In a few short months, I'll be celebrating my 35th birthday. And in the back of my head, I keep having this feeling that perhaps I need to somehow look or act older. I work in fashion, so being "fashionable" is a good excuse for youth, but still, are the silly bands, slap watches and snakeskin pants I love so much still wearable? While there is no shortages of publications featuring their annual "age" issue, I find myself wondering: Is age an issue in my life?
What I have learned the most from working in fashion, although cliché, is that if you feel good -- you look good. I used to buy all trendy (cheap) items when I first moved to NYC. I'd wear them once and discard. I really honed in on my personal style while working at Lucky Magazine. They made it easy. I can honestly say it's one of those places where all the editors have their own style, and they wear their personalities on their proverbial sleeve (albeit probably an indie designer sleeve, fresh off the runway). I don't think there is an editor there that I couldn't pick something out for as a gift. There, I found my so-called uniform and have been wearing it ever since. It is usually a combination of a good quality staple item, such as jeans or a jumpsuit, accessorized with things that make me happy.
I was never one to wear mini-skirts or leopard-print halter-tops. I was even reminiscing with my college roommates recently how we used to wear pencil skirts out. Ha! So classy. I guess I always new my limits and what made me feel comfortable. Maybe that's really the issue. Find that out. Ask your friends what you look best in, compare that with what you feel best in, and somewhere in between you will find your uniform -- and it has nothing to do with age. Just look at Diane Keaton and Helena Bonham Carter -- two celebrities who have had their same alluring, unique and quintessentially ageless look at each passing phase of their life.