By Madeleine Kolb
I guess I should have been humiliated when I learned earlier this month that I had appeared at an event near Seattle with a look that virtually screamed Old Lady. This news appeared in a short piece by Charla Krupp, author of a book called “How Not to Look Old.” While she didn’t mention me by name, she certainly had my number.
The strange thing is that I thought I was looking pretty good that day, not young but good. But according to Ms Krupp, two specific breaches pegged me as an Old Lady in a clueless, not-with-it, just-don’t-care sort of way.
One is that a little while ago I decided to let my hair go gray after having it colored for years. I was aware that–in the eyes of some people–this is an unmistakeable sign that a woman is “letting herself go.” And, in truth, my hair’s at that awkward stage, a mix of the receding dyed hair and the advancing gray hair. When it all grows out, though, I think it will look just fine.
The other Old Lady thing I did, though, was really clueless. I wore nude (that is, skin-colored) pantyhose. Apparently, it has been decreed that women should not wear nude pantyhose. They should go about with bare legs. If those bare legs are pale and pasty, a woman should apply fake tanning lotion to them. What? All these years I thought that’s what skin-colored pantyhose are for. At least in part.
Obviously, this is not just a matter of fashion. It is, fundamentally, a matter of accepting aging in ourselves and in others.