Fashion is trendy. Fashion is money. Fashion is crazy.

    Is there such a concept for fashion as a senior citizen? Can one look like a fashionista after age seventy?

    I think that in our senior years, we tend to dress as we did as teenagers but with “modifications.”

    I think that our favorite colors change; our skin tones and bodies change; we need to select colors that are more flattering.

    I used to love the color pink. In the 1990’s I had a kitchen that I actually painted pink along with a decor of pink flamingos with fluffy tails. I would come home from a hard day of teaching, and I would walk into my kitchen and pretend I was on some kind of exotic island. The pink color was so refreshing to my spirit and soul.

    Now, in my senior years, pink no longer represents a happy color to me. Now, it’s yellow, blue, and green. I have a desire to buy yellow shoes and yellow clothes, but it must be the proper yellow hue.

It can’t be a lemon; it needs to be a daffodil shade, coupled with an azure blue and forest green. Then, I believe I have achieved the proper “healing” balance.

    Benjamin Moore has named a paint color “Sherwood green.” These are now the colors of my house walls.

    So now it is time to banish certain items from the closet- that pink scarf with the merlot wine glasses on it, those expensive brown shoes bought in Tuscany, Italy about six years ago that always gave me foot pain after wearing them for at least ten minutes, those blazers that were powerful statements for women working in the 1980s and 1990s, that black skirt that was always saved for funerals and serious business, those black patent sandals whose soles are totally worn out, that apricot scarf full of tiny cherubs that I went wild over in a boutique in St. Thomas years ago.

    These items need to go. Asta la Vista, baby! 

    But, what will replace them? I know, ah, comfort clothes- sneakers with great arch support, sweatshirts that actually keep me warm, jeans with elastic waistbands that are flexible, bras without underwires probably a size too large, loose and soft microfiber T-shirts that feel wonderful on the body, 57 pairs of socks in all sizes, textures, and colors (including pink ones!) and a pair with Broadway shows listed on them, that actually snuggle my feet. Goodbye to earrings as my pierced ears closed during the pandemic due to lack of wearing jewelry and makeup and just masks.

    And one more clothing item – the underwear. Just say “NO” to Depends- “Never, never, never surrender” ( to quote Winston Churchill) to them. Jockeys and Hanes will do for now.

    In fact, in retrospect, the Golden Girls were brilliant during one of their TV episodes when they accidentally booked a vacation to a nudist resort. If they could undress for dinner, maybe they have a point. Perhaps I can, too!

    I would certainly have more room in my closet….