It is quite absurd that in a country with an ever aging population (mostly women) it is so difficult to find suitable clothes for elderly ladies. Not only are we being encouraged to remain active and smart but we want to be well dressed.
Why don’t they (young designers) start designing and providing clothes for this ever-growing market?- Ileana Curmi, Rabat
If shop owners that we are all poor, they are wrong. Besides, they should notice that many people nowadays would rather buy their elderly relatives and friends an item of clothing than yet another box of chocolates.
Incidentally, don’t sellers notice that many shoppers walk out empty handed because the items demanded aren’t available?
My mother used to receive good quality catalogues from England with clothes for all ages.
After the ‘Women’s’ pages there were pages ‘For the Older Woman’ showing mostly the same styles appearing on the preceding pages but worn by ladies with fuller figures and grey or white hair. This shows that older people were taken into consideration even when they were a smaller proportion of the population.
People like me want good quality, classic, timeless clothes that are smart, comfortable to wear (dresses fastening in front) and to care for (non iron); clothes that are suitable for our climate as well as for our age, not necessarily in sombre colours.
This summer most dresses are sleeveless and, as a friend said, “backless and almost frontless too”. Some are accompanied by lined, long-sleeved jackets – too hot for Malta.
In summer we want lightweight dresses without collars but with short sleeves – just above the elbow, not short baby puffed ones. We don’t want skirts that are too short or too long, either. For just before or after summer, dresses in a slightly heavier material with collar and three-quarter length sleeves are ideal.
During winter, coats and suits do not present problems but we want woolly tops that are not low cut and with sleeves that are neither short nor too wide. We also want warm, woollen skirts (not everyone wants to wear trousers).
Sadly, the big clothes shops my friends and I remember buying our clothes from when we were younger, and which catered for all ages, are no more.
Why do today’s shops sell clothes that are suitable only for girls and younger women? Is it because most are international franchises and sell only what their principals send them from abroad?
Sometimes we hear of promising young Maltese dress designers. Why don’t they start designing and providing clothes for this ever-growing market?
Since starting to write this letter I have read about a new initiative: a research exercise for the fashion retail sector, and I am thinking that this would be an excellent opportunity to persuade owners of clothes shops to provide suitable clothes for us.
On this hopeful note I come to the end of this short series of letters I have written for the Year of Active Aging. My thanks to the editor for publishing them, and to the kind person who e-mailed them for me.