Here here! Im not yet 50 but it's not that far off. Brilliant resolution! I have also decided this is the year I stop worrying about 'the age thing".

Great thread! I crossed the great divide last year (now 50) and am thinking more about my clothes than ever. Sometimes the question is, is this look too young? I do think there is a line somewhere that I need to be careful about, especially because I am so drawn to shifts -- that can go twee pretty quickly. And I may have worn my bikini for the last time. I think that's done. But in general, I am asking: is this my style? YLF has helped a lot with that. I realize that my style is not defined by age at all, but I do want a certain cohesion in my look that I might not have cared about so much when I was younger. BTW, BF jeans are my style and are a much loved item in my closet.

I notice bikinis have come up a few times in this discussion, and I just had a brief conversation the other night with a 32yo woman who is maybe, maybe a size 0, probably more like a 00. She was talking about not wearing bikinis anymore, and I think I shocked her a little when I said I still wear them, even though I'm several sizes larger than her and I'll be turning 49 this year.

I explained that context to me is more important than age. I took a one-piece swimsuit with me on a beach vacation a few years ago, along with my only (at the time) bikini. The one-piece never got worn because once I got to our destination, I realized that all women there -- regardless of age or size -- wore bikinis. I would have stood out more covering myself in a one-piece than baring my pasty white tummy in a bikini. Even though I now sport a couple of small laparoscopy scars on my belly, I'll still wear bikinis when I'm in a place like that. But at home, in our swimming pool, with our friends and neighbors, I stick with a one-piece. I'm more comfortable that way.

People have some funny notions of what "a certain age" looks like or dresses like. I've been told by some 20-somethings that I don't dress like a 40-something, and I guess their frame of reference is how their moms dress, because I know I'm not way off the curve or anything. I suppose it's true most middle-aged women are not wearing blue leather moto jackets or turquoise cowboy boots, and I'm totally fine bucking that norm. But then, I don't see many 20-somethings wearing those things either.