Last Christmas my two tall, slim teenaged grandsons requested a pair of jeans as their present from me. I insisted on a link to the exact and precise pair they had each set their heart on, and duly ordered the jeans which were delivered to me ready to wrap for Christmas morning. I was bemused by the massive size of each garment when it arrived. Young people of today obviously like their denim to be extra wide, very long and worn low on their narrow hips and that includes my fifteen year old granddaughter whose slim frame is also swamped by her baggy oh-so-trendy denim jeans.
Absolutely not for me, I thought as I wrapped them. Jeans like that on a 77 year old - tragic or what? And then I tried on a pair of very wide legged dark denim jeans in Uniqlo and decided to think again.
To be honest I haven’t owned a pair of denim jeans since I was in my early sixties. Perhaps it was all the flack that middle-aged men like Jeremy Clarkson and Tony Blair started to get for their attachment to ‘Dad Jeans’, castigated by certain female journalists for being the opposite of ‘cool’. Hadley Freeman even went so far as to call such jeans on such men as ‘dangerous’. And, to be honest, given my pear-shaped body with its ample bottom and wide hips, jeans have always been a challenge for me to carry off unless at my slimmest.
So, no jeans for me and the only denim item in my wardrobe in the past couple of years has been a dark blue Sahara coat dress, which I have always liked because it’s stylish and comfortable and the perfect garment for springtime when I can layer it up a bit according to the outside temperature. I have included it here to show you how I like to style it.
You may therefore be surprised to learn that I decided to buy a pair of very wide legged jeans in Uniqlo at Christmas time and have worn them a lot since then because they are both extremely comfortable and practical and also surprisingly versatile. I can dress them up with a smart jacket, and dress them right down with a sweater or T shirt and also feel that they are perfectly acceptable both on a woman of my advanced years and also for a number of different occasions.
And now, for springtime I have recently bought myself two further denim garments and I am thrilled with them both. One is a dress from Mint Velvet which I fell in love with as I was browsing around my local department store here in Wimbledon, and the other is a pair of paler denim jeans from Whistles which are again wider legged, but this time they are in a shorter rather than longer length.
I really wasn’t sure before I tried either the dress or the jeans that they were going to work on me, but you can see me wearing them below and judge for yourself. The dress is also a departure for me, but I really like the shape as it accentuates my waist whilst not making me look too wide in the hips and the length is perfect too. I have already worn both my new dress and jeans a few times and love them.
I am sure that some of these looks will not be for you and I accept that. However I really loathe articles that screech ‘Women over 50 or 60 or 70 should not be wearing these styles’ as if there are hard and fast rules and regulations that we all need to slavishly follow. I didn’t wear jeans for all those years because they felt uncomfortable and unflattering on my lumpy body much more than because they looked tragic or, even more absurdly, dangerous on a woman of a certain age.
Ironically, the older I get the less I care what other people think. As my old dad used to say when I was a teenager showing him something new and trendy I had just bought, “Does it fit your head?” And as long as I said yes, then he’d say “that’s all that matters”. And that’s as true for me today as it was then. I am not attempting to ape my beautiful teenage grandchildren with my denim (heaven forfend), but I am attempting to update my wardrobe for spring with some clothes that feel fresh and a bit different. Do you still wear denim?
Tricia x
Denim dress Mint Velvet, pink scarf and belt Kettlewell, pink earrings Sahara, shoes Sole Bliss, handbag Sarah Haran
Denim dress Mint Velvet, pale blue cashmere sweater Uniqlo, navy suede peep toe wedges Sole Bliss, blue heart drop earrings Toolally
White broderie anglaise blouse Zara, wide-legged jeans Uniqlo, navy suede lace-ups Calla, white art deco chandelier earrings Toolally
Denim coat dress Sahara, blouse Zara, white trousers Hobbs, white moccasins Gabor, white art deco chandelier earrings Toolally
Navy T shirt Pure, denim jeans Uniqlo, navy lace-ups Calla, pink belt Kettlewell, pink earrings Sahara
Denim jeans Uniqlo, silk jacket Max Mara, navy T shirt Pure, navy lace ups Calla, sunglasses Rayban, white heart crystal drops Toolally
Denim jeans Uniqlo, navy T shirt Pure, navy lace ups Calla, pale blue small check jacket Hugo Boss, earrings Hepworth blue mirrored earrings Toolally
Denim coat dress Sahara, white sleeveless T shirt Cos, white cotton trousers Zara, white moccasins Gabor, bag Sarah Haran striped cashmere scarf NRBY, blue heart drop earrings Toolally
Denim jeans Whistles, white sweatshirt with broderie anglaise sleeves Mint Velvet, white moccasins Gabor, necklace Kettlewell, heart crystal drops Toolally
Denim jeans Whistles, sleepless T shirt Cos, pink jeans jacket Bella di Notte, pink belt Kettlewell, white moccasins Gabor, white art deco chandelier earrings Toolally
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