How to stay fashionable after 50

November 30, 2006

As a costume designer and fashion stylist for 30 years, Sherrie Mathieson outfitted such celebrities as Bill Cosby, Gregory Peck, Lena Horne, Susan Sarandon, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Brooke Shields.

 

Now, having shifted her focus to "private people" with everyday style challenges, she has published a new book of sartorial do's and don'ts titled "Forever Cool" that aims to save fifty- and sixtysomethings from style disasters. "As I passed 50, I saw what a challenge it is to grow older," says Mathieson, who is now 60. "My clients were also finding it a challenge, and the media and celebrities and all those influences were not helping anybody." Here are excerpts from Globe writer Don Aucoin's chat with Mathieson:

 

What is the biggest style pitfall for people as they age into their 50s and 60s?
If you go for the twentysomething look, you're making yourself look even older by making yourself look desperate in the attempt. But if you remain too comfort-oriented or keep the clothes you've had for years, you end up looking dowdy. You need to pay attention to what's out there. Most people err by going into the more dowdy areas, where they haven't progressed in their stylishness, or in their desperate measures, where they go overboard, looking overly sexualized. That's a big problem in the warmer parts of this country, where [older] people overexpose parts of their body that should no longer be exposed. They look at younger people doing that and think they can do it too. You really have to assess your body, take a long, hard look so that you are realistic.

 

What should a woman over 50 never wear? And a man over 50?
A woman over 50 should never look dated, but at the other extreme is she should never look inappropriate: Wearing high hemlines, low cleavage, exposing areas that maybe should be for herself at this point. There are ways to look appealing and not do that. For men, they can be just as out of it by wearing dated clothes. There are men who overdo it on the sexual end. They unbutton too many buttons; they wear gold chains. Men on bread lines in the '30s looked better than a lot of men today. If you look at those men, they wore natural fabrics. They wore a white shirt with their sleeves rolled up. There was certain cohesiveness about the way people looked back then. Today, with all the choices, it's almost like bad food: It's very hard to make wise choices. I wanted to bring men into the equation with my book. I hear from women who are over 50 that they're appalled by the men who show up at their door, the way they look.

 

You write in your book of the "psychology of clothing -- what we reveal to the world in what we wear." What sorts of things do we reveal?
If we are aging gracefully, we reveal how we see ourselves in terms of our achievement as a man or as a woman, how vibrant we are in ourselves. If you dress dowdy but are an intelligent person within, you're not projecting that to the rest of the world. If you're competing with young people, what does it say to the world if you're wearing aviator glasses and a toupee and outdated clothes? People are going to assume you're outdated in your mind. Today, the aesthetic of the 1980s has come back, which is disastrous for the baby-boomers. The '80s were very bling-oriented: let's see how much money you make, everything was grotesque, the big hair, the huge shoulders, the fringe, a lot of studs. The '80s were so ugly because it deformed people. Refinement, classiness, and understatement for many would serve them so well.

 

I'm going to throw some names at you of some public figures over age 50 and ask you to judge: Cool or not cool?

 

First: George W. Bush.
Believe it or not, cool. He's conservative, but he understands the power of a blue shirt. When he goes out to meet the masses, so to speak, he'll wear a blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves. Men in blue is the way men look great.

 

Laura Bush?
On the borderline. A beautiful woman who could be so much better.

 

Hillary Clinton?
Mostly dowdy.

 

Bill Clinton?
Pretty cool of late.

 

Bill Gates?
Uncool. And he has all the money in the world. Would I love to get ahold of him, because men can be transformed so easily. It's almost sinful what I see. For a man to look masculine, all he has to do is simplify and not wear a lot of patterns.

 

Meryl Streep?
On her own, uncool. Truthfully, she doesn't care about clothes at all.

 

Clint Eastwood?
He's such a cool guy. At least he's conservative. He's not a great dresser; he's one of those borderline cases. I would rather have that than one who tries too hard. He loves that one jacket of his that he wore in all of his movies.

 

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.