Old men wear their waistlines high because they wore them that way when they were young. Look for it the next time you watch an old Thirties or Forties movie; the young men all have their belts up under their ribs. Henry Fonda is one in particular I remember.
I want to wear hats too!
Hell, you know, I think Sexywriter hit another point-my gramma will spend big bucks on me-which I don’t always feel comfortable with, since she’s living on a fixed income, but her own clothes, while actually very nice and tasteful, are hand me downs. Usually dress slacks and sweaters or short sleeved shirts. My other grandmother the same, only she wears sweats most of the time, only the dressier stuff for get togethers and the like.
But one thing I’ve noticed, the first gramma, my mom’s mom, has an EXCELLENT eye for jewelry. She has all this old costume stuff from Avon and Sarah Coventry and it looks very classy and antique sort of. She’s gotten me necklaces every year for Xmas and my birthday that are gorgeous! They’re mostly from Avon, and other costume outlets and I adore her taste there.
In my grandparents’ case, most of their clothes are from the 70’s. The only articles of clothing they have bought recently (i.e. within the past decade) are shoes.
I work in a thrift shop & very few older people come in to buy clothes. Most people buying clothes are women around 40-50.
I do have a friend. about 75 who still wearing the same clothes from the 70s…yuck. But not all the older people where 70’s clothes.
Remember that elderly women grew up with clothes that all had to be ironed. Hell, I’m only 40 and I can remember my mom going over a giant pile of ironing every week. My own dear Grandma hated ironing and loved polyester. This would be the really, really old elderly people, BTW.
My parents are medium old, I guess (61 and 65) and they don’t wear polyester. My dad wears Levis 501 – the shrink-to-fit kind – just like he always has. He also wears t-shirts that he picks up as they travel around. And hats – usually different ball-caps that he also picks up on their travels. Dad recently added a couple of new wrinkles to his “look.” Last winter he bought one of those fleece pullovers and loved it. Now he has a stack of them (he calls them “fuzzies.”) He also recently became a convert to velcro running shoes, because they’re easy to put on and comfy. He seems to feel that they’re so uncool that they’ve moved into anti-cool. He calls them his “old-fuck sneakers,” buys them at WalMart and proudly tells people how little he paid for them.
Mom is still keeping on the sunny-side of style, but she hates shopping so much that if she finds something she likes, that fits her and is priced right she buys every color the store. She’s always done this, though – it’s not an old-lady thing. She also dresses to please Dad, tight jeans 'cuz he likes them, yellow 'cuz it’s his favorite color, and green 'cuz he says it makes her eyes look green.
Judging from their large group of friends, this is going to be the “elderly uniform” of the next generation of elderly people – jeans, t-shirts, caps and velcro sneakers for the guys and some combination of cheap, easy and fairly stylish for the ladies.
I guess we’ve got a grip on where old folks buy their clothes – mail order (they’re afraid that if they get on “that Interweb or Wide World Net something the grandkids keep talking about,” they’ll break it :-), and smaller discount department/clothing chain stores (Bealls, Anthony’s, etc.). I’m still wondering about why.
Deb2world wrote …
… and that thought was shared by several others. That may be the case – it’s low maintenance, and probably comfortable if it breathes properly. But then – why the lime green and bright pink? Why the strange patterns on men’s shirts? Deb also said …
This answer has a hint of AARP-style political correctness in it. But … the lime green and strange floral prints were never “in” then. Yeah, folks wore some strange things in the 1970s, but you didn’t see things like this in high school yearbooks. Also, I know lots of people that feel good about themselves, but son’t wear tacky clothes to show the world.
So, let’s narrow it down a bit. What do senior citizens find so appeaking about lime green?
Another thought is that they, the seniors, realize they just have enough clothing and make do with what they have. Partly to the retail alienationa and a big whopping factor of they just don’t give a damn anymore.
As for the lime green pants, well, maybe it’s so the ambulance can find them faster, when they fall and can’t get up. Who knows…