For Fashionistas Over Fifty
my coping mechanism is to avoid thinking about it as much as possible and hope that it will all go away!
I also hate to shop - Talbots online is my go to - but I only buy when there's a sale with an extra something like free shipping. It may be on EBates too, I'll have to look
Do you know about the Eileen Fisher outlet ("company store") in Secaucus? When they have sales it makes a big difference. If you like EF you might also like J Jill. Similar cuts and concepts without the price (and the quality - though it's good enough I think)
I hate to drag through racks in stores. I get almost all of my clothes on line from JJill and Lands End. The trick is to find a place whose clothes fit your body, with a style that you like.
Not exactly what you asked, but I like this woman's blog/style:
http://unefemme.net/
As for JJill, the quality and stylishness varies wildly, but they usually have a nice white shirt. You can almost always find a discount coupon for 30 percent off at retailmenot.com. (Same goes for Talbots.)
Garnet Hill has nice, fashionable clothes that tend to be comfortable, reasonably well-priced (especially their daily sales) and well made. They also have relatively consistent sizing, so you're not left with wildly divergent garments all labeled with the same size.
Rivoli said:
Garnet Hill has nice, fashionable clothes that tend to be comfortable, reasonably well-priced (especially their daily sales) and well made. They also have relatively consistent sizing, so you're not left with wildly divergent garments all labeled with the same size.
Agree with this. I buy from them pretty regularly.
J Jill's quality often sucks. I keep going back to them, but, sweaters and some shirts pill really, really bad after wearing them a couple of times. For some basics I like Talbott's. My body has changed so much that I don't like ordering online. If I have to pay to return ....I think I need to stop. I will go back to my original comment. I am hoping it will all go away.
I was taking classes at Eileen Fisher's Learning Labs recently. She has an outlet store nearby in Irvington, NY where she lives.
My problem is that I am thin and in my early seventies, finding clothes in a smaller, age appropriate, size is really hard. Since I am retired, I don't have to have a huge selection, mostly wear jeans. But my go to places Chicos and Lands End. Can't wait to start wearing long sleeves and turtle necks again to hid my wrinkley arms and saggy chin!
ETA..PeggyC, thanks for starting this thread
I love the INC brand at Macy's. The pants come in straight fit and curvy fit.
I needed a new skirt & pants for work, and a couple of longer summer shirts with short sleeves that were longer than just over the shoulder. One shirt had to be white. Can't believe I spent $500+!! Over $100 for a tee or a muslin gypsy tee!
Everything fits, everything breathes, everything moves as I do. It's well made and well designed, harking back to 70s, 80s easy styles but not looking frumpy. But $120 or $150 for an unlined cotton tie-waist skirt??
And what's with the casual assumption that if you're wider, you want your hemlines 6inches lower?? My new skirt drags on the floor once gravity has set in (I'll get it fixed) and luckily the only reason my new patio pants don't is because my hips and thighs are wider than they planned.
The website makes the clothes look awful! They fit better, they look smarter than they're shown here. Each category has more streamlined clothing, too. Online the models wear everything too large and falling off. The women in the stores (shoppers and sellers) wear skirts at the waist, shirts with sleeves/collar lines that fit, sometimes knotted or buckled or layered, with heeled court shoes for business wear as well as for more casual looks.
I should look for an Eileen Fisher outlet in CT. That's the only way I will get near it.
Interesting that the retailers mentioned in this thread so far are all my go-to places now. In fact, I was planning to buy two pairs of the slim boyfriend pants from JJill in corduroy (one tan pair, one port wine).
There is another catalog I started getting recently, called Poetry. Nice lines, flowing but not tent like... I will give them a try and see how it goes. Pure is another catalog company I will give a go.
I don't know if you've heard of Birds of Prey. I've seen the shop when it opened - gorgeous shoes!! But I didn't understand the concept because I didn't think the shoes were for me... How wrong I was!
Design and make your shoes. Anywhere in the world. Order online (yes, you can change heel heights!). And in a matter of a couple weeks, your shoes are on your feet!
The company has an excellent reputation for comfort and fit, and for delivery standards. Proud to say, it's a local Gold Coast company.
Wow. Never heard of Birds of Prey. Are they expensive? Bespoke usually is. But it sounds amazing.
My very favorite shoe company is Fly London. I discovered them in a shop in Massachusetts last summer, and I love them. The shoes are gorgeous and very on trend, but they are so comfortable and well made that I can wear a 3-inch wedge pair despite my balance issues. I also love Merrell shoes for the comfort and arch support, which the company provides without making the shoes look orthotic.
There's a 365day return or remake policy!
The gift certificates start at $50 (that's probably Australian), the most popular gift is $220 and apparently $500 is perfect for 2 pairs of shoes.
I'm not sure how compares with your shoe prices.
I have no idea what the exchange rate is! Will have to look that up. ETA: About $1.43 AU to the U.S. dollar. Which makes about $350 for two pairs. Steep, but not tragic for handmade, I suppose.
My Fly London shoes are priced in about that range, so I only buy a pair a year. Gotta choose wisely!
I've never had any problems with JJill quality. Their clothes fit me as if they were made for me. Eileen Fisher's stuff is classy, but way overpriced. $200 for a Tshirt? Come on! Also, a lot of her things look as if they'd be itchy.
Not quite over 50 yet but trending in that direction!
I like Calvin Klein or Tahari for work clothes- not too stuffy, not too trendy but modern and sleek.
I have decent luck for casual clothes at Banana Republic, the INC brand or Michael Kors or Bar III or Rachel Roy or Kensie at Macy's. I still find good tshirts or the occassional cute sweater at the Gap
I agree on Eileen Fisher being way overpriced. It's okay stuff but a lot of it looks very "older woman" to me and I can usually find something similar at Macy's for 1/3 of the price.
I am not a clothes on-line type. I have to try them on, see them, feel them and the hassle of mailing things back is way more annoying to me than shopping.
Luckily, there are two Flower stores near me! the site is easy to link to, if I want to show someone what I've bought. 
I'd only intended to purchase one skirt and blouse, maybe a tee. But I was tired and weak, and the shop was empty (so more like private shopping) and one saleslady is a bit of a benign bully... I layby'd a few items to collect in a couple of weeks and took 2 home.
A few days later I bought a very cheap ($20) white cotton caftan top to blend into the mix, or over a light tee on a breezy day. Got that at a bargain chain store. It goes well with a bright skirt I bought a couple of summers ago at a trendy young women's fashion chain, so that's like a fresh outfit.
But I noticed earlier this week that I have a couple of spots behind an ear, close to my hairline, that I didn't have before. So now I have think about melanomas, ageing skin and normally hidden/now exposed places. Sigh. (In July my dermatologist said I was ok, and she looked around there).
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Okay, some new thoughts.
I hate shopping for clothes these days. A good fit is harder to find, and as for style... Designers and stores seem to think slightly modified sacks are good enough, with a bit of elastic.
What clothing labels do you like, and how do you get a good fit without having to try on a billion things and tearing your hair?
I love Eileen Fisher, but can only afford it on drastic sales.