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If You’re Gonna Get Old, Could You At Least Stay On Top Of Your Looks?
And Just Like That—we’re bringing the same beauty standards to aging that made the first half of life hellish
In the awkward opening of HBO’s Sex And The City reboot, And Just Like That, Samantha’s absence is explained as a new job in London. The woman who asked after her, Bitsy, is pleased to hear it. “Sexy sirens are still viable in their sixties over there!”
I have a lot more to say about this, but here I’ll stick with the subject at hand, style for olds. In this scene, not surprisingly, everyone is dressed to the nines. The message is clear—older women can stay fashionable.
Is it just me? Or do these outfits make you look ahead and say, “Ouch.”
Don’t get me wrong. As a Gen X woman I am pro-aging. But when I see an 80-year-old influencer in stilettos, or an ad for lingerie worn by a 73-year-old former fashion model, I fear we’re bringing the worst of the fashion industry’s ideals to bear on older women.
Do I want to be invisible? No. Do I want to be held to the kinds of unrealistic beauty standards that made the first half of my life a hellish chase on a hamster wheel? Hell no.
