When viewed from across the street, what do you look like? (Not, “how do you look”, but what do you look like you are?)
The 30 foot rule is used in theatre. Costumes, props, and set pieces need merely to look like what you want them to look like from 30 feet.
A few months back we noticed our neighbor’s son (in his early 20s) would show up from time to time with a girlfriend. Except with her frosted hair and wide middle, we kept wondering if it was his girlfriend or her mother. Now we know she has a reason for a belly. With her hair in a youthful color, her figure might have said “mother-to-be” from 30 feet, rather than “middle-age”.
Motivating me to embark on a midlife image transformation was the realization that, when I’m driving around town, I do not look like what I am. I attract way too much attention from men close to the age of my own sons. It’d be funny if it weren’t so embarrassing.
Since I’m not going to change the car (for frugal reasons we have decided to drive scruffy cars until the nest is empty), what will identify me as between 35 and 45? Now, I’m afraid, depending on whether my hair strikes you as blonde or gray, I could be anywhere between 25 and 65!
In my sunglasses, skinny bootcuts, Converse, and various coats, what do I look like to you? What else do these (almost) 30 foot pictures reveal? I’ll leave a couple of my own observations in comments.
1) The jeans are too small. They are rigid cotton and tight in the thighs. I’m retrieving my scale from the basement to find out whether I need to lose weight or the jeans. 🙂
2) The big coat is too big (notice the vertical lines at the shoulders). It is being demoted to wearing over suits only. Will I need another coat?
3) I’ve always sort of wondered about the quilted jacket. I mean, quilted = old, right? But it looks good in the picture. Does it age me?
4) The double-breasted plaid jacket has a button which is not perfectly placed. Probably why I got it for $20 at the Rack. 🙂
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You look blonde. 🙂
But blondes have more fun so it’s ok. 😉 lol
I agree with Janel, in these pictures you look blonde.
And I don’t think the quilted jacket makes you look older than you are.
Especially in the one in the pink coat, don’t you think? These pictures are a very accurate representation of what I look like. Which explains why one of my closest friends thought for years that I had my hair done like this. lol
Now the big question, and I think I have a good answer: what hair cut would a blonde 35 year old have?
The problem with the jeans is that they don’t fit you at the rise, so you’re getting bunching of the fabric at your crotch which is never a good look – I’d suggest you bin them.
The quilted jacket from a distance – you can’t tell what it is – but up close they do look old lady – it’s up to you!
Your hair looks white blonde to me – is it naturally like this?
The coat is too big – get one that’s more fitted and gives you the appearance of a waist.
The plaid jacket buttons up too high and makes you look boxy – turf it. Double breasted is very hard to pull off, especialy when it buttons so high.
I like the colour of the pink jacket on you – puffy jackets add a bit of volume, but you can take it.
Hairstyle – if you want to make it more striking, try it a little shorter and blunter, and maybe make your fringe less heavy? Without seeing a close up of you and working out your face shape it’s hard to give good advice.
Age wise, I’d put your around 40 from these pics
The jeans might work if you wore a longer top with them. I think that is part of the reason that the burgundy jacket looks nice (from thirty feet).
First observation — you are thin. (I am jealous!)
I loved your wine coat in the Italy photos but not so much in the 30 ft photos. It might be that I don’t like them with jeans, or it may be because of the disconnect – the weather looks too nice for that coat.
I think you look best in the last picture. The double-breasted jacket is too boxy and I think old-fashioned. I live in FL so this might be a dumb question to you, but do people really button and zip up their jackets? I rarely do, even if it is cold. Then again, I usually only wear it from the car to the inside, so it isn’t too big of a deal
I happen to think that sneakers belong at the gym too. They aren’t helping in these pictures.
From what I can see of your face, it looks like you have beautiful skin.
And thanks for fixing the follow-up comments subscription box!
I’m just going to comment on hair and shoes, because you and Imogen had observations similar to my own about the jeans and jackets.
IMO, the sneakers are ruining the whole effect in every shot. To me, Converse on anyone over, say, 25 says “teenager wannabe.”
If you were wearing different shoes, you could pull off your long hair better. But the combination of Converse and long hair on a woman in this 35-45 range is simply too many checkmarks in the “trying to look teenage” column.
Let me say quickly that I am not one of those matron hairdo nazis who categorically insist that older women should wear shorter hair. I’m 47 and still wear mine below the shoulders because that is still a flattering length for me. My mother is 70 and can still pull off a layered bob like a movie star. And you, with your beautiful bone structure and firm skin, are a long way from looking like an older woman pathetically clinging to a young hairstyle. So please understand, that’s not what I’m saying here at all.
But. It’s good to keep the youth-oriented elements of our look calibrated to an elegant visual balance we age.
All that say, change shoes and your hair is fine, age-wise. However, all such calibration concerns aside, I do think a bit shorter — at the collarbone, perhaps — and a bit wispier at the bang would be more flattering on you.
Just my two pesos.
Well said, Lynn. I do need new shoes and that will undoubtedly be the topic of an upcoming post.
Does that mean if I cut my hair, though, that it’s safe to keep wearing the Converse? 😉