary. I've never liked zoot suits, but when I see guys in their 40's wear them, they look doubly ridiculous. The same goes with older guys who wear hip-hop clothes. It just doesn't look right.

So my advice to the ladies is to dress your age, (vintage or contemporary) and you'll look fine. Think of it this way, if in the 1930's or 1940's a woman in her 40's dressed like a teenager of that time, she wouldn't look right. Same goes for today.

I can see where folks are going with this, and yeah there are some things that don't look so good on older folks (mind you, typically i don't think they look so great on younger folks either). I do wonder, though... how do we decide things are or are not "age appropriate"? OK, I can see the obvious - baring acres of flesh (though as I say, give me a lady in a well cout blouse and a pair of fifties cut jeans, or a nice vintage dress over a bikini any day), and whatever, but..... Well, jeans have changed over time - I see a lot of older folks wearing them now (albeit not in the same cuts as what is fashionable among the kids these days). Time was when you'd never have seen that. I don't see that as a bad development. But who decided that? Who decides that something is "age inappropriate" - is it just a case of social norms? If we all decide that - say - a light grey Fedora is a young person's hat, or a short sleeve safari shirt can only be worn by the under 25s, andso we stop wearing them when we get older than that, does it not become a self-fulfilling prophesy type thing? Hmmn.

Now I think about it, there are a couple of things I think myself too old for - leather trousers (I'm not a biker - that would be different), not that many folks can ever get away with those anyhow, or shorts. Short trousers are something I very much look on as a child's garment, not something to be worn by a man over the age of 16. Have I just absorbed some societal norm that looks at it that way, or is there a better reason for it than that (and noe that's not my own self-loathing body issues)? Hmmn.
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
Tony in Tarzana said:
Oh, trust me, I'm familiar with them. What worries me is that every time I get up from a chair, I make The Sound of the Men Working on the Chain Gang.
Tony: maybe you should join us in the "Don't Eat Anything for Three Hours Before Bedtime" group. (D.E.A.T.H. Before Bedtime???) I haven't looked at the scale yet, but I think it's helping. After 50 there's a higher and higher penalty for not taking care of yourself. The thing to be afraid of is not dying, but being old and not having good health.
$ally, I like the new avatar. You looked really pissed off in the old one!
 

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