Ha, Chirico, you and me both!
Everything Chirico said, and I'm the same age : )
I have a work colleague who inspires me. She's in her mid 50s, and always wears modern styles, hair and makeup done but not overly-so.
Thanks, Angie!

This is so true Angie. I am fortunate to have strong female role models in my life. My Mom (74), Aunt, Cousin, my late Grandmother and Great Aunt too. They are all stylish in their own unique way and continue to inspire and amaze me.

My mum is a great style model, not just because of her great style, but also because she has the body type that I anticipate having when I'm older (apple) and I think she dresses it well.

ETA: I should add that the thing I like most about my mother is that she does her own thing, does not follow trends, but always is so successful in looking absolutely impeccable in everything she wears.

I am constantly inspired by stylish women older, and younger, than myself, (I'll be 50 in August) especially you Angie, your clients and all those on YLF. Even when style preferences are somewhat different, I find there is always something to be gleaned.

IRL, i have no everyday stylish older than me role models. but i do have YLF, and the memory of 2 great aunts, who were fashionable to the end.

and funny, but just this week one of the 20somethings i work with told me i was one of her fashion role models…..so i may not have a stylish older role model, but apparently i am one.

Like others, I love seeing Karen on the blog, Angie. I'm inspired by her strong sense of her signature style and what works for her life. I hope I can get there too. My style is so higgledy-piggledy (though I am having lots of fun with fashion). Karen's a great role model.

My grandmother was like Karen, a woman with a signature look that projected her strong sense of identity. Since interest in fashion skipped a generation in our family (my mum has never cared about how she looks), I'm thrilled to hear you have a client in her 80s. I always admire the well-dressed women in Mum's retirement community.

I'm loving reading about everyone's style inspirations, and agree we need to see more images of older women who aren't afraid to be visible!

[Oh: as I'm in my late 40s, guess I may BE an older woman to many!]

My two key inspirations these days are below, and they're very different.

#1 is my grandmother at 90; turns out we both arrived in deep blues. [She hated that the shoes she planned to wear wouldn't fit her fit at the last minute, and now hates that some additional health problems mean no heels.]

She retired *very* late in life and so had a great excuse to stay a sharp dresser. My mom skews more sporty/girlish but my grandmother always has this womanly sass to her style and rocked a pantsuit back in the day.

#2 is my friend The Gilded Lily at 70 (in 2011 -- she's obsessed with trends and wouldn't want me to post this without giving the date!). She doesn't give a flying fig what anyone thinks of her dressing sense (she says she's Forever21 at heart and thus deserves to shop there, hahaha).

She's constantly giving me faux-crap about being such a classic dresser and/or obsessing about finding the perfect X but loves to say, "ok now I get it that is so YOU." I love seeing how playful she is with fashion.

Love the photos, Vix. Inspirational.

My Grandmother was a stylish lady- I wish I had had a chance to see her wardrobe before it all went.
Also my MIL still wears dresses to Church when others her age have given-up on them and only dress for comfort 'at their age'.

Christine Lagarde inspires me, though her style is certainly not mine. Laurie Anderson for sure. Judi Dench and Ines de La Fressange, my age exactly. And did you see Helen Mirren on the Tonight Show last week?

Linda Rodin, Dianne Keaton, Christiane Lagarde are on my Pinterest board as role models. I think they are roughly 10 years ahead of me? And of course our own Joy.

I
was thrilled when I first discovered the contingent of over-40 bloggers, but so many of them are too different to function as inspiration... many skew urban polished casual, whereas I'm rural RATE professional. (and not retired)

That's why finding YLF felt like coming home, with a diversity of ages, lifestyles, and style preferences, and Angie's generous heart and wise advice to knit us into community.

Well YLF is truly my biggest balm for aging anxiety and has carried me through my 40s with more confidence now than when I started. When I was still working in New York, I had a boss that was exactly 10 years older than me who could party me under the table. Perhaps a bit oddly, that really inspired me not to fear aging.

What a great thread to read through!!

I'll turn 59 this September...WHAT??? How did this happen so soon??? I had my yearly physical on Friday, and as the nurse was typing in my info, she said she had no idea I was that old...LOL...don't know if that was a compliment or not.

And I absolutely love looking through the photos posted here. I get such great ideas on how to combine pieces for new looks, great shoes and boots/booties...heck, even the new hair style posts.

I was also thrilled to see Lauren Hutton in the new JCrew catalog.

I love Karen's style.

I might have to look a bit closer here for older role models.

There is a lady at work with a fantastic sense of style but a very different body type than myself. I often look at here and wonder how she pulls to gether such different outfits and colors.

Her hair is cut in a modern style that suits her and her makeup is great- she has lovely skin and always does her eyes up more than her lips or cheeks.

Initially I thought I didn't have any stylish older women to emulate. My 90 YO mother's style isn't what I would want to emulate. It works for her, but wouldn't work for me (polyester stretch pants with elastic waists, and no jeans).

Then I realized I know A LOT of older women. I'm a volunteer in a non profit organization whose members are, for the most part, older than me. Some of them don't care what they wear at all. That doesn't mean they aren't lovely women, very giving of their time. Others, I just remembered, have a very good sense of fashion. One in particular looks wonderful no matter what she's doing.

Yes! Thank you for this reminder Angie. My biggest style icon and influence is my 86 year mother. She wears what she wants in order to portray her artistic soul (she's a musician). She doesn't try to hide or fit in - it's all about pleasing herself with her style. I've always admired that confidence. She especially loves embellished denim jackets, funky coloured shoes, dangly earrings, scarves, and flowing skirts.

The most fashionable older woman I know is my mother's cousin, and my godmother. She's in her early 70's but due to her fashion and style, trim figure (and a little work) she looks many years younger. She has always been very glamorous. She is also a career role model for me, having been one of the relatively few women of her era to excel in science, earn a PhD and spend many years at a leading cancer research hospital running a lab, and publishing her research findings. She has retired from the lab, but now heads a department dedicated to diversity at this institution. I saw her recently when she came to DC to speak at a conference, and was struck again by how timelessly stylish she has been.

I can remember Christmas Eve's in the '60's which were spent at her parents' modest home. She would blow in from England or Washington DC or Charleston SC, platinum hair swept across her eyes and short skirts and boots. Or midi vests. Or whatever the style was. She gave me wildly age-inappropriate gifts, including a bronze lame bomber jacket when I was about 12 and chunky and awkward. I would kill for that jacket now!

My mother, now 78, was very stylish through her 50's, but my sister and I now lament how she has dressed for the last 15 or 20 years. She has that "Florida snowbird" look now ("snowbirds" are people from the northern states in the US who spend 2 or 3 winter months in Florida) - bright colors and wrong-length capris, and not flattering shapes. I have tried (lord, have I tried) to get her into flared jeans to balance generous hips, and faux tucks, to show her small waistline. Alas! She still has a great figure that most women her age and younger would envy. My goal is to get her to Angie one day soon!!!

I've been re-watching "MadMen" episode after episode. I really relate to that show. My Mom was Betty, and my godmother was one of those glamorous women who had made it into the working world with style. (I was Sally....)

I remain inspired by my godmother to whom I also owe a very huge debt of gratitude for opening her home to me 20 years ago, and having me seen by world-renowned specialists, when I was diagnosed with cancer.

I really didn't have an older role models, fashion wise, growing up. But the first time I had lunch with a friend in her early 80's I realized that I was under dressed compared to her, and I started dressing nicer for our meetings. And that slowly led to upgrading my style.