June gloom grips my mood every year. Relief from the gray is assured by a short jaunt to Cayucos or Avila Beach, dependable sunny oasis along the Central Coast.
If I really want to heat it up, a mini-weekend vacation to a B&B in Paso Robles, Templeton, or Atascadero or a jaunt to one of our county's lakes — Lopez, Nacimento and Antonio are refreshing. Heck, you could spend all summer in San Luis Obispo County seeking out and enjoying new terrain and sightseeing.
While out and about, here is a challenge. Take note of middle-aged women. I know, I know. This is a touchy topic. Why? It's the age old problem of how women of a certain age become confused about how to dress in the summertime.
In our society, women are told to back down from fashion as they get older, and they become invisible.
Two decades ago, I even wrote a poem about my fear of disappearing from the visual landscape:
Memo to Myself
I don't want to be
the lady next door
sitting on an overstuffed
sofa, surrounded
by family photos,
mumbling
to my cat.
I don't want to be
the lady next door
tending rose bushes,
pruning hibiscus,
scooping up dog poop,
while waiting
for the mail. |
I want to be
The lady next door
charting journeys abroad:
moon swept thoughts
Mediterranean,
Swirling
Sensuality. |
It happened. Today, I am the lady next door of a certain age. So I'm on a mission to find a fashion guide for my summer wardrobe dilemma. Is it acceptable to show my naked arms? What length should my skirt be? Do I show a little leg? Is it appropriate to wear shorts? And bathing suits — well, we won't even go there. I am beginning to sound like the lyrics from Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones.
Relief. My color returns while sitting at my favorite coffee house reading the Sunday paper, a headline captures my attention "Elder Chic Comes of Age."
Mimi Weddell photographed by
Ari Seth Cohen
|
Hurray!!! Just in time. I read on, "For all those who are tired of seeing style and fashion presented solely as a young woman's game, behold Advanced Style."
Okay, I'm hooked now.
A young man of 30-years-old named Ari Seth Cohen has recognized that older women offer lessons in confidence and style that women of all ages can appreciate. To document his premise, he took to the streets to photograph fashions worn by women over 60. He then set up a blog and posted his "senior" female photography.
Cohen tells his interviewer he started the blog as a response to what he saw as a lack of representation of older people in the media. "Everything I found in my research poked fun which was different from what my eyes were seeing on the street."
It didn't take long to catch a following. After all what else do us baby boomers have to do since tie dye is out of fashion?
I especially appreciate this part of the article, "He received an email from one woman who said her grandkids were embarrassed by the way she dresses . . . She showed them my blog, and they changed their minds."
Well to put a cap on this rant, Cohen not only has a popular blog, but his photography book by the same name, "Advanced Style," was published last May and he has a film in the works for this summer.
