Young Fogeys

That's Not My Age was gnawing on a posh pizza at Latitude Festival last week, when along came a bunch of dandy young men. It was Noah & The Whale. How nice to see the young fogey look back in fashion I thought to myself. I do like a pair of smart trousers, a cravat - even a waistcoat has its place in a modern gentleman's wardrobe. So imagine my horror when I opened up the Guardian Weekend magazine this morning and was confronted by this:



A lovely older model wearing what appears to be grandad's knitted waistcoat. Now, I've made my feelings known about the All Ages line up before and I have to admit that recently there has been an improvement in the styling of older models. More attention has been paid to hair & make-up, and sometimes the clothes actually fit. Come to think of it last week's line-up wasn't great. Young models wearing summer clothes, older models covered up in heavy black peacoats. Unfortunately, you'll have to take my word for that, still traumatized by the Great Tent Debacle, I left the magazine in a field in Suffolk.

Since when did Clive Dunn become a style icon for older women? Forget Grey Gardens, Last of the Summer Wine is the designer's tele-visual inspiration for autumn/winter 2010:





Oh please. Young or old, male or female nobody wants to look like an old fogey.


Photos
Noah & the Whale: Virgin Media
Clive Dunn: last.fm
Last of the Summer Wine: BBC

All ages?

As you know, That's Not My Age is a champion of fashion for the over-forties - I can happily look at older models with wrinkles, grey hair and bunions, all day long. Except when it comes to the All Ages fashion line-up in The Guardian weekend magazine. I know I've said this before but I think it's worth repeating: the styling on the older models is just plain lazy - in fact, I doubt the stylist has even taken the age-factor into consideration. The grown-up ladies are dressed in the same way as the younger girls, often the clothes don't fit properly - take a look at the black puffa jacket/trousers above - the older models aren't properly groomed and the overall impression is one of tokenism. These images are same-y and uninspiring - and nobody wants to look like they've just escaped from a care home. So, please can someone tell Alan Rusbridger to stop peddling this patronising rubbish.

As Jim Royal would say, all ages, my arse!