After several years of buying my then-high school-age sons their requisite pairs of Dr. Martens, I finally succumbed. Famous Footwear had a pair of boots my size for the unheard-of price of $25 a couple of years ago, and I bought them. And wore them. And wore them. They are just about the most comfortable boots — or shoes — I have ever owned, and they look exactly the same as the day I bought them. Incredibly durable. I particularly like mucking through the rain and snow in them, and I even considered wearing them during a concert under my long dress — but didn’t.
It begs the question: Do these boots make me look old? Young? Ridiculous? Like I’m trying too hard? Like I’m borrowing my daughters’ clothes? I try to make them part of an outfit so they don’t call a lot attention to themselves, like wearing them with very long pants or jeans. But I always question myself a little when I put them on.
I sometimes see “women of a certain age” all dressed up in ‘tween fashion, and it makes me wince. (Of course fashion should be fun, but hair bows at 50?) There’s apparently some sort of magical point when we midlifers should know better than to try to shop at Abercrombie and Fitch, but, as usual, I didn’t get the memo.
How do you decide?
June 17, 2008 at 1:16 pm
This is a HOT topic. Care to elaborate for a MLB post?????
June 18, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Sure. Give me a couple of days to acclimate, and I’ll wax poetic on it.
msmeta
June 19, 2008 at 11:31 am
But even at 40 or 50, you should be able to wear appropriate clothes without looking frumpy OR twelve. To me, “trying too hard” is if you wear 6 inch spikey heeled or other equally uncomfortable shoes. I say wear the Doc Martins. How often are comfortable shoes cool-looking too?
June 24, 2008 at 10:02 am
[...] Adventures at midlife, Fashion, Image, Women } { Tags: Fashion, midlife } ByJane read my recent Dr. Martens blogpost, and challenged me to take a broader look at fashion for older — and often, um, broader — [...]
June 24, 2008 at 10:34 pm
[...] by Ms Meta of MetaFootNotes [...]
June 25, 2008 at 7:40 am
[...] Meta’s Fashion For The Middled Aged post was spurred by an earlier post where she pondered if she was too old for Doc Martens, saying she wears them because they are so darn comfortable she never wants to take them off. [...]
July 25, 2008 at 9:33 am
[...] on midlife issues. It’s a continuation of the ever-lentgthening dialogues started by Ms. Meta back in the late winter which resulted in MidLifeBloggers coming into being. This entry was [...]
July 31, 2008 at 6:42 am
[...] on Portobello and Camden Roads that served them well in the rainy spring weather. And I’ve already blogged about my favorite British import, my trusty Doc [...]