In my experience, women with decades of life under their belts exude a kind of self-acceptance and assuredness I consistently fall short of embodying. When Harling coined the term menocore in July, she pointed out the ways in which that manifests in women’s clothing choices. In her words, menocore is “the aesthetic leap to styles we would embrace as middle-aged women, taking us forward in time to a more marinated version of our selves, our mothers and our world.”
To my delight, there is a small but growing population of women on Instagram who are doing the public service of exhibiting said lifestyle. They’re older than your average Instagram “influencer,” and they look incredible. Below are six outfit/attitude ideas straight from the source (the source being the bottomless well of wisdom I’m convinced these women contain).
Idea #1: Wear a sweater as an apron already
Wear it over waist-forgiving linen pants and an oversize tunic with a straw hat and metallic Birkenstocks. Proceed to relax in the above position and pretend you didn’t lose two hours of sleep last night thinking about how urgently you need to clean your kitchen. Hug your own ankle. Smile.
Idea #2: Wear a shirt as a skirt under another skirt
It’s possible this is one dress playing tricks on my eyes, but I’ve chosen to believe that she is wearing black leggings under a white button-down worn as a skirt; on top, a white button-down worn as a shirt. Over that whole shoot-and-match, she has on a slightly-unbuttoned black button-down skirt. If that’s true, I’m calling the cops. It’s too good. Pair with dangly earrings, platform brogues and communicate with your eyes how much you don’t give a fuck.
Idea #3: Wear a massive sweatshirt with cutoffs peeking out
Vetements may be responsible for the XXXL sweatshirt trend, but @moonlin0106 is selling me on it. This is a lesson in commitment. If you’re going to wear a big sweatshirt, you may as well pair it with cutoffs, grubby high-top Converse sneakers and a baseball cap. Add small circular sunglasses, look joyfully into the distance and call me later.
Idea #4: Get some colorful statement glasses yesterday
A statement sweater, glove and earring will also do, preferably worn all at once, but even without those, consider what a colorful and memorable pair of glasses could do to your literal/figurative point of view. The world (a.k.a. me) is in a wireframe glasses rut. It’s time to run wildly in the other direction. Clap with me and @jennykeeoz if you agree.
Idea #5: Dress up your socks and sandals
The only thing cooler than wearing socks with slides is wearing them with an outfit everyone else would wear with heels. Add trousers and blazer at your discretion and, while you’re at it, kindly toss out whatever policy is floating around in your head that demands you pair something baggy with something fitted. No such rule exists. Even if it does, breaking it could heed the above life-affirming results!
Idea #6: For goodness sake, wear three+ shades of the same color
If you have a jumpsuit, great. If you don’t, just wear a pair of pants and a shirt that exist in the same color family. If they clash, wonderful. Knot a similarly-hued jacket around it not because you’ll need it later but because it will feel like a life seat belt. Wear with sneakers plus a matching hair bandana or hat and lean against a wall per above, as if to say, “I’m over your bullshit and ready for a snack.”
If you’re smart/love yourself, you’ll leave Man Repeller right this instant to click through all of these women’s accounts for more ideas. Or I guess you can stay here if you want to share your IG outfit inspiration at the moment and/or join in panic-screaming about how cool these women are.
Feature photo of Ana Gimeno Brugada for Andrea Pompilio Fall/Winter ’17.
