This post is a listicle of the most common fashion mistakes that make you look old. Being aware of them, you can easily avoid looking older than you are. Discover these tips for a more stylish, youthful you.
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Don’t Dress Yourself Old
Remember back in high school when we were fresh(wo)men and tried to look older than we were? Recall when we dressed in power suits and wore pearl necklaces to appear more experienced upon graduating from college, when we dressed for a job interview, and when we were on our first job?
In retrospect, it brings a smile to our faces. Today, we try everything to look our best in midlife, turning fashion into style, not letting age prematurely, fighting these under-eye dark circles even when it seems hopeless, because they are not a discoloration, but an inherited “hole.” You can’t fill it, and hide it. Depending on the light, it just shows, no matter how great your concealer or makeup is.
Oh, if we had known back then how damaging the tanning would be to our skin! We are the last generation of women who hit the pool on a floating silver mattress. We used the reflection of the water to enhance UV radiation, resulting in an even darker tan. Some of us even lay down between mirrors or had a subscription to the It tanning studio in town. If only!
Well, of course, anti-aging creams are available, and they are effective. I tried several of them. For instance, recall my review of the Zenmed anti-aging cream and my testing of the Snowberry serum.
However, it’s not only our body that can make us look old. Styling mistakes can do that, too. The good news is that we are in control of our dressing. Consequently, we can avoid the mistakes that make us look Old Lady.
Watch Out for These Fashion Mistakes to Not Look Old
However, we shouldn’t overlook the many things we can avoid that make us look old. And, yes, of course, just keeping an eye on these 88 most common mistakes can go a long way.
Accessories that Date You
- Outdated accessories, including shoes, unless your personal style is eclectic. Discover what to toss and what to keep when overhauling your jewelry box.
- Wearing the wrong shoes concerning the pants’/jeans’ leg width or the length of your skirt/dress.
- Matching shoes and a bag. So, the 1960s and 1970s. What did you do in the 1980s, when Patricia Gucci mixed it all up in the name of Gucci?
- Wearing an old-fashioned or distressed bag.
- Reading glasses hanging on a necklace around your neck because it conveys the message that you would lose them otherwise. A better choice is to opt for stylish, up-to-date reading glasses that you can carry discreetly and wear with confidence.
- Bifocal glasses with a demarcation line. Yuck!
- Fit-overs instead of prescription sunglasses or instead of contact lenses, plus great modern sunglasses.
- Dated or boring frames, especially round comic-type granny frames.
- Coke bottle lenses.
- Half glasses.
- Whimsical, tiny necklaces.
- Necklaces and/or rings that tell how many kids/grandkids you have. For many men, it lowers your market value.
- Your kids’ or grandkids’ photos as a background or screensaver on your cell phone. Go for your pet, a hobby-related activity, or a hot sports car instead.
- Über-bling, i.e., jewelry in all possible places, including the toes. You are still too young for this style. Only Iris Apfel can rock this look.
- Wearing oversized earrings or loops that are the size of your bangles.
- Cheap (fake) pearls and chains look just plain cheap on us over 40, while they look great on Millennials.
Clothes that Tell Your Age
- Mom jeans.
- Elastic waistbands.
- Mommy robes.
- Mumus.
- Baggy cargo pants.
- Three-piece suits – read skirt, blazer plus vest, or pants, blazer plus vest.
- Rompers.
- Overalls and jumpsuits.
- Wearing cheap synthetic holiday sweaters.
- Flannel shirts.
- Crochet sweater, vest, or jacket in Woodstock 1970s style.
- Crochet bikinis.
- Boxy shapes or baggy shapeless clothes to hide love handles, a tummy, saggy arms, etc.
- Menswear from head to toe.
- Washed out or acid-washed jeans. Remember, we were teenagers or kids when we sat in the bathtub with our jeans on and brushed the thighs so they looked “washed?” We were just a bit older when we used bleach to distress them.
- Tie-dye anything when you are a baby boomer.
- Big shoulder pads.
- Fussy details like little gold or flower-like buttons
- Knit sweaters with pom-poms and/or fringe throughout.
- Granny undies. Yes, there are underwear issues.
- Reinforced toe stockings or pantyhose.
- Cut-offs and short-shorts. Just wear shorts in an ageless style.
Footwear That Looks Plain Old, Passed Your Prime, Old-Fashioned, or Too Young
- Comfort or orthopedic shoes that look like what they are. There exist stylish orthotics.
- Chunky 2.5-inch (5 cm) or lower heels with formal or semi-formal attire. So Old Lady!
- Shock-absorbing white sneakers with jeans. So, 1970s high school students.
- Sneakers with socks outside the gym.
- Penny loafers.
- Wearing these slingback-type plastic shoes with round holes and footbed anywhere other than in the yard for gardening. Doing so conveys the message “I gave up on myself.”
- Flip flops anywhere else, but at the beach, no matter how embellished or expensive they are, or who the designer is.
- Wearing these faux shearling, shapeless boots, which resemble a foot brace. You know these boots that every teenager is wearing. And no, it doesn’t make them look more stylish when they are covered with silver sequins. Sorry Heidi Klum, it probably wasn’t your idea.
- Wearing sky-high heels you can’t walk in. Exercise walking in your heels before wearing them in public (e.g., a wedding, an opera, a date night, or a girls’ night out).
The Most Common Mistakes in Wearing Colors, Prints, and Fabrics
- Fair Isle crew-neck vests or sweater vests.
- Tweed skirt suits, tweed anything that is styled conservatively, i.e., matronly. Read how to wear tweed over 40.
- Tan pantyhose.
- Little Laura Ashley-like prints.
- Laura Ashley-like garden prints, prairie prints, and other sweet prints that would look cute on a kiddo.
- Palm Beach floral prints outside of a vacation resort.
- Souvenir or college T-shirts when you are not working at a university/college. How long ago did you graduate?
- Meant-to-be funny Tees like “The bags under my eyes are … (add your favorite bag brand here)”, or “My face is up there.” It’s not funny; it’s tasteless, and no taste is, for sure, opposite to personal style.
Styling Habits That Are Yesteryear
- Cardigans on plus-size women.
- A cropped jacket with low-rise jeans.
- Shawls or capes instead of a coat.
- Short, tight, and clingy knits.
- Body conscious and tight clothes in metallic. See this post for tips on how to wear metallics right over 40.
- Wearing more than one brocade item in an outfit.
- Metallic tops with leggings and stiletto heels.
- Jeans or jackets with an ethnic print. Learn how to look ageless in ethnic print clothes.
- Over-embellished anything.
- Any animal prints in tight, body-conscious, shiny, or short clothes.
- Mixing different animal prints in one outfit, when doing so is not a trend. You are not the advertising board for the zoo. See how to look sophisticated in animal print.
- Retro-style short cardigans with embroidery, beading, and/or sequins, unless your personal style is Romantic. However, the older you get, the harder it is to pull off this individual style.
- Items with quarter-size or larger sequins. Any sequins larger than a pinky nail look just plain cheap. Period.
- Ruffles, embroidery, sequins, and beading all in one outfit. Limit yourself to one of these embellishments, except for evening gowns.
- Accessories from just one designer in one outfit. It looks immature and non-confident. A designer doesn’t mean style, they design fashion. Style is picking and choosing what works for you to turn fashion into personal style. Read why buying only designer clothes fails to make you look effortlessly stylish.
- All expensive designer clothes in one outfit. Recall that money doesn’t equal style.
- Wearing the wrong bra so you get a uni-boob or quadruple boobs, saggy boobs or to high boobs.
- Not wearing the right shape-wear or no shape-wear at all.
- Wearing a corset or bra visible under a pantsuit.
- Wearing any color that washes you out just because it is the color of the year. Who cares about the It color anyway? You can replicate the appearance of Pantone colors with look-alike alternatives.
- Skin on all burners, read mini skirt, large front and back cleavage, bare shoulders and arms all in one outfit.
- Butt cleavages, exposing the Y of your thong, belly button or your love handles.
- Too much skin. Go for sexy colors and fabrics instead. Show skin strategically. Less is so much more sexy.
- Too long or too short skirts or dresses.
- Any color close to your face that enhances your wrinkles, e.g., black.
- An unnatural look, i.e., pieces with weird or odd proportions.
- An outfit all in matching girly pastels or sludge brown.
- Wearing too many trends or no trends at all in one outfit.
- Wearing your daughter’s (or granddaughter’s) clothes.
- Looking like you tried too hard.
- Looking like you didn’t try at all.
Miscellaneous Other Common Mistakes Making You Look Old
- Dark eye circles.
- Doing your makeup the same way as you did a decade ago, in college, or even in high school.
- Visible roots.
- Donning the same haircut for decades.
- 68 Ugly Trends Tempting to Ruin Your Style
Conclusions on How to Avoid Common Mistakes That Make You Look Old
I am sure that many other points make us midlife women look “old,” at least in the eyes of the young, such as typing text messages with our index finger.
When you’re interested in getting it right in any dressing situation, you may be interested in my style recipe book, “How to Dress for Success in Midlife.” Buy it now.
Photos of me: G. Kramm
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