Friday, June 6, 2008

The Old and the Beautiful

Lately I’ve been appreciating the unique beauty and style of older women… as in much older, and I’m not talking “Granny Chic” in the ironic hipster sense of the phrase. I mean the real deal… chic grannies if you will. Some of my recent flickr faves should help illustrate what I’m getting at:


Margaret, originally uploaded by ZoeRuth.

It all started when I came across Margaret and fell head over heels for this photo by ZoeRuth. It depicts the elderly waitress in such a lovely and charming way.


TR0808G, originally uploaded by Fahim Siddiqi.

1966, originally uploaded by superbomba.


Old Lady, originally uploaded by Shuck.

All four of these women are wonderfully stylish and expressive. Now I’m finding myself admiring stylish old ladies wherever I go.

While I love the way young women look in vintage clothing, there is something so refreshing about seeing an older woman with that hint of retro to her look that comes not from a desire to emulate something from the past, but rather an expression of who she once was carried with her into the present.

These two gorgeous ladies from the Sartorialist are just amazing and perfect examples of the type of look I would love to have someday as an older women. So inspiring!


While I keep hearing about “girl crushes” on the likes of Zooey and Chloe, who are no doubt incredible, what about all the beautiful older women out there? Who’s your “golden girl crush”? Mine would have to be Julie Christie in Away From Her. I loved this film. She is SO good in her Oscar nominated role and AMAZINGLY beautiful, even while playing a woman stricken with Alzheimer’s!

Now, you are probably thinking, what does any of this have to do with thrifting? Well, since you asked, allow me to show you my latest batch of elderly-inspired thrift finds:


Vintage floral tapestry bag ($4, Salvation Army)


Not one but TWO pairs of vintage SAS old lady shoes ($7 each, Goodwill). A bit more than I would normally spend but they were in excellent condition and fit perfectly, something that (as you know) is quite rare for me in a shoe. I was only going to get one pair, but I just couldn't decide which color I liked better, and as it turns out, they both match my new bag perfectly!


And last but not least, a vintage cashmere grandpa cardigan ($2.50, Salvation Army). Believe me, I do know that my acquisition of cardigans appears to be snowballing out of control, but this one so perfectly fit what I was looking for back in this post. I know, I'll stop!

Outfit of the day, 100% thrifted, featuring new shoes and cardigan:

8 comments:

Abbey said...

Oh, this is lovely!
I love my grandmothers style, i match alot of my own clothes to what they wear.
Lovely clothes!
xo.
Maybe we could link each other?

Milla said...

Those are some awesome old ladies! And as said before that grandpa sweater and those grannie shoes rock. Very gently. In a rocking chair;)
ps. email coming your way as soon as this school nonsense is over. No sign of the package yet I guess? sigh:(

Anonymous said...

ok, i'm finally catching up on all my MILLIONS of unread posts in my google reader, and perhaps i'm pms-ing, but this one actually brought tears to my eyes.
those women are beautiful, which got me thinking about my mother, and her loyalty to a few pieces from her past - namely levi jeans and beautifully hand-tie- dyed tops...
i wonder what pieces we'll lovingly hold true to in OUR old age? and what will it be like to not wear them "ironically?"

Cadmium said...

these ladies are so graceful. after seeing your post, i almost bought myself a pair of granny shoes today, but chickened out! they were not as cool as yours though, so i don't regret it.

Andrea Eames said...

Great finds!

The older woman I most admire fashion-wise would have to be my great-grandmother. She is 96 and still going strong, and has a wonderful sense of style and colour. She still puts on makeup every day, gets her hair done every week and dresses carefully every day in perfect outfits complete with heels, a scarf and a gorgeous brooch, even if she is staying in all day. She's such an inspiration. Taking such care of yourself shows an amazing strength, I think.

Alexa said...

What a fantastic train of thought! Now I really must netflix Away From Her, as I've been meaning to do...

sophiejade said...

My golden girl crush is Mia farrow <3

sophiejade said...

...Or catherine deneuve she looks as amazing today as she did in belle de jour