The likes of YouTube and blogger giants Tyler Oakley and Zoella are two of the many who popularised YouTubing and blogging for the young. In a now surprising turn of events, the blogosphere and even YouTube have seen a flood of interaction from the over 40s fashion blogger. From the queen of Celine; Grece Ghanem, to the ever-growing blog‘Does my bum look 40’, established by Kat Farmer, this market has seen a surge in the middle- aged woman who have proven, (and convincingly so) that life doesn’t end at 40, but in fact it is just beginning. 

So, the question arises, should women have to compromise their fashion style and flair as they age? In Julia Baird’s 2016 ‘Don’t dress your age’ article for The New York Times, she argued that women should take pride in the ever so commonly used phrase ‘mutton dressed as lamb’. It is too oftenthat women are told what they can and cannot wear based on whether an item of clothing is ‘appropriate’ for their age. But who defines the term appropriate? For me, it’s two types of people who constantly harp on such terms. The first being the iron-fisted woman who conforms to age old social constructs that women must age gracefully, and with each wrinkle they develop, more and more covering of skin should follow. The second type of person is the overbearing man who believes that the responsibility of telling women what they can and cannot wear, falls on him. Of course, he has completely misjudged his place in the matter, but nevertheless he traipses forward. 

Although these two types of people unfortunately exist in the world, we should not allow them to be dictators on how we dress, and to persuade us into believing that age should be a contributing factor when making fashion choices. The whole idea of fashion is that it enables a person to establish their personality to the rest of the world without fear of judgement. Instead of older women being ridiculed on their fashion choices as they age, we should in-fact be ridiculing articles such as ‘Everyday Health’s: Top 10 items you’re too old to wear’ who state that denim wearing should be something that should be retired at 35. In the words of Huff Post writer: Dawn Cutler, ‘why the hell do people care what I wear?’ Mind your own business. The eternal stream of advice on what women should and should not wear has become monotonous and frankly, not very helpful. It’s bad enough hearing it in your early teens from parents, so I can’t imagine what it’s like still hearing it 40 years down the line. By the time that I’m 40, I hope that I don’t care enough about what people think about my fashion choices, because at the end of the day, it’s me wearing it and not them. I hope that I am confident enough to reject the fear of rejection and ignore what Charlie Brooker refers to as a ‘vast cloud of blah’.

Ella Claire Webster