Personal style: a rock chick at 50

A reader, Maggie, asked a great personal style question:

As an almost 50 I feel that I’m about to take another style jump!

My personal dilemma is my own self image as a bit of a “rock chick”, a style which I have carried off without a hitch until recently. My fear of looking, as my dear eldest would say, like “mutton” has led to a classier version of this style, but I am still resistant to the “classic” dressing a lot of women my age resort to.

Are we supposed to let our individuality go at my age and start blending in? Its hard to get clothes which fulfil my middle aged classy rock chick fantasy, so I tend to mix it up a lot, department store classic mixed with more edgy t shits and accessories. Markets and shops like Dangerfield have great cheap little badges and earrings.

I love questions like this because they’re about true personal style that transcends fashion. Maggie knows what works for her and wants to stick with it rather than jumping on the ‘50-something dressing’ bandwagon. Bravo!

I’m going to start with some celebrity inspiration, even though I normally don’t like those ‘dress like a celebrity’ features. In my opinion, the ultimate rock chick of any age is Carine Roitfeld, the editor of French Vogue (who happens to be 50). Here’s some recent pictures of her from style.com:

While her outfits are definitely edgier than you’d normally wear in an Australian supermarket — she’s a French fashion editor and all these pics are taken at fashion shows — there are a lot of ideas here that would work just as well on ‘normal’ people.

These include:

1. All black. Roitfeld still wears top-to-toe black, the ultimate rock chick look, and carries it off brilliantly. You could do something similar by picking the simplest of those “classic” black separates that are marketed to mature women and wearing them together instead of breaking them up with colours.
2. Neutrals. When Roitfeld’s not wearing black, she wears sophisticated neutrals top-to-toe instead, as a softer version of the monochromatic look. Notice that she wears no pastels, no bright colours, just grey, taupe, chocolate, cream and white. Again, the cut is generally very simple, so you could find similar things somewhere like Witchery (tip: their outlet stores are great for a bargain).
3. Makeup and eyeliner. She doesn’t appear heavily made-up, but since all-black can make anyone look washed out, I suspect a little cosmetic wizardry goes into making her skin look so good. Plus black eyeliner all the time is definitely a rock chick look you can keep working!
4. Cool jewelry. I LOVE her jewelry. If your budget can stretch to it, some high-end rock-inspired pieces (e.g. some of Oroton’s Hermes knock-offs) would be a great starter; otherwise, I imagine that as a seasoned rock chick you’ve got some great stuff already!
5. The shoes! OK, I didn’t manage to pick any photos that show her shoes, but they’re amazing… lots of black, shiny, strappy heels. If I could wear them and I was going to Paris, I’d have to mug her for them — because there’s no way I can afford the designers she wears. Guess I’ll have to find some knock-offs…

I’ll leave you with what Carine Roitfeld herself says about dressing as you get older:

“For normal woman, with not big money, if I would give advice: buy mainly classic pieces and a new pair of shoes each season. A Burberry trenchcoat is always beautiful. Maybe you change the belt and this season you put an Indian scarf on.”

I hope this has given you some more ideas Maggie!