Age appropriate?

[insideontheoutside]

So I admit I watch the show "What Not to Wear" (for those of you unfamiliar with it, it's this show where 2 fashion experts - the hosts - give a $5k wardrobe makeover to people who are nominated by their friends/family because they dress really crappy) ... anyway, one of their big things on the show is "age appropriate" attire. I'm really torn by this phrase because I think in certain instances it can be bad but I am a shining example of someone mostly falls outside of the age appropriate category. 

I'm also one of those people who feels that most people should be just left alone with how they dress. It's funny though cause on the show they'll totally psychologically turn people around ... they could be wearing really frumpy, oversize stuff and claim their "happy" and "comfortable" and "don't care what other people think", but that whole facade is like a house of cards that easily comes down ... revealing that really they are self-conscious, insecure, think they're "ugly" or any manner of other things and are using the crap clothing to hide all that.

I've also noticed they're very "male" / "female" on the show. Like if some chick comes in wearing what they deem to be manly or boyish clothes they're all over it telling her she needs to look more feminine. You can't be a chick on that show and not go home without dresses and high heels. I wish they would get someone on there who was actually trans and in the process admitted it just to see what they'd do ... if they'd switch gears and give them the fashion advice appropriate to who they really are. I would LOVE to see them style a short dude, ya know?

Anyway, back to the age appropriate ... things like t-shirts and chuck taylors should only be worn by kids and teens - according to the show, of course. However, I think it's pretty safe to say those both of those things have become kind of universal. I see old grandpa's wearing chuck taylors. I've seen supermodels wearing them. So I definitely don't agree that there's such a hard line on what is appropriate. There are for sure some people who are pushing the envelope - like wearing a stuffed animal backpack and you're 50 ... but you know, if they truly are happy (and it's not a facade they're hiding insecurities under), then why the eff not, just let them do their own thing.

I also believe that there are times where it is best to be age appropriate. For instance, you're going to a wedding, or you work in a high-end corporate environment, etc. etc. I once thought differently about this when I was the total "eff the system!" punk kid, but I learned that it's really to your own benefit to present a certain appearance in certain situations.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

[GnomeKid]

Age appropriate and occasion appropriate are two different things.

Wearing converses in a business formal environment is not occasion appropriate regardless of age appropriateness.

As for the show I can't say much about it.  I've seen one or two episodes with my ex/my sister [... not the same person] and it annoyed me when they would throw away peoples favorite clothing items just because they didn't like them.  Not saying they should keep everything, but somethings its just pure meanness.

I do recall on back years ago on Queer Eye they did a transman. 

[emil]

i agree with everything you said. plus, in LA everyone seems to wear chucks, regardless of age, since they're the only closed shoes that can be worn at 90 + degrees without walking in pools of sweat.

these shows are generally ignorant regarding people's personal style - my mom and sister were talking about how they wanted to send me on there to get a makeover and the idea gave me nightmares the underlying idea is that everyone wants to attract the opposite sex... (on a side note, with high heels and dresses you usually attract a large crowd of men you'd rather not have within a 100 feet distance of you, .......been there, done that & hated it..)

[insanitylives]

Age apropriate, to me, just means situationally apropriate

[Alexmakenoise]

I've seen that show.  I don't like it.  I don't enjoy seeing the hosts act snotty, mean, and condescending to the guests.  It's not fun to see them throw away people's favorite clothes.  The idea behind the show seems to be to provide viewers with an outlet to vicariously live out their sadistic fantasies of tormenting people who don't dress according to yuppie standards so that they can feel superior. 

I'm not the kind of viewer the show is aimed at.  But it has it's niche and a lot of people like it.  I have no complaints as long as I don't have to waste my own time watching it.

As for the other topic, personally, I don't care what people wear.  There are social standards for age appropriate attire and situationally appropriate attire.  People judge you by them.  This is relevant in situations where other people's opinions matter, such as professional situations.  During your own free / social time, what your clothes will cause other people to think of you is only as important as you choose to make it.

[Sean]

I believe in age appropriate wear, but that's for ME - a personal choice. Otherwise: ditto on situation appropriate. Oh, and I still wear Chucks.

At some point, I realized that I had many many free T-shirts, concert t-shirts, jerseys, etc. that made me look like I was perpetually 19 (independent of passing or being trans). Nothing I wore was fitted or age appropriate, and while it was comfortable, it didn't look like anything - probably because I wasn't interested in having my body visible anyway.

Eventually, I reached a point where I realized that I coud dress comfortably and still look less like a slob and also look more my age. I didn't throw out every t-shirt I owned; however, it is hard to wear an ironic t-shirt on the other side of 30 and have it still be ironic. So I saved the stuff I really cared about, and I wear it in occasion appropriate ways. Once I started transitioning, though, it was harder to wear all that unisex stuff and still get read correctly. Since being read in an age-appropriate way is my hurdle (I pass well as male, but way too young), I'm more sensitive about wearing t-shirts and college-kid clothes. Plus I like wearing real men's clothes, and I see that my "style" before wasn't a style at all. I'm never gonna be that fashionable dude, but I'm not as attached to that t-shirt/jeans look. I suspect that once being read correctly is less of an issue, I'll continue to wear some of my favourite old stuff, but I won't feel driven to replace it with something similar as it all disintegrates.

[Farm Boy]

My mom and sister like to watch shows like that.  They annoy the heck out of me.  The host is usually very rude, and goes out of their way to say everything bad that they can think of about the person's clothes/style.  (I usually can't even see anything wrong with or unusual about them.)  From what I've seen, all they do is throw away all of the person's clothes and then replace them with whatever the host likes to wear, and it's always the same clothes for every person, even though they claim to be helping them create their 'own style.'  I also hate how they try to super feminize all the women, like they couldn't possibly be successful or complete in life otherwise.  Perhaps I'm just bitter about it because of having people try that sort of thing on me. 

I understand occasion appropriate clothes: funerals, weddings, job interviews, etc. but beyond that I really just feel like people should be able to wear what they like and go unhassled. 

[Osiris]

A few years back Queer Eye for the Straight Guy actually has a trans man on there. It was cool seeing them style him since he hadn't yet had top surgery.

As for age appropriate I do think it's good to dress more your age especially when you're concerned with how you're being perceived. If you wanna be taken seriously but you're dressing like a teenager it's not gonna help your ultimate goal and I assume that as these people are going on these shows they're worried about how they're being perceived so it's good for them to know what's most appropriate for them to wear.

[insideontheoutside]

The snottiness of the hosts is of course what made the show famous. Not saying I agree with it wholeheartedly. If they saw me in an everyday capacity they'd throw their fashion book at me, even though I'm certainly not as bad as some I've seen on the show (I remember one girl liked to wear a "tail" - and I don't remember her being into cosplay, which made it even odder LOL). Nevertheless, I think there is truth to a lot of the people in that they're using a really crappy wardrobe to try to NOT get noticed, and in turn, getting noticed for it.

Personally, I can often get away with being a little more young and/or "hip" (I only use that term because I can't think of another term to call a kind of vintage-leather-jacket-skinny-jeans-rocker look lol) is because I'm in a creative field. Which is another point - some professional fields are a lot more open to appearance. You probably couldn't rock skin tight jeans and funky haircut if you worked in a law firm. People would not want to hire you based on your looks. However, being a creative, I find people almost expect it sometimes. They're paying you to be creative and unlike the "Mad Men" days of Madison Ave., the suit and ties for the creative fields have been exchanged for funky hairdo's, tattoos, and chucks. Granted, I still throw on something much nicer (nicer meaning a more "put together" hipster look - certainly not stuffy-corporate) if I have to go to some big meeting with a new client - first impressions and all. Happily though most meetings are conducted on the phone, so appearance doesn't really mean anything in that case.

Shows like What Not to Wear and How Do I Look also seem to put a large emphasis on being attractive in the dating scene. I always personally thought that was lame. A large number of the people on those shows already found someone who loved them even with a crappy wardrobe. That really weeds out people I think cause if someone thinks you're attractive just because of the clothes you wear, they're most likely not a real quality mate! More superficial I would think.

[Radar]

Which is another point - some professional fields are a lot more open to appearance. You probably couldn't rock skin tight jeans and funky haircut if you worked in a law firm. People would not want to hire you based on your looks. However, being a creative, I find people almost expect it sometimes. They're paying you to be creative and unlike the "Mad Men" days of Madison Ave., the suit and ties for the creative fields have been exchanged for funky hairdo's, tattoos, and chucks. Granted, I still throw on something much nicer (nicer meaning a more "put together" hipster look - certainly not stuffy-corporate) if I have to go to some big meeting with a new client - first impressions and all. Happily though most meetings are conducted on the phone, so appearance doesn't really mean anything in that case.

So true, so true. It's almost like they expect us to be eccentric. My department sure has a hell of alot laxer dress code than the rest of the office. That's fine with me, I don't like dressing up much.

[M.Grimm]

I've never seen the show, but I think Chucks are great and can be worn by anyone. Much like jeans and t-shirts it's a matter of WHEN one wears them and what the condition/style of the items are.

There's a difference between wearing a pair of Chucks that are so beat up the original color is uncertain and there are ball point pen drawings all over the rubber parts, and wearing a pair of Chucks that have been treated with some respect and are cleaned when required. Same with jeans and t-shirts. After all, both are wardrobe staples for even 'fashionable' guys over 30, it's just that they wear logo-less nicely fitted t-shirts, as an example, usually as  a layer, and cared-for jeans that fit properly. Nice non-tattered straight leg jeans in a dark wash, properly fitted to butt and leg length, with a clean fitted t-shirt and blazer and maybe some clean dark grey Chucks would be considered age-appropriate for a 30-something who was out for a casual night on the town.