RACHEL WARD’S FRANCO STYLE FILE
Rachel Ward, former actor turned writer and director, perennial style icon, is in Paris. She’s on a mission to chronicle the famed grace and elegance of the mature women she encounters on the boulevards and in the Metro.
For the next six weeks she’ll be offering her snapshots exclusively at The Hoopla.
Why? It’s an interesting tale. Read on…
I admire Madonna’s ability to turn cartwheels at the Superbowl, I admire her energy and ambition and her compassion for African kids so I’ve been wondering what it is that so bothers me about her still primping and preening for the cameras and her audience.
Or for that matter those pics of Daphne Selfe – Eat your Heart Out Madonna – wonderfully lithe at 84 but why the wind-blown pose and pout of a 20-year-old? The truth is there is just something plain creepy about post-menopausal women carrying on like red-bottomed baboons when, clearly, they are past procreating.
Old habits die hard though and many women, only exposed to images of Dame Eda or the Queen as examples of post-menopausal women, cling longer than they often should to sexually embedded ideals of beauty and fashion.
I don’t blame them. At 54 I’ve dragged my feet too.
After a long, ambiguous relationship with my breasts I am now finding it hard to accept that it is time to ‘put them away’. My wardrobe, full of scruffy boho items has been culled. (They now occupy a large suitcase that I can’t quite dispense of in case of time-machine miracles.)
Arty, Birkinesque, Glebe market treasures or Tree of Life fare tend to look tired and dirty after… well, probably, after 30… so I’m definitely over-due there.
Much to husband’s horror the tresses are gone too. All right for those with still thick, sleek, grey or tinted manes but the rest of us start to resemble something mummified if left long and stringy. In which case short and sharp might not be as fetching on the pillows but sure works better in daylight.
Much of the horror of ageing for me is less the lines, sags and bags than the face setting into ‘cross mode’.
That really is unfair, especially when, with independence regained after the toll of childrearing years and a nice disposable income, many of us have never felt perkier.
We’re all in this ageing lark together and most of us aren’t looking to defy the inevitable changes and freeze frame, but cosmetic surgery has come a long way.
I’m not looking for fat red lips to advertise my vulva but a little freshen up here and there to reflect my health and happiness, why not?
We hear a lot about becoming invisible past a certain age but invisible to whom? Sure, men aren’t looking like they did. Apparently it’s embedded in their infantile DNA to only look at what they can impregnate, and most younger women are probably too busy multi-tasking to notice us.
Paris: 53-year-old woman in tailored overcoat, cowboy boots and low-slung satchel.
But I am certainly looking at other women my age and, for the first time since I was at an all-girl’s boarding school, I find myself having secret crushes on a few dynamic, articulate, feisty, witty and stylish older women. There’s no doubt that two-dimensional images don’t serve us in the way they once did but in all our Technicolor three-dimensional glory we leave our younger selves for dead.
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26 Responses to this article
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Cate P April 30, 2012
Brilliantly said, Rachel. At 47 I’m dressing with more class than I did at 23 (to be honest, ra-ra skirts and crop tops were never that classy. hey, it was the 80s),and I also have the vertical frown line resembling a canyon to give me that ‘cross mode’ even though I’m happier than I ‘ve ever been.
I am hanging on to my hair though.. it’s still long, fairly glossy, wavy and naturally coloured. I think it will be my last act of defiance. -
dramaqueen75 April 30, 2012
Oh, those cowboy boots have me swooning!
I am all for aging in my own way. As I said here a few weeks ago, I am not going to wear elastic waisted anything (except tracky dacks, and only at home).
I do believe it is time to invent our own new “story” for “women of a certain age”. This is a new era- women my grandmother’s age became matronly at 40- we are now living longer, living healthier and want to live a fuller life than many people of just a few generations ago.
So, go forth and get out there mature women. Keep working, living, loving, dancing and following your passions. Invent your own style to go along with it – there are no rules.
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Julie Morgan King April 30, 2012
I don’t really mind Madonna’s preening. It’s been her life’s work, and it’s difficult for some to morph into another type of being when there is so much at stake. Nor do I mind if an 80 year old wants a little airbrushing.
I suppose post 50 I just don’t care, more and more. I care about injustice and unfairness and the big issues, but really, if women want to be one way rather than another way, I don’t care, so long as they are OK with it. I won’t go down the plumping, scraping, injecting, stripping, slicing road because I’ve had way too much physical pain over many years to inflict more on myself. But whatever, for others!. With three body conscious almost grown up offspring, I’m never going to comment negatively about a woman’s right to choose how she wants to look. But I might talk to them about why some women have made different choices to mine.
And Rachel, I hope you didn’t toss your beautiful boho clothes. Isn’t that what your beautiful, youthful daughters are for? My wardrobe is my girls’ gold mine!
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Frankly feisty May 1, 2012
So excited by the sentiment behind this piece.
Although, I was quickly deflated by the following “but a little freshen up here and there to reflect my health and happiness, why not?” really undid it all for me.
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Denyse Gibbs April 30, 2012
Great article. I am about to turn 58 and have really had the same problem of finding a style. I love my old Hippie/boho look but it doesnt look very good these days. There are few older role models other than actresses that have had ‘work’ and have lots of money to spend on clothes and looks etc.
I have been watching Miss Fishers murder mysteries and have fallen in love with the 1920′s look which I am finding a nice look for a maturing woman. Lots of flowing. Will look forward to hearing more from Rachel’s trip to France.
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the*sparrow April 30, 2012
Great article Rachel, I envy you the job of haunting the streets of Paris photographing stylish ladies, and will be looking forward to the results.
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Annette Piper April 30, 2012
I’ve been giving my wardrobe the once over in the last few weeks too. At 47 my shape is more rounded than it once was, my hair is salt & pepper unless its coloured regularly and the crepe-y neck has started. My ample bosom isn’t looking so fresh and needs to be hidden a bit more… yet not so hidden that I look like I’m hiding something under my shirt LOL.
My biggest problem is that I live in the country and you know those ballet flats just aren’t going to cut it in the dusty gravel of the road when you get out at the gate or mailbox, or the wet grass you have to cross on a winter’s morning before making it to the car. Its hard to find stylish, practical clothes that aren’t jeans and boots and make me feel a bit like a hick.
So if you find anything Rachel that might tick that box for me, in stylish Paris (unlikely, but you never know!) I’d love to see it
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The Huntress April 30, 2012
My goodness, Rachel, if I look anything like you at 54 I will consider it a great privilige indeed! Before I got to the part about your hair I was admiring your hair and everything about your picture – stylish, classy and exuding just the right amount of smoulder to keep it a bit saucy. I would love to spend time in Paris and document the marvellous women who live there. I love the European style and respect it has for all women.
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MargotG April 30, 2012
46 and so ready to be fabulous but somebody please tell me where to shop (or who to roll) without jetting to Paris first. Been searching for that tailored coat since Sinead O’Connor’s number in… that number. Although out in the burbs, I’ll travel to any end – or even the middle – of town to sort this. Until then, it’s French suede ankle boots and Danish skinny jeans every… single… day… Of course Rachel, you’re everyone’s secret crush.
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dramaqueen75 April 30, 2012
Online shopping Margot.
Birdsnest is great as they have ideas and fully styled outfits ready to peruse http://www.birdsnest.com.au/womens/outfits-
the*sparrow April 30, 2012
dramaqueen75, I concur on birdsnest, my absolute favourite online site for fashion.
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Kath April 30, 2012
I needed to read this! Thank you. At nearly 50 I’m struggling with my shape and the bits of me that seem to move independently of everything else! I love seeing stylish older women no matter their shape or size and I too have come to love the scarf.
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Lyn Mauger April 30, 2012
Thank you, thank you, than you dramaqueen75 for the ref. to birdsnest site. Just checked it out. Fantastic!
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Bel April 30, 2012
“The truth is there is just something plain creepy about post-menopausal women carrying on like red-bottomed baboons when, clearly, they are past procreating.” That sentence bothers me for some reason. Just be yourself – no matter what your age.
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Doreen Leslie May 1, 2012
Thanks for a very interesting, well written article. I find myself applauding the points about being accepting of being older, of embracing it as a different stage and finding ways to dress that may be different from what we’ve worn in younger years. But I do feel that my breasts have always been part of who I am, and not on display solely for the purpose of advertising myself as a sexual being, so I don’t think I will be putting them away, even if they’re saggier. Also, my wrinkles reflect who I am, the years I’ve weathered and all that entails. A blank canvas doesn’t truly reflect that, so no plastic surgery for me.
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Daphne Alaksa May 2, 2012
Really, I love your attitude, jenran. Hope you always
enjoy your life and your clothes. -
Dawn Stewart October 14, 2012
I agree you need to accept ‘growing old gracefully’ as you would say, however being 2 years younger than Rachel, and having been an enormous fan mostly since ‘The Thorn Birds’ a part of me wants to continue Living On so to speak and what’s the harm in occassionaly carefully and tactfully mirror imaging the same clothes from those happy and memorable times and years, and in doing so, (rather than being stuck in a corner in the shade), then feeling even more comfortable, happy, and more connected with my
17yrs daughter Rosa-Evie and 21yrs daughter Emily-Jane.
After all fashion has such a habit of going round full-circle year after year anyway and when it does it bften brings back with it, the nice feelings and happy nostalgic memories of wearing it, that you had back then, in my case mostly between the 1970s, 80s and 90s,x. -
sue bell October 14, 2012
jenran look for a TS shop,they are in every state and many suburbs, they are great for the older, rounder woman,. Stylish, shaping and can be casual or dressy. A lot of their clothes are bamboo a product I love and nothing needs ironing. They are on line and have great catalogues and offer a styling service. All their clothes are designed to go with their other clothes.
as a woman in my sixties, I and my friends chose to dress up for coffee each day. We all wear interesting clothes (mainly in black, this is Melbourne) and interesting jewellery. None of the dyed Brighton bob and acres of gold. I haven’t worn make up since I was 25, my hair is long and it’s natural colour (now slowly turning silver) and as I have no interest in living with any one I feel confident to talk to anyone I meet, sharing tables with strangers if the coffee house is crowded, and remember, flirting with the butchers has always been compulsory for the older woman.
