What's age got to do with looking good and feeling great?

Finally, we can dress up again! And it feels good; there is something so joyous about the entire process of getting ready for a special occasion. I admit, I enjoy donning beautiful clothes, having my hair blown out, and putting on a bright swipe of red lipstick. That is the thing about being a more mature woman (yes, I will be 50 in 16 months and am proud of it)—you are confident and make no apologies for being the person you are. In many ways, I am bolder when it comes to my fashion choices, more willing to experiment, yet understand that there is beauty in being graceful and effortless. So, it horrified me when recently someone asked me if I would still wear short cocktail dresses or a cropped sari blouse, when I become a “Golden Girl”. It was as if the person in question was imposing draconian dress codes on me. Which led me to wonder: is this not a most opportune time to redefine the rules, especially with fashion embracing diversity and inclusivity?

At Bibhu Mohapatra’s recent New York Fashion Week show, 69-year-old supermodel Beverly Johnson walked the ramp. On his Instagram page, the designer described having Beverly participate in his show as “a gift”. The truth is, ageing is a gift, it is a privilege to get older and it must be celebrated. As veteran designer Ritu Kumar says, “I am now beginning to find that older women are much more confident. Rules regarding their appearance that were once adhered to are now becoming lenient.

Older women are incorporating the whole spectrum of clothing, from casual everyday wear to bright resort wear, into their wardrobes.” The one major advantage of being older, is that you’re probably able to spend with more ease. As Chinar Farooqui, founder and designer at slow fashion label Injiri shares, “Dressing up, to different people, means different things. Very young people can resonate with ideas of conscious consumption, and sometimes, very old people can be indifferent to the same. With age, affordability increases but one’s choice of clothes can be reflected in the simplest of ideas. As students, we wore what was available in local handloom stores... however, some students also wore fast fashion.” And since it is the older consumer with more disposable income, it has always perplexed me why fashion chases the younger (millennial and Gen Z) consumer to a point that the 40 plus segment feels ignored.

It is almost a year since fashion and lifestyle retailer Good Earth launched Flow, a handloom line by 45-year- old designer Deepshikha Khanna, that reimagines everyday staples for the Indian women. Deepshikha says, “There weren’t enough contemporary silhouettes to complement an older Indian woman’s body and lifestyle, which is why I decided to take some Indian silhouettes, like the kurta and the dhoti, and interpret them into everyday basics. I haven’t reinvented the wheel; I’ve just made it convenient and accessible with consistent quality and aesthetic, available year-round through one brand.”

Deepshikha believes it is women over 40 who want to invest in quality over quantity. “I believe there are many brands that cater to millennials and Gen X. It’s a fun segment and always more exciting, and their needs are more varied. That generation is exploring their style and ideas, and they move from one trend to the other fairly quickly, so they need the variety.” If you follow Deepshikha’s Instagram feed (@dailystylematters) you will see she enjoys experimenting with layering and accessories, and while there is an ease to how she dresses, there is nothing basic about it. “Urban women, today, make their own rules and I think they’ve enjoyed every phase of their life enough to move into their mid-40s gracefully, without feeling the need to dress like they’re teenagers.” However, if you want to wear crop tops, you should—if you are confident in one, then who cares what others think?

That said, Indian women may have it better than most. Ritu Kumar shares her observation: “In the West, there are precise rules surrounding women’s fashion that takes into consideration colour palettes and age. In India, we have absolutely no rules of this nature.” There is no question that when it comes to inclusivity, there is no garment that has as much versatility as the sari. The Indian fashion sensibilities, especially when it comes to saris, are devoid of this transition... And most Indian silhouettes—from a basic kurta to occasion wear pieces like a sharara—work on women of all shapes and ages. As Deepshikha says, “I feel that the Indian lehenga and sari are both ageless and versatile. If we can wear a blouse with a sari when we are older, I see no reason why we can’t wear the same blouse with a lehenga and a dupatta draped across the body to mimic a pallu.” While Indian traditions are filled with age-appropriate dressing mantras, most of these beliefs now seem outdated. “In the olden days, when a woman became a widow, her wardrobe would only be white. I think that mindset is out the window now. As India becomes more modern, fashion is now a state of mind and not the physical presence of age.” With the mature consumer demanding options from fashion, the industry clearly needs to step up and understand that fashion needs to be fabulous at every age!