Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Well and Worthy Life. I’m so excited that you are back here with me today. I’ve got another solo podcast. And so I’ve been thinking about this fashion thing. Okay. So it’s funny because, on Instagram, I have gotten so many questions about what I’m wearing.
And all the things will us in a link. And so for so many years, I’ve really resisted that and I have made a change. I am now at more active on like to know it. So you can I’ve got the link in my show notes on my like to know it page. And I’m also more active on my Amazon storefront and that will be in my.
My show notes also. So I’m sharing more about what I’m wearing in my everyday life because. That is one of the questions I get asked a lot of, and to be honest with you, I do feel like it’s not necessarily a part of my health journey, but I definitely am more confident when I’m more put together And if you follow me on Instagram, you know, I’m not always put together, right?
I don’t always put makeup on and always look just perfect. But but clothes and fashion are a part of who I am. I’ve always loved, loved clothes. And to be honest with you, I probably have never shared this with you guys, but My mother was a model back in the day, like, Oh, I think she started modeling before I was even born.
And she modeled if you’ve been around Birmingham for a long time, Birmingham, Alabama, she modeled for Lovemans and was in the newspaper. And I have some really cool modeling photos of her. Somehow I’ll have to share them with you sometime, but. Anyway, so she was a model and and so she always had some of the coolest clothes and she was just beautiful anyway.
And then when I was a little girl, she got me into modeling with her. So I would do fashion shows with her. And I even did some commercials with her when I was a little girl. We moved to Florida when I was in third grade. So all of that kind of stopped once we moved away. But anyway, so you can imagine fashion has always been a part of my life.
And so I’ve always loved clothes and always had a closet stock full. And then you may know, I got married, remarried. I’m on my third husband. Nine years ago, almost 10 years ago, about nine and a half years ago to my husband, who his family owns Gus Meyer in Birmingham. And then they have a location in Nashville too, which I used to shop Gus Meyer before I was even married to him, but even better now, right?
So so anyway, I love fashion. So I’m, I’m really sharing more of my links on Instagram. So if you are following me there, you can find it there. If you’re not on Instagram and you still want to know, like I said, we’ve got in the show notes and also on my website, you can find it. So I am sharing more.
So I thought it would be a really good episode to do a. Episode on fashion, midlife fashion, and kind of what I think. aNd if I think there’s any rules, so spoiler alert, I don’t think there’s any rules, okay, because it’s just like our health and wellness journey. We all are different and we all have different styles and everything else.
So I think that. To me, I don’t think that there should be any rules because I think if you feel confident in what you’re wearing, that it all comes across right. And, but I think that’s the most important thing that you feel confident in what you’re wearing. So so should you change as you get older?
And I don’t necessarily think you should change as you get older, but I do think we do evolve as we get older. I definitely think my style has evolved but I have to tell you a funny story. So I love jean shorts. I love jean shorts. I always have. I have worn them I, I mean, I probably, my first pair of jean shorts I had was in college, maybe before then, but, and I still have jean shorts.
I, that’s one of my go to’s. I love them. And my mother passed away eight years ago, but before she passed away, she said to me, so I was in my fifties, yeah, because I was 50 when she passed away. So, she said to me, Deanna, how long do you think you can wear those jean shorts? And I said, well, mother, I don’t know, as long as I feel good in them.
And that’s the way I think we should do. I don’t think like we reach a certain age and we shouldn’t wear whatever, as long as we feel good in it and feel confident in it, then why can’t we wear it? You know, I don’t think there should be any rules. But I do have some tips. Let’s see. I’ve got one, two, three, four, five tips I have for you on midlife fashion.
And so I want to go over those five tips and then stay tuned to the end because I’m going to share with you the one item that I think Everyone needs in their closet. Okay, and if you’re watching this on YouTube, I’m wearing it right now. Okay, so and then it’s really spoiled, right? If you’re watching this on YouTube, but, okay, so let’s start out.
Number one, I think you have to find your style. What is your style? I mean, there are so many different styles. I even Googled styles, styles before I started recording this podcast, and there were so many different styles, but I’m thinking like, Is it classic? Is it boho, preppy, casual sporty? Like what is your style?
You know, find your style and kind of, you know, stick with that and you can kind of intermix things, but you’re going to be more confident if you’re wearing your style. And I would say my style is mostly classic, but with a boho boho sometimes too, because I do like that kind of look also. So and so you can have more than one style, right?
I mean, and it depends on the situation. But if I had to just pick one, it would be classic for sure. But boho is definitely in there for me. So you have to. Find your style and and then wear it, wear it proud. Like I said, I mean, who cares what other people think, you know, we tend to dress for others so much and we really need to dress for ourselves and how we feel.
The most confident because it will come across in the way we talk to people. It will come across in the way we carry ourselves. It will come across in our actions. It just comes across everywhere. And then also it can come across in your health and wellness journey, because if you feel confident, you’re making better choices, right?
I mean, it just makes sense. It’s like, if you feel. Vibrant and alive and everything you’re going to make better choices than if you feel dumpy, you know, I hate that word, like, but you know, I mean, like, if you feel like you’re just like looking gross and, you know, so you really. Find your style and step into that style and it’s not like that you have to have this huge wardrobe because you really don’t.
I find I, I have a lot of clothes. I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. I love clothes, so I have a lot of them, but I find myself wearing the same things over and over and over. You know, I go to the same one or two pair of jeans every time I go to the same one or two shirts or button downs, jackets.
That kind of thing. So it’s not like you have to have a ton of things but have the things that really make you feel like, yeah, this is me. This is my style. Like even when you’re shopping with your friend, have you ever been in that situation where you’re shopping with your friend and she’s like, oh my gosh, this is so you.
Right. Or you tell your friend, Oh, my gosh, this is, this is perfect for you. This looks exactly what you would wear. So, so if you don’t know your style, ask your friend what she thinks your style is because your friend probably knows what your style is. okAy. So find your style first. This is the second thing.
Make sure your clothes fit. I think this is a big mistake so many of us have made in the past, is that maybe as we’ve transitioned to perimenopause and menopause, maybe our clothes are getting a little tight, right? And instead of buying new clothes, we just Or like, no, I’m not going to do it. I’m not going up a size, you know, and you keep trying to fit in the smaller size or maybe you then just jump sizes and you, and everything you wear is just baggy and oversized.
I mean, that’s not a good thing either. So. Make sure, you know, if you’re in the process of losing weight or gaining weight or whatever, you know, have a few things that fit you that you feel very confident in. I think that’s really important that you feel confident. And it doesn’t, can’t just Fit you like you’ve got to sit in it, twist in it, stand in it.
There’s nothing worse than being in something that maybe looks great on you, but it’s very uncomfortable. And I’ll tell you the story. This is just an awful story. I had an event that I went to and I had the most gorgeous jumpsuit. I loved it. It was beautiful. Tried it on, looked beautiful on me. It was a sequin top, but it was a jumpsuit.
So the top was all sequins, black sequin. And then the, it had a deep V down the middle. And and then the top was like a turtleneck. So what I didn’t do beforehand was sit in it. So when I got to the event, Sitting my, the, the split at the middle, very gaping and very showing off my cleavage and everything too much.
And then the, the turtleneck part, remember it’s all sequins, was so tight. And when I turned my head, it scraped on me. So I was so uncomfortable. I mean, I did get a lot of compliments of my outfit, but I was so uncomfortable the whole night. I could not wait to leave. And we left early so I could get out of that outfit.
So try your outfits on, make sure you’re sitting and moving around. You know, anytime I am, I wear something out. And I find myself very uncomfortable in the outfit. Maybe it’s too tight or maybe it’s rides up too high or just anything. I’m just like, I take it off and I put it in a pile to get rid of it.
Because there’s just, I mean, there’s just no reason to be in something, especially at our age, you know, to be uncomfortable.
You’re going to find your style. Then you’re going to make sure your clothes fit. And then, here’s the other thing. Clean out your closet at least, at least once a year. I mean, if you can clean it out every season, even better.
Because I think, for me, when I clean out my closet, one of the things, I find things that I forgot about. And then I can realize I can put this with that, and so it’s kind of discovering new things without going shopping, right? So I think that’s important. And the other thing is, you need to clean out some things.
Things that get worn, and just, even if you love them, if they’re worn, they’re worn. Get rid of it, and replace it with something like it. Or maybe, like I said, it’s too tight, or it’s too loose, or it just doesn’t fit. fit anymore. It just, it’s not the right look anymore. Or maybe it was a trendy piece of clothes, you know, whatever.
But there’s times that you really need to clean out. That way you can see all the great things that you have. And so that when you do go to get dressed, it makes it so much easier. So at least once a year, I like to clean out my closet. Like I said, I do it usually twice a year because I think that’s realistic between the spring, summer wardrobe and fall winter for me.
What do you do with those items that you maybe you splurged on? I’ve done that, but you’re like, I’m never going to wear that again. Well, if it’s a really good splurge, I would say, hang on to it, put it in another closet somewhere. The style may come back. A lot of times, even if the style comes back, it’s, it’s still it’s still something you’re probably not going to wear.
But. You never know. I mean, I will tell you, I, I hang on to more things now like that because I’m thinking, well, maybe one day Marlo, my granddaughter, who’s four, may grow up and need a costume or just think something that I had was really cool. One of the things that I splurged on, gosh, about four years ago now was a Gucci belt.
You know, everybody was getting the Gucci belt. They were huge and now it seems nobody wears the Gucci belts, but they were so huge, right? Well, I’m not getting rid of my Gucci belts. I got several of them now and I’m thinking well, sometimes I do wear them but I’m thinking maybe they’ll come back or maybe one day Marlo will get it and she’ll think, Oh, this is so cool.
This is so vintage. So you never know. You know, sometimes you need to get rid of it. If you don’t have space for it, get rid of it. If you have space for it, you’ve got a granddaughter. Somebody that might really find it intriguing. I know, like, some of the cool clothes my mom used to wear, if she had hung on to them, I think that would have been really cool.
But only, I would tell you, only do it if they’re very quality items, because if they’re not quality, they’re not going to hold up anyway. So, you know, whatever. Okay, so we’re going to find our style. We’re going to make sure our clothes fit. We’re going to clean out our closet at least once a year. Now, what about the trendy items?
Should you buy into the trends or not? And again, I think this is a personal decision. I think that some items you may really like and some not. I’ll tell you, so this year the barrel jean came out, right? And And so I was like, there is no way I would wear a barrel jean. That looks awful. No, yuck.
Until I started seeing some of my friends wear them. And I was like, that really looks cute. I like that. And guess what? I bought some barrel jeans. Now I’m not going to buy five pairs of barrel jeans because they won’t. Stay around probably. Who knows how long they’ll stay around. I say if, if it works for you, then get it, you know, just don’t overdo it and maybe be careful and don’t splurge crazy when it comes to trends, unless you just are, just love it so much or something or whatever.
You know, sometimes we, we you. We slurred on trends when we shouldn’t, but you know, I think we’ve gotten better at that as we’ve gotten older because we realize that those trends come and go and this barrel gene, I’m really not sure how long it’s going to stay around. So, on that trend thing, it’s really, I think, a personal preference.
I think if it’s not for you, then don’t worry about it. Don’t do it. But if it is for you, then, then, yeah, okay, do it. okAy, so find your yeah, find your style. Make sure your clothes fit. Clean out your closet at least once a year. If you want to jump on the trim, jump on the trim. You know, that’s just a personal preference.
And then, this last one. What to splurge on. And I’ve thought about this a lot. Like, what have I splurged on that I’ve been so happy about? And then what have I splurged on that I’ve been like, oh, okay. So what I have splurged on that I’ve been like is trendy items. I’ve been like, why would I have spent that money?
That way, you know, I’m not going to wear it long enough. So I don’t like to splurge on trendy items, but shoes. Let’s talk about shoes. Cause we really haven’t talked about shoes. I think shoes and you don’t necessarily have to splurge on shoes, but good shoes. are important. And I, it took me a long time to realize that.
And it, it doesn’t have to be just good quality shoes, but I do think good quality shoes are important, but the fit and are they comfortable? Can you wear them for a long time? When I was younger, I would wear heels and my toes are still pain for those heels that I wore. I will not wear a pair of shoes. If they are uncomfortable.
I don’t care how pretty and how sexy they are. If they are uncomfortable, I’m not going to wear them. So, I do think shoes is one of those things that you can splurge on and feel okay about I think more so on an everyday shoe than even on an evening shoe because you’re wearing it more.
So I think it’s really important to be comfortable and have the kind of shoe that again, that’s for health reasons too, right? I mean, that you can walk around because we want to be making sure that we’re getting our Steps in, and we can’t get our steps in if our shoes are uncomfortable. So I say shoes are, yes, a splurge for sure.
Another splurge that I’ve been, that I think is a great splurge is handbags. It doesn’t matter your size, right? So if you gain weight or lose weight, your handbag still works. And again, I think it’s, it’s up to you, but I’m more of a classic style. That’s not going to be going out of style.
And there are ways to get you know, expensive purses without having to pay top dollar for them. One of the ways is I’ve gone on a website called fashion file and gotten some purses that way that I really wanted, but I did not want to spend as much money as they were. So. You know, there are ways about it.
There are consignment stores that have great handbags. So, I do think a great one or two handbag is a great way to splurge. Yeah. Another splurge, and again, it’s taken me a while to learn this one, but is a scarf. Probably eight or nine years ago.
Jeff bought me this scarf and it what it’s really big and you’ve probably seen it on me in pictures if you follow me on Instagram, but I don’t know how big it is, but it’s big and it’s I don’t even know what it’s made out of, but it was a lot of money. It had a print on it and it was 500 at the time I want to say.
And I was like, Oh my gosh. But he splurged on it. We were on vacation and he bought it for me and I have worn that scarf. over and over. If I had, I mean, I’ll tell you, if you did it divided about the number of times I’ve worn it, it’s probably the scarf is a dollar per time I’ve worn it because I wear it with so much and it pulls everything together for me.
I Can wear it in the summer. I can wear it in the fall. I can wear it in the winter. It’s just a great scarf. So, I don’t mind splurging when it comes to a scarf. Now, I’ve never spent that much money on a scarf again, but this past year when I was in Italy, I bought a scarf and I want to say that scarf in Italy was two or three hundred dollars.
Again, I love it. It will be just like my other scarf and it just, you know, it’s, I make sure it has all the different colors in it that I wear so it can just pull everything together. And a scarf really can pull it all together for you. So I love scarves. The other thing that maybe would be a good splurge.
And I’ve done it. I’ve got a great coat. You know, something that, again, is something that you wear a lot in the winter. That brings it all together. That looks good with, with all your clothes. That can be casual or dressy. I think you just can’t go wrong with a really good coat. And then the last thing that you could splurge on, I would say, would be jewelry.
And the reason I say that, and there are all different price points on jewelry. So, what a splurge to one person may not be a splurge to another, but I tend to wear the same jewelry over and over on a casual day. Now, when I’m going out, I might, pick some other jewelry. But for the most part, I wear the same jewelry every day.
So I think, those can be. Good splurges but you don’t need a lot of it. It really, you know, especially if you’re like me and you wear the same thing every day. I mean, why would you have to do? One thing I get asked about all the time, I don’t have it on right now, but I usually have it on, is my Tahitian pearl.
And it’s just, it looks like it’s just a black pearl on a leather cord. And I bought that for myself back when I was probably 40. It’s the first piece of jewelry I ever bought myself. And I love, love, love it so much. And it kind of really says who I am. Like when people see that piece of jewelry on me, they like, they know.
And I lately I haven’t been wearing it as much, but. Normally, if you see most pictures of me, I’ve got that pearl on so it was a splurge, but it was so worth it. So worth it. Okay, so let’s review those five things one more time. So find your style. Make sure your clothes fit. Please make sure your clothes fit.
Clean out your closet at least once a year. on the trendy items, go with your gut, however you feel, and then what you need to splurge on. You know, all of these things that I’ve covered today are just very they really depend on you. I don’t, again, I’m going back to what I said at the very beginning.
I don’t think there should be rules. I think it’s whatever makes you feel your best at this stage of your life. You know, you’ve been around for a while. You know when you feel good in clothes and when you don’t feel good in clothes. And don’t spend your time wearing clothes that you don’t feel good in.
I mean, life’s too short, right? So I also wanted to tell you before I tell you that one item, so hold tight. I Wanted to tell you also watch for my upcoming gift guides, because like I said before, I have got an Amazon shop where I’m sharing all my favorites there, like to know it, sharing all my favorites there, linking as much as I can when I can find it on online.
But I’m going to be linking some of my favorite things and what I’m going to be buying people for Christmas this year. So I’ll be having several different gift guides. So stay tuned for that. If you’re not on my list of my newsletter list, then make sure and click the link in the show notes here so that you will receive those gift guides along with my newsletter every week.
I send a newsletter out every single week. And if you want to know what’s going on around Well and Worthy Life and what’s happening, that’s the best place to always stay in touch with me. You can just hit reply and email me back and let me know anything that you’re thinking about. So be sure and sign up for my newsletter if you’re not signed up for that newsletter.
So you’ll get my gift guides that are coming up. Now, I’m going to tell you, the one item, and if you’re watching this on YouTube, you see it right here, the one item, I think it should be in everyone’s closet, no matter what their age. is a jean jacket. I was trying to think of that one item today and I thought what is one item I could not live without and it would be my jean jacket.
And this jean jacket that I have on right here is by Rag Bone and I’ve had this probably for 10 years at least, if not longer. I love My jean jacket, I can throw it on with a sundress in the summer. I can throw it on with jeans and a sweater in the winter. I can throw it. I, I wear my jean jacket more than anything else.
I could put my scarf with it that I talked about. I mean, I just wear this jean jacket and I think it doesn’t matter your age. Like, you can always wear a jean jacket. Now, of course, I’m not going to throw it on with something dressy, but it’s just to say that I think a great jean jacket is something that everyone should have.
So, love to hear your thoughts on this. So, if you’re listening to this and you think you know one item that you think everybody should have in their closet, please be sure and message me. Let me know what you think because I always love hearing from you guys. It really just helps me so much and I also know that you’re listening.
Thank you so much for listening to this podcast today. I’ll be bringing you some more solo podcasts coming up. And remember I’m going to be releasing, I was every other week. It’s going to be every single week now. So you’re going to have shorter episodes, maybe some longer ones. But we’re all gonna do this together and just thank you again.
I really appreciate you. As Thanksgiving arrives, I think of that so much more. I am so, so very grateful for you listening to this podcast. And yeah, thanks. And I hope you have an amazing day.
