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Prior to calm luxury being reduced to blandness and normcore being reinterpreted as “basic clothing,” there were older adults. They also constantly wore nice clothes.
The elderly of today still wear quite stylish clothing. Not to sound ironic, but I’ve always found it fascinating how easily older people dress.
Furthermore, it seems that the broader culture is only now beginning to take notice.
The last time I thought about this was when I saw the outfit that actress Lily James wore in the middle of April while filming the thriller Relay.
My first reaction was, “This is the stuff that stealth wealth inspo pages are made of,” with minimal makeup, a trench coat, a modest v-neck knit, and flowing trousers.
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But after looking more closely, I saw that I was mistaken.
James is genuinely having an impact on the elderly’s wardrobe, as evidenced by the folded newspaper and the useful hiking trainers.
And that’s not meant as a slight. She looks amazing, in my opinion. It’s quite a fit, and highly replicable at that.
However, it got me thinking: why don’t we give elderly people the credit they deserve for their extraordinary sense of style? And why do their outfits fit in so well with the zeitgeist of fashion today?
The clothing are the first step in anything.
I realise I’m generalising, but the point is that older people dress for themselves based on fashion clichés they’ve internalised over decades of wearing; they don’t care about pleasing others. Oh, and they wear comfortable clothes.
Chusioned shoes, loose-fitting trousers and large tops. Guess who was sporting those New Balance 992s and ASICS walking shoes long before you whippersnappers began purchasing them? There’s a reason they’re called “dad shoes.”
However, the way older people dress is more important to us than what they wear, which is why we aren’t all paying attention to pages like @gramparents.
For example, just because the clothing was good, the BEAMS x LL Bean campaign, which was published earlier this year, wasn’t a huge hit.
Yes, they were, but the collection’s plain-looking checkered shirts and beige hoodies were sold by the cute old models.
Even while this type of casting isn’t new, it’s nevertheless fresh, if only because old people’s eccentricities combined with new attire never go out of style.
The implicit presumption that people of a particular age naturally come off as genuine, and thus their attire does as well, contributes to the attractiveness.
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Time-worn human faces appear genuine (authenticity and ease of use are crucial in this context). It is incomparable to fresh-faced models that have been airbrushed to remove all pores and grey hair.
That’s part of the reason that almost every Instagram picture of model Lono Brazil generates a barrage of comments requesting his @ – he is naturally dapper.
An older Adam Sandler looked genuinely stylish in his Uncut Gems outfits because of this enduring charm.
Ferragamo belts and driving moccasins add a silly touch to these outfits, but Sandler’s somewhat aged features give them a genuine lived-in, and thus stylish, appeal.
That’s the genuineness, but it’s also effortless.
Whether on purpose or not, any well-dressed individual lives by these two fundamental truths. When you appear carefree, as if you simply threw on whatever you had lying around and let it look natural, you look cool.
This explains why the people who walk through Chinatown in New York always seem so much more stylish than the self-conscious youths who are strutting across the street in Nolita. High effort versus low effort.
Celebrities also exhibit this.
A$AP Jennifer Lawrence, Tyler, the Creator, and Rocky all dress with aspirational ease, often donning variations of the same kinds of faded jeans, argyle tennis sweaters, and enormous trench coats that Upper East Side residents wear.
Tyler the Creator, Girlfriend, NYC Goyard Outfit, Highsnobiety (3)
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Yes, Rocky and Lawrence can afford to wear very costly clothing, but anyone could simply reproduce their Martine Rose, Goyard, and The Row – without even trying — with secondhand clothing, as elderly people have been doing for decades!
The reason the aforementioned individuals look so fantastic is because they are using the same magic formula that makes the elderly so adept at dressing.
This reminds us of the voluminous trench coat and pants that Lily James wore.
Her appearance surpasses today’s subdued luxury—who needs tacky money flexes when you can just create a killer silhouette and shut up? Personal style 101 is this.
Older people generally have things down pat. They’ve spent their entire lives perfecting the art of easy dressing. It is best to begin taking notes as soon as possible.
