Clothes and other options

As a teen and young adult, I had a style of dressing that was probably inappropriate but I had a body for that then. Moreover, at that time it was somewhat okay to dress somewhat sexy and show a little bit of midriff and all. Then I got fat and had to learn how to dress a completely different way. First, I was a mom and a wife (still am of course) so I changed my look accordingly. No more sex kitten attire as that was just juvenile and then the fatter I got well it would have just been gross. Problem was I never really learned how to dress beyond sweats and stretchy pants and oversized shirts. Face it my body just did not feel like a fashion body. The best I could do was to sport really good hair.

Now that my body has recovered from being oversized, and my muscles have been toned up to go with it, I still don’t know how to dress it. It’s nice that I am a size eight or even in some cases a size six, but the skin suit is still at least a size eighteen for heaven’s sakes! Tailoring it isn’t an option (have you seen the cost of plastic surgery?) so what’s an older gal to do? I am too old for the cute look and I wouldn’t show off my midriff now anyway on a bet. Where is Stacy or Clinton when you need them? How do you find a style that works for the new busy life of the full time student in her fifties? Is it even possible to be hip at my age?

Jeans are a conundrum for me. I have several pairs of jeans, but the style doesn’t seem to work for me quite right. The girls are wearing their jeans really low cut and, well, I suffer from a bit of the muffin top issue with the oversized skin suit thing going on. Then there is something called jeggings. They are kind of a jean/legging thing. They are really comfy and do rise higher but after twenty minutes of wearing them they sag in all the wrong places. Sigh! Then I found a jean that is made for older women and I bought one pair to try. They fit really well when I got them (size eight) and so I went back and got the last two pair in that size. But, I have short legs and have to have them hemmed and now they are too big. They don’t have any in size six left and I don’t know if they will ever get any more of them in. Again, it is a conundrum finding clothes and on top of that, I can’t just go out and buy clothes. I am a starving student after all.

Okay so I have ranted well enough about the bottom half but I have much more to say about dressing the top half too. Now that I desperately need things with the three quarter length sleeves, they have gone out of style and therefore, out of the stores. Where are the cute tops with the empire waistlines that are flattering when you have that little extra fluff in the middle? The fashion show that says my body type needs this doesn’t tell you where they found them. This should be fun but it’s not. Shopping for clothes is still a nightmare except that I get to have my nightmare in normal size clothing stores. Don’t get me started on bras because that is a whole other blog.

At some point, someone is going to have to take me by the hand and teach me how to find clothes that are appropriate for my age that look professional and attractive without looking completely ridiculous. Do those clothes exist? I hope so.