Thursday, May 8, 2014

Advanced Style: the Film We Are All Waiting For

While it seems that "Advanced Style", the documentary film on a group of wild and crazy New York ladies, has hit the UK by storm.  here in the states we are still waiting for our turn to see it. A spin off from the blog by the same name, this documentary lets us get up close and personal with a few well known women with distinct fashion styles who are portrayed in the blog.


This longer trailer gives us a taste of the film, and I think most will want to sit down and get to know these seven New Yorkers better. The film's website has all of the usual details about the documentary, and a quick Google search leads to many other links of the subject.

If this topic seems familiar, maybe it's because a very similar film was released in the UK last year, "Fabulous Fashionistas" . That film interviewed six British women with very individual fashion styles as well.

Both films show personalities that are engaging, inventive and dramatic. This makes for interesting blogs, interviews and films. But what about the aging woman in general? Is this setting up a yardstick for an aging generation to behave wildly and with dramatic flare, or be shunned and ridiculed for becoming the inevitable "old lady"?

While I love hearing from these women, it's certainly not how I now look, or will ever dress. If younger generations only value the aging eccentric woman from outside of the norm, are women who choose to behave and dress with more restraint putting themselves in a position of being viewed as 'boring' and 'out of touch' with the mainstream of life?

What I would like to see next are maturing women who are creative, intelligent and wise, but who are not wildly eccentric or off-beat.  These are the roll models I value more.  Where is the film (or blog) that follows aging women like that?  Women with age who have even more to offer now than they did when youth was all that mattered.

Many thanks to "Aunt Peaches" for the tipping me off to this film.