1st boots with both dark denim and white jacket are wonderful! I don't care for the dress without a jacket because the puff sleeves are bothering me and giving it a less mature look.

Also where I live, in Topanga, not the rest of LA, it would look silly to wear heels, sheath dresses, pants, all of which I own by the way. I have a lot of clothes for my imaginary life or for travel. When in NY I dress more of what some would call "my age" because it is different there, yet if I hung out on St Marks place I would be too conservative. I also wear my more sophisticated clothes when I go to a nice restaurant in Beverly Hills or Hollywood or one of my husband's work parties.

Amen, Gaylene! It's not about covering up the bad parts -- it's about a whole look that reflects who I am now!

#1 below is an outfit I copied from a DKNY ad, and it's one of the only outfits I've ever worn in which I felt uncomfortably like I was dressed too young, even though I was largely covered up. #2, on the other hand, is much more bare but I felt fab and appropriate in it. Go figure, huh?

MaryK I agree you look way more fab in number 2 even though you look good in both. I see what you are saying. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe the ruffles. I'm starting to feel some ruffle, not all, & some sleeve puffiness is too young girlish.

Wow, does this mean I'm too liberal in that I think that EVERYONE ought to wear bikinis and short shorts when they are young LOL That should be the birthright of every young woman!

ETA: MaryK COULDN't have worn that first outfit. It was your evil twin sister, right!

OK Gaylene does that mean all older women should not? Isn't it about what looks good? Age aside?

What I'm trying to say is certain clothes look good on certain people & certain clothes do not & it's more about the occasion, location and body type than age IMO.

Yes, I think it was the combination of the ruffles, the bow belt, and all that ruching on the (puffy sleeved!) top, combined with the low v-neck and the short skirt. To funny... the next time I wore that top I also felt age-inappropriate and it eventually ended up in the wardrobe of a younger YLF-er!

As you can see, the whole look was much better on the young model! LOL

Annagybe I love that Sundance catalog. Thanks for posting the link. That is a look that I think is me.

I am new here, it is Summer, I am not always so skimpily clad. I haven't had a chance to post the pics where I do look older. Sorry to those who think I look too young for my age.

No way! I love seeing women in Europe who fearlessly wear their bikinis into their 80s. To my eye, they look great.

Age-appropriate, to me, means evolving your style, not putting restrictions on "this is only appropriate for this age". To me, the inappropriateness comes from trying to hold on to a style of dress that may have worked well for you in the past, but may not work so well for who you are now, or, more importantly, who you want to become.

It's the cringe factor when you see someone who seems desperate and is trying to hang on to something that is no longer there. Madonna is coming to mind here; she has worked hard to maintain that toned body, but, now, instead of shocking us, she sometimes just seems to look desperate.

ETA: Please don't misinterpret the above; I'm definitely not implying that you are dressing in a way that is inappropriate. I actually quite liked your shorts outfit. I think it looks great-- and, from your description, probably fits in quite well with your environment.

I wear minis and don't apologize to anyone for it. Ditto bikinis. But there is no denying there are times when an outfit looks too young on someone. It's open to interpretation, as is just about everything in this life, but the fact remains or it wouldn't be an issue much discussed.

Gaylene I am not trying to hold onto something because I didn't dress like this in the past.

I was more punk in the past with red & black hair, body piercings & studs. I feel that is too young for me now & don't dye my hair, it's naturally brown without any grey, removed the piercings & dress differently. I don't think I am desperate.

I dress like the girlfriends of my music icons & maybe that is wrong but that is what inspires me. Bohemian, rocker, Americana, Rolling Stones in the 70s, Woodstock etc

I haven't had any plastic surgery, any injections, don't dye my hair. I am not trying to stay young I just am lucky. I barely ever exercise & only do it to stay healthy. When I do I get hot & get headaches.

I don't want to look like Madonna or Cher but I do like Patti Smith's look.

Elle, I don't think anybody said you looked younger than your age as a negative. There is absolutely nothing wrong and everything right with being in such good shape at any age. You look young for your age, not TOO young. Big difference.

A little more about where I live. It is not only a hippy artist community but a surfer community. I went to a film festival opening night in dark wash skinny jeans, black high heeled booties & black sweater and felt uncomfortable for being overdressed. I received comments that made me feel inappropriately overdressed. I also went to a chamber of commerce meeting dressed in pants & blazer & heels & the same thing happened. Everyone here prefers me in my bohemian attire.

ETA: I feel I know how to be appropriate but sometimes, like in the circumstances mentioned above I get it wrong. I once went to a party in NY in Soho. It was a party, it was around all the art galleries, it was downtown. It was with around wealthy people. So I wore a party dress, an expensive one of a kind, to the knee or just over it, designer dress that Sharon Stone wore before I acquired it, (she's not young is she) & yet I was inappropriate. Most of the women were in black, some chanel suits, some sheaths. It was at 6:30pm & maybe they just came from work but I thought being a party I shouldn't look like I came from work. I had a black wool sheath from Theory with me but thought it was not party enough. I was wrong.

I lived in Topanga, of course I was just a kid in the 70's and I most remember playing hide and seek with my brothers at my mom's huge apartment complex. And that one of my younger brothers came home from pre-school with painted nails and my mom was not amused. hee hee. Don't remember it being surfers but that was over 35 years ago . . . my mom did surf in the 60's at Santa Monica pier and knew some of the gang from Muscle Beach way back when it was a thing with acrobats and pre 'Arnold'. Ah, the days at the beach . . .

Mo are you sure it was Topanga & not on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in the valley? There aren't apartment complexes in Topanga.

Probably was the valley . . . I was 8! So you mean Topanga Canyon itself - the windy road to the beach? Where they filmed MASH back in the day? My stepdad lived in a trailer there and gave nature hikes like a hippy lol.

Yes Mo I live in the canyon. No sidewalks. All mud & gravel & hills & grass so my heels never get worn often. If I go out somewhere out of the canyon like last night we went to a nice restaurant in Malibu, I have to carry my heels with me to the car. I wore a black pencil skirt to the knee or over it, black pointy pumps, 3 1/2 inch & a white button down shirt, no cleavage. I'm sure I was appropriate. Maybe the pointy toes were dated.

Good point, Elle. I guess it looks like the past to me because that is exactly the way I dressed in my twenties when I was in LA. And, by the way, Jim Morrison didn't look as good in real life as he did in his pictures-- but, on stage, you couldn't take your eyes off him!

I think everyone has a right to dress in whatever way makes them happy. I guess I was just reacting to your comment about "rebelling against age-appropriate dressing" because I think so many people have such limited views as to what age-appropriate dress implies-- a series of do this and don't do that. And I do find it sad to see people who long to be younger than their actual age, as if growing older is a bad thing.

This has been a fun thread, and I actually think we agree on many points, especially our love for the late 60s and early 70s. I have great memories, but my fringed leather vest and headband are staying put in the darker corners of my closet.

yeah, I hear you on living where there are no sidewalks! But I don't even own a pencil skirt. Tried 3 times - never wore any of them. Some lifestyles are just more casual than others. I totally get it!

Gaylene,

I do agree some things DO look too young as some things do look not fab on people regardless of age. I just think one needs to judge by photos though & not age. It doesn't help that I blur my face in pictures.

ETA: I would love that fringed vest!

Several of those women wearing short skirts in the 1661 article just don't look tastefully dressed to my eye. I'm not sure I would like their style if they were in their 20s.

I believe there is a big difference between 46, 56 and 66. At 46 I still wore short skirts and shorts. Now, however, I don't feel right like that any more.

Elle, it sounds like you really prefer to dress to fit the environmental norm, or at least not to challenge it too much, and from your description, your posted outfits are perfect for that environment. Fun, easy, casual, with a bit of humour to them. Plus, you have the figure to wear them well. So I say go for it!

If you're looking to evolve your style within that framework, it seems like Annagybe has given you a few ideas. She is brilliant at that, by the way! And I agree with the person who said your style looks a little bit like our list-mate Rae's style - her weekend version, anyway. Rae's less boho, but she definitely has that breezy, casual vibe.

I have a good friend who is a bit older than you who regularly wears cowboy boots with dresses. Like you, she has the figure for it. She often tops with a denim jacket. Her dresses usually have a full skirt like the one you posted. I think the typical dress she'd use might be a vintage or vintage-inspired one...often a sundress. I haven't seen her in any puffy sleeved looks.

I think she might describe her style as rocker-boho with a vaguely vintage wing (or that's sort of how I describe it to myself, anyway!)

I wonder if you just made the dress sleeveless if you could continue to get wear and pleasure from it?

This conversation is interesting to me, as a 47yo artist and DJ who feels a lot younger and lives a casual, fairly non-conventional lifestyle. Granted, I'm on the other coast, where style is definitely more buttoned-up, but someone in my lifestyle could wear cutoffs and tees almost every day and no one would bat an eye. I have friends of all ages who rock those boho 70s styles, so I don't think it's age-restrictive.

Elle, you look great, but I understand why you're asking the questions you are. The further into my 40s I've gotten, the more I've questioned whether certain looks are right for me, but the words "age-appropriate" don't enter my mind as much as "sophisticated" does. I just got rid of the last of my items with short puffed sleeves -- I have hit a point where they look dated and unsophisticated to my eye and *for my style.* Somehow things that didn't seem too girly last summer seem all wrong now.

Bottom line to me is, wear what you enjoy. If you feel fab in something and it's not getting in the way of personal or professional goals, then go for it. I wear shorts (although not short), bikinis, and sleeveless tops, even though I have cellulite (and I'm not overweight). I'll be damned if I'm going to cover my arms through a 95 degree, 80% humidity Baltimore summer for fear of offending someone's eyes with my dimpled flesh. The day will probably come soon enough that I feel the need to cover more up, so for now, I just relax and enjoy some freedom.

All the same, I am always looking at my wardrobe with a critical eye these days to assess whether something is a style I'm aspiring to or simply settling for.

Love the cowboy boots ... Have been craving a pair myself. Love with the dress and jacket. Not crazy about the puff sleeves-- can you have tailor remove?

The shorts outfit: yes you can still pull this off, but to my eye what makes you look too young is that you appear to have just "called it in." A top with more style and interest would take this from 16 to 46. I would love to see it with a collared shirt half tucked, animal print belt. Or a flowy drapery top. A top with a pattern. Anything other than a boring simple tee. To my eye that's what shows you have arrived at an age that you have confidence and panache. See, it's not about fit. The tee says "safe." like you do not want to stand out from your high school peers who all shop at the Gap. Make sense?

Just wanted to add that I love cowboy boots -- I have two pairs. I wear them with dresses, skirts, jeans... I just avoid styling them in a deliberately cowgirl way.