Halter-top dresses, lacy camisoles, miniskirts and low-rise jeans.
Fashion's shifting styles are often fun and flirty, but as these recent trends attest, they're also often the realm of young trend seekers, leaving older women wondering how to stay stylish in a fashion world that seems to covet youth.
Retailers admit that fashion trends often are aimed women in their teens and 20s, with their disposable incomes, willingness to make over their wardrobes each season, and lack of hesitation over baring skin.
"The fashion market in general is more tuned towards teens, 20s (and) 30s," said Julianne Cleaver, owner of Bella Jules in West Reading, Pa.
But that doesn't mean older women are doomed to flounder when seeking a stylish wardrobe, nor to remain in the world of "classic" styles.
"Just because they're older, that doesn't mean they can't have fun dressing," Cleaver said.
Sue Mutimer, assistant manager of the Carriage House in West Reading, Pa., agreed.
"I don't think because you have maturity, you need to look dowdy," she said.
It's perfectly possible to incorporate each season's trends into your wardrobe without compromising the age appropriateness of your outfits, retailers say.
Simple Rules
The trick is to keep a few simple rules in mind. Most of the rules for stylish dressing through middle and older age are the same as those at any age: Wear clothes that fit and flatter. Don't overload on trends. Dress tastefully. "You can wear almost anything, as long as it fits you well," said Amanda Dietrich, public relations director at Doneckers in Ephrata, Pa. "You have to know your body." But there are differences between the styles older and younger women should adopt -- differences that primarily arise from their differing life stages.
Older women are more mature, physically and emotionally, than their younger counterparts.
They are more established in life and their careers.
And where younger women's styles are heavily dictated by changing trends, older women have an established sense of personal style and what works for them, Dietrich said.
In other words, many women in their 30s and older don't want to dress like they did in their younger days.
"They don't want to look like they're trying too hard," Dietrich said.
Or, as Cleaver put it, "They don't want to look like they're shopping in the juniors section."
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