How many times do I hear from women confused and befuddled by what we should be wearing at ‘this age’.  We want to look young and ‘with it’, but we don’t want to dress like our daughters.  So the minute I watched the videos on Sherrie Mathieson’s website, I fell in love with her sense of style. And, knew that she was a gift to us midlife women struggling with this fashion issue.   Last year I was writing about how I longed to have a distinctive, timeless, simple, elegant style.

Sherrie’s work delivers just that!

My housemate, Anita, is a perfect example of such a style.  She is rarely out of jeans (cool classic ones) and some kind of shirt, very simple, paired with distinctive jewelry, and classic shoes (vintage Prada loafers, Jack Purcell Converse sneakers, cowboy boots) that give her SUCH a fabulous look.  Or, cool white slacks, black with white polka dots silk shirt, black sandals with rhinestones and a spring green bag.

Well, that is Sherrie’s approach to a ‘T’ which is probably why I love it so.  And, it has set me to scheming how to get Sherrie here to Austin to DRESS ME!!  But that is another story…

Sherrie’s new book, Steal This Style: Mom’s and Daughters Swap Wardrobe Secrets is FULL of great suggestions that reflect her great fashion sensibility.  And she uses real women with their real daughters, not stick thin models half their age.  Her point is that with the right basics as a foundation, you can mix in less extreme versions of what our daughters might be wearing these days to update our look so we’re au courant fashion-wise without looking like, well, older women trying to look an age they no longer are.

I had the great luck to talk with Sherrie last week (she is delightful!) and it was a fascinating conversation.  I asked her the most important thing we should keep in mind as women of a certain age.  Her answer?  We should constantly ask ourselves how we can make our look simpler, more natural. Even if we use artifice to do it.  Less is SO much more for us as we mature.  Sherrie is not suggesting no make up or letting nature take its course with our hair (this is the artifice bit).  Oh no, no. But as I understand her, she’s saying the busier, more complicated the look as we get older, the less flattering it is. Simplifying makes us look younger and more vibrant.

Steal This Style abounds with examples of this.  She starts with looks we probably see all the time, maybe even on ourselves (yikes!), and then transforms them into classic, more elegant looks.  And, I swear these women look 10 years younger because of the change.

Sherrie began as a costume designer.  Her style sensibility is backed up with a firm artistic philosophy that you start with a strong foundation in the basics of color, line, and pattern, and then you build from there.  You buy accessories for the long haul.  Ones that have a stylistic and intrinsic worth to them.  As our physical attributes change, we should play up our intelligence and wisdom, cultivate vibrant skin tones and classic hair styles.  The focus should be on what looks good on US, not copying the latest celebrity fad.

I could go on and on because I loved hearing Sherrie’s views on this, but I would just say, watch her video below, and then go get yourself a copy of Steal This Style AND Forever Cool, her earlier book.  They will be invaluable in helping you develop good instincts in creating your ‘look’ for the next half of life.

Posted on April 24th, 2009 by admin
Filed under: Body Image, Fashion Challenged, Job, Love, Midlife Reinvention, Wealth Health