You call what’s going on leadership?!?!?!?!?!?
JOKINGJOKINGJOKINGJOKINGJOKINGJOKINGJOKINGJOKING!!!
playing off of WS’s little joke, which I picked up on immediately. the smiley ikon was my tipoff.
To answer the OP: I think this has been going on since time immemorial. I can remember it from the 60s, and I, like SofP in previous reply, am doing it as we speak. Male version, too, of course. Gets me much more street cred w/the younger babes than do my Sansabelt slacks and the Hushpuppies.
As OP points out, it is obvious. However, as I have noticed, being obvious is almost a sure sign that the vast majority of people will not see it.
hh
I agree. I am 30 and when I go shopping at a department store like Macy’s, JC Penney, Hecht’s, Kohl’s, etc, I find that the clothes in the women’s section are usually way to old and dowdy. And if I do happen to find something nice, it’s always too big. At Macy’s the other day, I found a cute t-shirt but the size small was too big!
So then I go to the junior’s section and if I look really really hard I can find some cute stuff that doesn’t make me look like a teeny bopper wannabe. I like low waisted jeans but in the junior’s section, the jeans are low low low waisted, as in they don’t even cover up your butt crack or pubic hair!
However I did luck out this weekend when I found the cutest and best-fitting shorts in the junior’s section at Kohl’s. I bought three pairs in different colors. They were not too short (like short short daisy dukes) or those hideous knee-length shorts.
Sizes discrepancies are a problem. In the women’s section I can wear a 6 or 8, but in the junior’s section, I am a minimum size 9 or an 11.
I forgot to say: I have good luck at Old Navy and the Gap. My mom, who is 60, can also find cute stuff at those stores without looking ridiculous.
Nyctea: What? You dont like ducks marching across your chest in a row. Just joking. Neither do I. And like you, I shop mostly at the Gap and Old Navy. I did find a great skirt and sweater at Kohls today, though.
I was thinking a little- perhaps it has got more obvious recently, because only in the last 50 years or so have there been different types of clothing for women of different ages.
Back in the day you went from school uniform and ankle socks via a debutante gown or wedding dress, to dressing exactly like your mother. Look at any film from the 1950s or earlier- the women all wear the same styles of clothing, no matter what their ages.
Only with the invention of teenagers in the 1950s were the young allowed to have their own style- in the past few decades the style has moved further away from the mainstrem, “older” look, so that it becomes more and more obvious to see who is wearing “young” clothes and who is wearing “old” ones.
Just a theory.
It’s interesting to see people commenting that there are older men dressing like they’re still in their teens and twenties, which I can’t say I’ve noticed.
I see all sorts of people working in a Supermarket, and I don’t ever recall seeing a 40-50yo male wearing an Eminem or CKY T-shirt (or those silly 3/4 jeans with the wallet-chain, for that matter), yet 40-50yo women in clothing designed for teenagers is a fairly common sight. And not unsurprisingly, judging from some of the stories here… It must be hard when faced between either dressing like your Nana or wearing a T-shirt with some sparkly playful message on it.
Then again, people give me stick for wearing Khaki and Olive Green all the time, so I’m not exactly Mr. Fashion Guru… 
There’s a woman who shops occasionally in the mall where I work. She has long, highlighted hair that she usually wears up in a ponytail, with some type of rhinestoney clip or scrunchy adorning it. She wears tight little T-shirts also adorned with sequins and designs…straight from Rave. Skinny-tight jeans, also very trendy and young, and stiletto boots. From the back you’d swear she was 19, lucky her. But when she turns around, and you realize that despite the tanning bed tan and carefully applied makeup, she’s at least 70, maybe 75, all you feel is sad. I don’t know why I feel this way…she obviously keeps in shape and may be popular with a lot of the old guys at the senior center, but it’s really hard to take her seriously, dressed as she is. And I’m sure the other women her age don’t take her seriously either. But then again, she’s probably been an airhead her entire life, so I’m sure it’s nothing new for her. But I see tons of older women dressing fashionably without going over the line to perpetual teenager…women just as fit, and sexy and active as her…they just seem more intelligent.
That’s my mother-in-law. And by the way, she’s only in her late 50s, despite how she looks. I think the years of tanning and dieting have taken quite a toll.
I’m 48 too, and find the same things to be true. I’m lucky enough to be able to wear jeans in my office (general contractor/construction) and I have found some stylish ones in a slenderizing boot cut with a little lycra in the denim to hug those curves, which are also designed to be a more moderate rise–nothing low-rise for this mom of two! I went from a size 16 to a size 10 in the last year and pretty much had the “awful” task of revamping my wardrobe entirely, and I found some more “youthful” styles in skirts (handkerchief hems but at knee level, not mini; gored or tiered with flat yokes to my lower hips & then falling in graceful pleats, etc) . Silk blouses with bracelet-length sleeves and campshirt bottoms in a variety of colors never go out of style. jali’s right, it’s how you FEEL that matters. She IS certainly tall, slender and graceful in her clothing–I’m short, curvy with a new tiny waist, and feminine in mine!
As long as crushed velvet pantsuits with huge bell bottoms, sleeveless vest-like patch-pocketed tops, & large metal hoops for zipper closures NEVER come back into style, I’ll be just fine. Sadly, been there…
–Beck