15. Find that line between age appropriate and old...

(Age appropriate? Hmm...boat-neck shirt I wore in my 20s and pigtails. You tell me.)

I think about this a lot. Earlier I was looking at The Sartorialist (if you like fashion, check out this blog http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/) and loving on the way these girls dress. I actually found myself thinking about what was in my closet and how I might throw something similar together to get that "whimsical" uncontrived look. Of course I just randomly paired those early 2000 Marc Jacobs flats with that tattered denim shirt, leggings and vintage scarf. I don't have to take a moment to think about what I put on, it just comes so naturally to me!

Please. There are days when I wish I didn't have to leave my house for what I believe to be a lack of anything acceptable to wear. I have never been smart about what I buy. I've always bought with my heart and not my head (much like I've lived the rest of my life), so therefore my closet is a mess of paint splattered jeans, flannel shirts, beautiful uncomfortable shoes, nonsensical skirts, expensive dresses that I rarely have occasion to put on (unless playing dress-up for someone), and lots of t-shirts and sneakers that I am way too old to wear.

Which brings me to my point. What is that fine line between dressing your age without dressing "old"? As a guy, if you're sporting a backwards flat hat (earlier blog) and skinny jeans and you're over, say, 34 (I think I'm being generous), you really do look like an idiot. Sorry, but true. And if you're a woman over 34 and wearing short cut-off shorts and gladiator sandals -- well, same story. It doesn't matter if you look amazing for your age; this is L.A., most people d0. It's about using your instincts and your inner elegance and doing the right thing. 

I violate my own rules all the time, and I have my moral compass in the form of an 11-year-old in the next room to remind me on a daily basis where I'm messing up. Clothes have been a hard one to give up. I read recently (and this is a loose memory) that we stop emotionally aging at 24. True or not, it makes sense to me. I still eye the latest fashions and the cute 20ish boys as if I belong there. I still feel the same wounds, the same joys, the same desires. 

But, I'm learning: just because you can doesn't mean you should.