Age and Fashion Blogging...

When I first thought of fashion blogging, I was already older than most of the folks doing it. I'm older now, because that's what happens when time passes. Even though I'm not actually old. 42 isn't old. These days, it might not even be middle-aged. But whatever it is, in the world of fashion bloggers, it's definitely not young.

I'm not sure exactly when I first thought of doing this fashion blogging thing.

I know it wasn't much of a big deal when I did. I don't recall a moment where I felt a "revelation" and as the heavens opened up and light radiated on me, I shouted, "Hey! I could have a fashion blog!" Nothing like that happened.
More like, I tried having a blog on general topics a few times, every now and then felt like posting about fashion, and casually thought, "Oh. Fashion blog. Of course. I should do that."
And basically I didn't do it. Not really. I'd just throw a thought about fashion in the middle of a few other thoughts about politics, or whatever Sci-Fi show I was watching at the time, or Harry Potter, or whatever.

Whatever whatever, y'know?

Then about 2009 or 2010, I actually did try to start a blog based on fashion alone.

By that time, I was already in my late 30's.

And also, by that time, a million bazillion other people had fashion blogs. And they all seemed to be under 30. Not all really were, of course, but most were. And, some of the ones getting the biggest attention were teenagers.

There's definitely the idea in our culture that those in their teens and 20's are the coolest and those older are not as cool- and the older you get, the less cool you are- unless you are really, really old and doing something even most young people wouldn't do, like a 90 year old going skydiving.

Fashion is often thought of as being for the young.
You have articles about what NOT to wear past 30, past 40, etc.
A lot of celebrities are into fashion, and the youngest starlets get the most attention, usually.

Older people are frequently told fashion is too frivolous of a thing for them to be interested in. Many believe this. And people are entitled to think fashion is frivolous if they want. I personally think the attention given to some sports, especially American Football, is frivolous. [note: I meant the LEVEL of attention football gets in the U.S., not that it gets any at all. I do watch some football, and watch a bit more of other sports such as basketball and baseball. I am in the middle-ground between "it's all just sportsball and I know nothing about it" and "Sports is my LIFE!!!!"] The biggest fans do not agree. Some fans wish eveything were all-football all the time. And that's cool by me as long as they leave me alone to like what I like. But if people are not into fashion, I want it to be because they really, sincerely don't care about it, not because the media is shouting "You can't wear that! You're too OLD!"

Obviously not everyone in fashion is young. Most of the well-known designers are not particularly young. A lot are around my age. Some are senior citizens.

Models, though, are generally very young. In some cases they've been younger than the youngest fashion bloggers, but the industry has tried to make reforms so they are at least 16. (Some of those reform efforts are more sincere than others, but yeah, off-topic...) But there's also been a resurgence of the supermodels from back in the day, and some currently on the catwalk are even- gasp- older than me!

I think quite a few fashion bloggers do wish they themselves were models. (Or, at least wish they were famous, well-known models.) But either they aren't tall enough, or maybe even if they are young they still aren't quite young enough, or in many cases, even though they probably are thin, they aren't thin enough. So, if a lot are people who could think of aspiring to be models, even if they really probably wouldn't make it as models, really, yes, that probably makes sense many would be young. But that isn't all fashion bloggers.

Things have changed some for the better, in terms of diversity, since fashion blogging first became a thing. You are, at present, much more likely to be able to find a fashion blogger who is not a size zero, white, blond, and just turned 20 years old.
Not that any of those things in themselves are bad. I have been a size zero. I am pretty generally considered white. And though I've never been blond, I've known some very nice people who are. And why, yes dearie, I actually was a spry young 20-year old once! Oh, and I didn't even mention able-bodied, because, sadly it almost seems to go without saying in most contexts that disabled folks won't be represented... And, well, I am indeed less able than I used to be. But, not what most people would call disabled, either. At least not to look at me... but yeah, that's another topic...

But anyway, what I was basically saying is- even though things aren't quite a fashion utopia where everyone is considered equally deserving of being considered fashionable, things have improved.

I can tell things have improved even from cursory overviews of the field. I certainly have not been studying it in-depth lately. (What I have been studying in-depth lately is autism, and neurodiversity in general, but again... off-topic...)

And what was my point again? Oh, yeah. I'm old. Or at least old for fashion blogging.

Or, too young for senior fashion blogging, because yes I am aware there are some over 60's now.

Well, basically, here's hoping there will be more and more "old" folks like me, and also- more actual old folks!

High heel thought

If you have trouble with high heels, you can buy a pair higher than what you intend to wear out- like 4 or 5 inch if you want to wear a 3 inch- and practice wearing those around your home where you are less likely to trip over something unfamiliar- and you'll be more prepared than if you only wear the shoes you want to wear in public.
Of course if it's a 6 inch heel you want to wear in public, that's pretty much what you'll have to use even for practice, I suppose.
Anyway, just a thought while going through my shoes and evaluating what I have here, what I want to keep, etc...
I never used to have any difficulty with heels, but getting older and gaining weight... plus how the height of the things has increased... It's not the way it used to be.

 

Edit: Yeah, I know, for some people anything but flats or athletics is going to be a no-go. And some people don't want to wear high heels. Totally understandable. You do you.

Also:

These pink shoes are from Just Fab. But not currently available. Even when I wrote this post originally they were so last year...

Critics' Choice Awards-Styleite has every look up

Styleite has every look from The Critics' Choice Awards up online.
I figure this is as good a thing as any to break the drought of posts here with.
Go check it out.http://www.styleite.com/media/critics-choice-awards-red-carpet-photos-2013/#0

Height is not a body type

Apparently many of you out there have the idea that "petite" and "tall" are body types/shapes.
Well, guess what.
They aren't.
They are heights.

I've seen way too many folks use tall to mean long and skinny, and petite to mean short legged with no boobs. As if there are no tall women who are just plain big overall, or short women who look like scaled-down Victoria's Secret models.

Any size or shape can come in any height.


Stop calling petite and tall *types*.
Especially petites. You're always doing it to petites, you know.


We are all individuals.

[Edited to add: If you do happen to fit the stereotype of your height as a "body type" that's great. Don't want to imply otherwise. OK, now, carry on.]

Yosi Samra ballet flats

First, let me tell you, this picture shows how I feel today.
Not very good.
Kind of blurry and out of it.




So, the pics aren't great in this post.

But anyway, these are the shoes I'm talking about.

They are foldable. portable ballet flats by Yosi Samra.
They are cute and comfy.

You can get them at www.yosisamra.com

Two tone pewter like this run at $70 and are real leather.
They only have size 6 & 7 up on the site right now in this color, but there are a lot of colors and combinations.

Yosi Samra

P.S.: my legs are not actually THAT white, even in mid-winter. This is from an older camera which is starting to do weird things.

I did it.

OK. I did it.
I wanted a new fashion blog.
I started one on On Sugar, but I turned it into a somewhat sad little mess.
I didn't post in it often, and I just feel like starting new.
And why not start new where I had my first blog?
Here on Blogger.

And of course, there are a bazillion fashion blogs now, so a lot of good names are already taken.

I did Google searches, and the name I decided on has nothing that sounds TOO close to it.
"Just another damn fashion blog" which is a tumblr is the closest , and it isn't all that close.
So, I think I'm safe.

Plus I like it.

It's irreverent, and it can have varied meanings- I like  multifaceted titles. They're fun. They're cool.
I just hope it doesn't make me a hipster.
I don't want to be a damn hipster.


AND just to make sure I mention some fashion here in this first entry I will tell you that today I am wearing Yosi Samra ballet flats with a strapless bra-top dress from Victoria's Secret (note to males who may have happened upon this- the dress just has a built-in shelf bra. It does NOT look like lingerie. VS catalog sells a lot of actual clothing, too.)- very summery. And I have a little capelet shrug thingy from Fashion Bug for warmth/modesty.
The main color theme of the outfit is black, which is not summery, but definitely is my thing.

I'll try to post pics in another entry later, but I've got dead camera batteries.
And my mp3 player is charging, as well as my e-reader too. Lots of dead batteries today.
But they're charging, so it'll be OK.

Oh, and I'll also try to do a better post on why the name is cool to me too.