I have a feeling that this may seem rather frivolous when compared to the problems that many older people experience. I celebrated my eightieth birthday last year and it seems that clothing stores are not in the least interested in the growing number of women who, although elderly, don’t wish to look dowdy.
I am a size eight and it seems to me that clothing manufacturers think I must be seventeen. My friends all talk about the same thing: we don’t wish to expose acres of flesh. Why can we not find simple, smart summer dresses with a sleeve that covers the upper arm and doesn’t have a neckline which plunges almost to the waist? A little more elegance is what we long for.
We don’t have lifestyles that demand haute-couture and we couldn’t afford it anyway, but we don’t wish to buy garments that are designed to make us look as if we are on the way to a day on the beach. The easiest option is trousers and top, which is fine but becomes tedious if there is no alternative.
As I mentioned, this seems trivial compared with some of the problems facing people as they grow old, but if we are still active and interested in life why shouldn’t we be able to find suitable clothes?
It seems that manufacturers and retailers have written us off. But there are plenty of us, and we still care about style and smartness and looking as good as we can, just as we always have.
I do understand loneliness and the difficulties that living alone can bring, and I know that anything that can boost confidence is very valuable.
