Are we age appropriate?

A short while ago I was looking online for some potential summer dresses to take away on my next trip and I came across a dress I really liked. It was blue, light, midi length with straps and perfect I thought for a summer break. But as I was going to put it in the magical basket, I stopped myself with this one question, Is it too young for me?

Now I don’t know what age I started to ask myself that question, but it’s certainly been popping into my head a lot lately. So, I thought about it a bit longer and came up with some theories.

Either this is something that has been put into our heads with marketing that is clearly targeted towards the younger female market, or it is something that, like it or not, is inbuilt into our DNA to feel this kind of move away from styles and perhaps colours that we would previously have loved. For example, at what age does it feel inappropriate for a woman to wear a short skirt? This season also has a lot of focus on frills so at what age does it seem not acceptable to wear them? Remember the old phrase, ‘mutton dressed as lamb’? 

I know that I am not someone to be told what to do by fashion journalists, but I must admit to changing a dress the other day when I felt that that length was a bit too short. Am I wrong in doing this or just going by my natural instinct? Lots of questions I know, and we probably do not have the answer apart from saying that it is very much down to the individual to wear what they like, whatever style or colour that may be.

I felt this in a similar way when I grew my hair long a while ago. I liked it but I did start questioning whether it was now getting a bit too long ‘for my age’. Really bad I know but I could not stop thinking about it. So, in the end I compromised by having a mid-length cut reminding myself that we are lucky enough to be living in an age where women were not expected to have a neat, short, layered perm when they reached 50.

Anyway, we know that life is too short to have what we should or shouldn’t wear dictated to us, but I do wonder how much of it is inbuilt. Is it ‘right’ to be shocked when we see someone who from the back looks easily in their twenties but when they turn around, evidently, they are much older? 

So, I’m interested in everyone’s opinions on this topic. Please let me know what you think.