What are moderately stylish 40+ women wearing in public these days?

May 29, 2022 9:32 PM

I'm not going to be able to avoid humanity forever, so if I have to leave the house and put on real clothes, what should I wear in order to look like I know which year it is in North America? Are there any key pieces I can buy to update my wardrobe?

Before the pandemic, I loved dresses with full-ish skirts that showed off my waist, worn with flat sandals, shoes or boots, skinny dark jeans with graphic t-shirts under jackets, big scarves, and large leather bags. I wear a lot of deep blue and green, with navy, black and charcoal as my neutrals. My workplace is urban and relatively informal and comfort is more important to me than high fashion. My budget runs to most major chain and department stores, but I'm hoping to make only a few new purchases.

In case it helps, I am 5'7", wear US size 14, and have large breasts, a big butt and thighs, and a long waist with relatively short legs.

posted by rpfields to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

Best answer: I think Universal Standard's Geneva dress might be interesting for you.
posted by neushoorn at 9:40 PM on May 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I found this TikTok playlist on Updating Millenial Outfits really useful recently. I only used to wear a couple of the outfits she features, but changing my skinnies for a newer cut of denim and swapping my flowy cardigans for some oversized shirts has helped me feel like I'm relatively up to date without changing to stuff I don't feel comfortable in.
posted by harriet vane at 9:42 PM on May 29, 2022 [24 favorites]

Key pieces, yes: update your jeans. For a very long time, skinny jeans were the only trendy cut. Now we’ve moved to bigger, more relaxed fits: straight leg, wide leg, balloon fit, bell bottom. You should have at least 1-2 non-skinny jeans/pants in your wardrobe.
posted by yawper at 3:59 AM on May 30, 2022 [6 favorites]

A jumpsuit would be a cool trendy thing to add.

Mom jeans cropped at the ankle are trendy (but other cuts of jeans aren’t like, totally out of style)

Centre parted hair rather than side parted

Eyebrow style is important for looking trendy- the look is still thick, bushy, and well-groomed with a fairly angular shape.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:04 AM on May 30, 2022 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you everybody, please keep 'em coming! I have marked a couple of "best answers" for things that I was not aware of, but they are all excellent.

A jumpsuit would be a cool trendy thing to add.


I would love to do this but due to the aforementioned long waist/big butt and thighs, I have not had much luck with them. If anybody has any links, photos, or even search terms for things that might work they would be much appreciated.
posted by rpfields at 8:39 AM on May 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

Maybe Athleta?
posted by oceano at 12:31 PM on May 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

Fwiw plenty of people over 40 are still wearing skinny jeans, or at least slim fits. They are like, the one item that people seem very fixated on as a marker of how fashionable one is in conversations about generational style, but in my experience most people over 40 just wear a pair that they feel flatters them at least some of the time, which for some people is baggy/balloons, but for a lot of people, that look is a lot less ironically cool than it is on a very slender 18yo.. I think there are ways of updating your look (cool sneakers, cropped style jumpers and t-shirts, more colourful or boxy style shirts) that don't require you to wear those baggy style jeans, and I see this reflected in the over 40 celebs I follow, to some extent. If you were 21, OTOH, yeah, skinny jeans are def not to be done.
posted by jojobobo at 4:22 AM on May 31, 2022 [4 favorites]

I agree that there's a lot of flexibility. I still wear skinny jeans because they are more flattering for me but I've switched to a middle part and got a new pair of glasses. I teach middle schoolers so I learn a lot from them -- yes to mushrooms and rainbows, for example -- but also have my limits -- not a fan of 90s revival. I'm close to 40 myself and am reviewing my style: this summer I'll be in France so that's going to be an inspiration, too. I totally get how you feel! The cool thing is that Gen Z is very open minded and style is more inclusive, and we older generations can benefit from that too now.
posted by smorgasbord at 2:26 PM on May 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Every time I shop, I find more dresses and skirts that come with pockets. At this point, I wouldn't buy a dress that doesn't have pockets.

Other than that I can't say I have much advice to give. Buy stuff that makes you feel good. Like smorgasbord, I work in a school. High school, in my case. They dress every which way. It's wonderful.
posted by Salamandrous at 4:50 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Closing the loop on this, the Geneva dress has turned out to be perfect! I am still on the hunt for a jumpsuit, but I got a couple of the dresses (pro-tip, if you order the v-neck one you can reverse it for a crew-neck effect) and I now look mostly like I know what year it is.

Thanks for all your recommendations, they have all been very helpful.
posted by rpfields at 7:37 PM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]