I like to feature all kinds of women at 40plusstyle.com from the conservative to the outrageous. You can find them in the What You Wore and Style Interview sections. Al the women in my style interviews have one thing in common though: they all have a unique, confident style that they have made their own.

I feature those women because I love how they express themselves through the art of clothing. I love how confident they feel about creating their own unique look. Obviously, not all of them reflect my own personal style, but I can appreciate their style since it’s true to their personality and the looks are put together in a fabulous way.

I also adore featuring women with a more outspoken look as they show you that you can do whatever you like. That you can express yourself through clothes the way you want to and that it’s ok to take risks. I think it can inspire many of you to be a bit more adventurous with your style, even if it’s as simple as adding a colorful scarf.

No matter what kind of style I feature though, invariably I will get negative comments about a person’s style, especially when that style is more outspoken. Not constructive comments but insulting remarks that you would never actually express face-to-face. This happens especially on Facebook and it always astonishes me.

Why do women feel the need to trash someone else’s style? Why don’t they rejoice in how confident someone expresses herself through style and the art of dressing? Why are they not in awe of someone’s unique look?

I posted a message about this issue on Facebook and received overwhelming support from many followers of the page who all expressed this disbelief and could not understand why anyone would feel the need to criticize someone’s else’s look in a negative way. Yet the following week I found myself moderating and deleting negative comments again.

Of course the critics tend to be the minority but I have seen it in my personal life too. Women are tough on other women and quick to criticize someone’s appearance. Far more so than men do.

In my style course I often encourage women to step a little bit outside of their comfort zone. Many do and find new ways to add an extra impulse to their style. It could be as easy as to add an extra print, try a bit more color, add a scarf or don’t always go matchy-matchy with the shoes and bag.

Often though I also see resistance and I feel that in large part it’s because women feel scared to be criticized by other women or their husbands. They are afraid of what others will think or get the ageist comment that they are too old to wear something.

It’s one reason why I always advocate to please yourself first and foremost as you will NEVER be able to please everyone else. Wear what pleases and suits you and what makes you happy.

Of course I will never expect of you that you like all the looks that I post. We all have different tastes and we all have our own unique style. That is the great thing about style! We can express our unique selves through it.

But I would hope that you can appreciate someone else’s style, no matter your own taste, and that you can take inspiration from it in some way. It can be the way someone puts their accessories together, or the way she combines colors. Or you can be in awe of their confidence or how they express themselves in such a bold way.

Let’s cheer eachother on and encourage every woman to be her own unique self. Neither I nor any of my readers is waiting for your criticism.

Celebrate Unique Style!

All the women featured on my site are special and at 40+Style we CELEBRATE STYLE. All kinds of style! Because we are all unique and style is such a beautiful way to express ourselves. From now on I will add that tag #celebrateuniquestyle to all of my photos!

And remember: style only gets better with age!

Celebrating unique style | 40plusstyle.com

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Sylvia

Sylvia is 40+style’s editor-in-chief and has been helping women find their unique style since 2011. An alumni of the School of Color and Design, she is devoted to empowering women of any age to look and feel their best. Read more about Sylvia and 40+style on this page.

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