and shoulder pads in the 1980s really cramped my style, especially when dressing for work in "corporate" America which had a dress-code at my office, policies made by men who did not wear panty-hose or heels, well, not in broad daylight!

I always like "prep" style.....penny loafers, oxford shirts underneath crew neck monogrammed sweaters. Dark navy pants.

But it's not conducive to where I live. Here, we dress to stay cool, yet protected from the sun. Other than during monsoon season (now!) the sweating does not happen much.But I like to wear long sleeves and pants for more protection.

HAH! Princess, I wonder how many of those male, closet dudettes I've talked to on the fantasy lines.

Your weather is alot like ours Di. I know what you mean about more protection.

Shoes - that's always difficult. I have a pair of Clarks huraches, that I've been wearing non stop for a couple few years and they were so comfortable that I just quit wearing other shoes... the bummer there is that they quit making them and mine are finally whispering their last breaths so I went online to the ShoeMall.com and found a couple of pair of slip on wedgy sort of sandals that were cute, so that will have to suffice.
But I (forget the shoes now) I've been thinking about making a wrap around skirt, black maybe and then applique tailing vines and flowers around the bottom part.... kind of like the old Mexican dresses that I used to love but can't get since I don't go down there. Wow.....was that all one sentence? Okay, no, it was two sentences. And the Mexican peasant dresses weren't applique but we all know, I'm not going to sit down and embroider all that, because why? Why would I do that? Applique is totally the way to go. We're having a family luau in a couple of weeks and since I'm subversive (a bit) and don't plan on finding Hawaiian shirts or whatever, I might whip this up. Or...maybe I'll think of something else.

Oh, shoes love shoes , shoe to go with this and that outfit . I love casual "Grasshopper" shoes they have a arch in them that give the foot compfort and where they when walking the mall or out . They have a wonderful web site and not very inexpensive . www.grasshopper.com I have a pair in white black and beige now . It is a go everywhere do anyting shoe .

Oh, Princess had those jackets with the shoulder pads and off to Goodwill they went . I can't believe I had them that long . Found some things hard to part with in clothes shoes no . Oh, well enough for me.

Sadie

Shoes are tough for me, especially now that I'm older; ha! In the summer, I pretty much wore flip-flops or sandals of some kind, but now my feet can't handle it. I need more support. I still wear them, but have to be more selective. I can't wear them all the time. My feet feel best when I'm wearing my tenners and I really don't like wearing them when I'm out and ab out, unless I'm walking into town. I know more women with foot issues and I dont' want to fall into that category. It's tough to recover from foot surgery.

Are your feet different at midlife?

One of the sharpest women dressers on this planet is JOAN RIVERS. Her suits are impeccable as is her jewelry, scarfs and shoes and ALL color coordinated. Lovely hair. Plus she is past 75 but looks fabulous!!! Has the best face money could buy, bless her heart!

Chatty, I am glad you added the what money can buy line. Any one can look great when their clothes are custom made, and custom fitted! Yes, Dotsie, my feet have changed. I'll have to check out grasshoppers

I like barefoot bohemian artsy, too. But I can't go barefoot here in the summer - I would burn off the soles of my feet!

Shoes are always a problem for me now. My feet have 'broadened' so I need wider shoes. And they don't like being confined in closed shoes so I wear sandals pretty much all the time. Heels are definitely out. I used to be able to walk miles in stilettos with pointy toes, but now I don't even feel steady on anything other than flats or a small (less than 1") heel. And flip-flops or any of those shoes with the thong between my toes hurts too much. I find that Clarks, Birkenstock, Tevas, and Earth Shoes are all fine. They are expensive, but I can sometimes find them at a thrift store for about $5. And who cares if they're not in style? As long as I'm comfortable and look put together, I don't care what style it is or what anyone else thinks. Fortunately, work is casual dress; I wouldn't want to work anywhere I had to wear a suit or pantyhose.

I used to dress bohemian-artsy in my 20's-'30's then transitioned over to suits and structured dresses with belts (& shoulder pads when the style was in) plus medium height pumps. Dressier wear was more classic/tailored look with tendency to solid colours.

At this time when I have been required to observe a dress code, my taste tends to be classic/tailored with solid colours. It's not particularily arresting/dynamic style. Shoes tend to be a low heel with support. I actually don't like alot of the prints for myself that are in style right now..since I am very leery of buying something that will go out of fashion in 12 months. My selection was always long-term, to make a garment last several years.

Since I have been cycling to work for awhile, it's just more practical for me to carry on the bike, fitted-style clothing that holds up to wrinkling,etc. So long wide, artsy skirts just aren't practical for me to lug around in bike pannier. (It's more weight on the bike when going up a hill!) They would wrinkle more anyway. So a more fitted skirt (A-line), that hits a few inches above my knees.

Absolutely cannot wear cheap rubber beach thongs for a walk outside of home. It kills my feet since they need some sort of support.