Friday, August 15, 2014

Fashion Over Fifty: 'Va, Va, Va, Voom!'

Hello!  This week's Fashion Over Fifty post comes with a parental warning:  if you have small children in the room you may want to put them in another room until your done reading.  Just kidding!  This will be a G- Rated post, I promise!  But I do want to talk about a controversial topic:  what clothing items make you feel sexy?  Yup, I said it.  The big 'S' word.  It's kinda an unpopular word in the Christian circles I run around in.  We tend to focus so much on modesty, self-control, abstinence before marriage, yada, yada, yada, that feeling sexy seems, well, just kinda wrong;  even if your a grown up married woman like myself.  To be honest,  I don't think I've ever felt sexy a day in my life.  I've always been labeled  'cute' or 'pretty' and identified more closely to Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island, not Ginger.  Which, was always fine with me.  I always thought Mary Ann was prettier than Ginger anyway.  A few people in my life told me that I reminded them of Betty Boop:  a cute sexy.  I had to look her up, because she was a cartoon character before my time.  I honestly could not see a resemblance.  I've had several people tell me I walk sexy.  Well, that was a surprise to me, because I certainly don't try!  I have a husband that constantly tells me how beautiful and sexy I am, but who believes their husband?  They have to say those things!  

So what happens, when someone like myself, who has never felt sexy, ages?  When everything starts to droop, sag, wrinkle, expand, and leak.  Is it even possible to feel sexy over the age of fifty?  Or what if your life, regardless of age, is just not filled with events to make you feel sexy?  Like having a household full of kids and constantly smelling like dirty diapers and spit ups?  Or a job where you are always wearing a unisex uniform of khaki pants and polo shirts?  Or maybe you just work at home and never go out so just switching up to a new pair of yoga pants instead of your PJ's is 'dressing up' for you.  I've been through all three of these scenarios in my lifetime, and feeling sexy in the midst of them, is well, near impossible. 

 But clothes, they can do miracles:  they can take a person from feeling like a troll to thinking they are Sophia Vergara!  The types of clothes people feel sexy in differ for everyone.  Some women feel their sexiest in heels, jewels,  and exotic perfumes.  Others feel their sexiest in a baseball cap and jersey, and other women just love that perfect 'Little Black Dress'.  For me, it was a Little Red Dress.  A dress that I do not even own, but borrowed from my daughter just so I could do a Fashion Over Fifty post.  You see, my daughter, unlike myself, has a glamorous life.  I'm sure she will laugh her head off when she reads this post because she does not see her life as glamorous, but a lot of hard work and stress.  But for someone who works a retail job like me, doing the same thing day in and day out,  it's glamorous.  Ashley is a professional singer and needed a red dress for one of her performances.  So she found this beauty, took a 'selfie' and sent it to me so that I could see it.  I texted her back  stating 'Ashley, that dress is gorgeous!  Could you bring it home with you the next time you visit so I could try it on?'  Thus the little red dress took a long car drive inside a plastic bag and came all the way from Chicago to  Wisconsin just so I could put it on and snap a few pictures.  

From the moment I 'squeezed' into this little red dress, I felt sexy.  It is made of a thick gabardine knit material that sucks you all in and hugs and clings in all the right places.  So even if you have bulges you want to hide, the thick knit pulls them in.  And if your shapeless, or 'straight' like myself with no easily identified waistline, the drape and gathering of the material on the side makes you look like you actually have a waist!  The cowl neckline is flattering for every body type, and is low enough to be a bit daring, but high enough to, shall we say, not overexpose?  And somehow, the dress can make a small busted woman seem bigger, and a large busted woman like myself, seem smaller.  Don't me ask me how,  it just does.  I think it's the sucking thing:  it clings to the small busted woman making her appear bigger, but for the larger busted woman, it pulls it back up and in place.  That's my theory anyway.  Like I said earlier, clothes can do miracles.

 I felt beautiful and sexy wearing this dress, even if only for a twenty minute photo shoot.  My daughter tried to encourage me to go and buy my own dress, but I said 'No, where would I ever wear a dress like this?  I don't have your life.'  I certainly wouldn't wear it to church.  I'd feel everyone was staring at me like in the movie 'Gone with the Wind' when  Scarlet O'Hara appeared at the dance wearing bright red instead of black when she was in mourning for her husband.  And even though my husband and I still date, I would feel a bit over dressed if I wore it to our usual hangouts of Texas Roadhouse or the Budget Cinema.  So that leaves weddings and funerals.  Hhhmm, upstage the bride by walking in wearing a bright red color and stealing all her attention (ha! like I could ever upstage a young, beautiful bride!), or causing a scene at a funeral:  I'll take neither, thank you.
 So instead of buying my own Little Red Dress, I decided to just play dress up, pretending I was a little girl again wearing her mother's clothes and heels.   Who am I kidding?  My mother didn't even own a dress like this!  Her daily wardrobe consisted of PJ's, a battered old robe, and slippers.  I'll have to pretend my mother was Princess Grace or Nancy Reagan for the next twenty minutes instead.
 Ashley  suggested that we do a motion shot and had me start walking from the end of the porch towards her.  Gees, even the way I walk changed in this dress.  Maybe, I really do walk sexy…whatever that is.
 For shoes, I chose these nude Nine West sandals.  They have a slight heel, a ankle strap, and a really pretty gold buckle on the side.
 Sorry, no polish on my toes or fingernails.  I'm a working girl after all, and this is just make believe.
 For jewelry, I wore this triple strand diamond, inverted triangle necklace from Express and a gold bracelet from Stitch Fix.
 I carried a leopard clutch from Forever 21, but it was empty.  This was after all,  dress up time.

At the end of my twenty minutes of make believe I reluctantly took the dress off, put it back inside the plastic bag,  and put my standard ensemble of ankle jeans, a tank, and flats back on.  I left the world of glamour, and returned to my ordinary life of casual wear.   Good bye Carson's and Ralph Lauren, hello Old Navy.

So what about you.  What do you wear that makes you feel sexy?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have a great day!  Amy

Get this look for $48+ on Lookastic: Gold Necklace, Red Bodycon Dress, Gold Bracelet, Beige Leopard Suede Clutch, and White Leather Heeled Sandals

5 comments:

  1. You are looking fabulous my friend! ;)

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  2. Hi Amy, you are looking Great in the red! Nice dress and very nice shoes. I ma wondering who is always taken the pictures?
    Have a Great weekend
    Ageeth

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  3. The color and style of this dress look absolutely fantastic on you. Beautiful photos!

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  4. Hi Ageeth! Thanks for your sweet comments. The majority of the time my husband is taking my pictures…which he actually ENJOYS doing. I've read on a lot of fashion blogs where the husband is the main photographer, but very reluctantly. So I'm happy my hubby doesn't mind. When my daughter is around (which is rarely), I have her take my pictures just to give me a different perspective. My daughter took these pictures.

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  5. Aaah you look fabulous in that dress, I would love that dress myself, really liking the sleeve length too, just right for an over the hill gal like myself! On you it looks down right sexy if I am any one to judge :)!
    hugs
    Glenda

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