Let’s Talk Coastal Grandma Style- Yes It’s a Thing

[880]

Farmers markets
Good linens
Early to bed, early to rise
Wine!
Flowers
Heirloom vegetables
Laidback
Female friends
Book club
Garden club
Classic hair
Real jewelry
…

Except for gardening, I’ve done these things, or a variation, most of my life lol
in fact my mom sometimes asks me why I dress like an old lady (I’m 54)
pics of my version of CG with the last pic a deviation into dark academia, or what we used to call, schoolgirl

nowadays I live in doc martens or birkenstock slip on sneakers

 

[doloresmia]

Love this vibe! I like nili lotan, frank & eileen for coastal grandma chic and battered old current elliott chinos.

 

[Cosmopolitan]

Living on the East Coast (Washington, D.C.) and traveling frequently to NYC, I wore a LOT of black most of my life. But as I’ve gotten older (55) I’ve realized it’s no longer all that flattering with my complexion and looks sorta harsh. So I try to limit wearing black to dressier nighttime events or, if in the daytime, I only wear it on the bottom (black jeans, black pants etc). In the past few years I suddenly came around to wearing white—a key element of the #coastalgrandmother look (though I don’t have kids)—and I’m surprised at how much I like white. Also big on all shades of gray as a substitute for black, and mostly neutrals like olive and navy. I admit to living in long cardigans and the occasional denim/linen shirt a la Ina Garten, who as we know is a coastal grandmother icon in addition to Diane Keaton.

 

[gelbergirl]

Farmers markets
Good linens
Early to bed, early to rise
Wine!
Flowers
Heirloom vegetables
Laidback
Female friends
Book club
Garden club
Classic hair
Real jewelry
…

love that exclamation after Wine!

 

[Etriers]

Except for gardening, I’ve done these things, or a variation, most of my life lol
in fact my mom sometimes asks me why I dress like an old lady (I’m 54)
pics of my version of CG with the last pic a deviation into dark academia, or what we used to call, schoolgirl

nowadays I live in doc martens or birkenstock slip on sneakers

View attachment 5396055View attachment 5396056View attachment 5396062View attachment 5396064View attachment 5396063View attachment 5396058

Great looks!

Love this vibe! I like nili lotan, frank & eileen for coastal grandma chic and battered old current elliott chinos.

Going to check those out now!

Living on the East Coast (Washington, D.C.) and traveling frequently to NYC, I wore a LOT of black most of my life. But as I’ve gotten older (55) I’ve realized it’s no longer all that flattering with my complexion. So I try to limit wearing black to dressier nighttime events or, if in the daytime, I only wear it on the bottom (black jeans, black pants etc). In the past few years I suddenly came around to wearing white—a key element of the #coastalgrandmother look (though I don’t have kids)—and I’m surprised at how much I like it. Also big on all shades of gray as a substitute for black, and mostly neutrals like olive and navy. I admit to living in long cardigans and the occasional denim/linen shirt a la Ina Garten, who as we know is a coastal grandmother icon in addition to Diane Keaton.

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I do not have a denim shirt. Need to get one. And the blue and white stripe Ralph Lauren shirt is also on my radar.

love that exclamation after Wine!

Lol! Here’s a really CG thing my girlfriends and I are doing in the summer, cutting a really good dry white with crushed ice and sparkling water and doing a spritzer so we can drink more without crawling under the table at 6:30.

 

[Cosmopolitan]

Here is the Wall Street Journal article that @Etriers mentioned. (I was able to view it without a subscription.)

The ‘Coastal Grandmother’ Rises in All Her White-Linen Glory

In beachy button-ups over Barefoot Contessa burrata salads, Nancy Meyers groupies young and old toast their newfound TikTok trendiness.

www.wsj.com

 

[Etriers]

I this thread.

Diane Keaton herself recently posted about this trend


And so did Anne Hathaway

Funny!

I know we don’t actually get to “see” you but you look so much like my favourite aunt, it makes me so incredibly happy every time you post pictures of yourself. ❤ (Sorry if that is weird)

Awww. What a nice thought! I feel the same. Love her posts. And so many other gals here. Love seeing @880 ’s outfits.

 

[diane278]

I know we don’t actually get to “see” you but you look so much like my favourite aunt, it makes me so incredibly happy every time you post pictures of yourself. ❤ (Sorry if that is weird)

I consider your post a compliment. Thank you!

 

[Etriers]

Ah! My style has a name- yet I am not thrilled about the word " Grandma"

The "Grandma" part is what makes it fun. Its tongue in cheek when fashion can be overly serious.

You know, even with “grandma” in there, I was super happy after reading the article. How nice that happy, secure, funny, sharp, educated (including self-educated), stylish older women are recognized for their easy-breezy style. And so much so that women in their 20’s and 30’s want to be like them.

 

[Jktgal]

Is this pandemic-induced? Used to be I had to have at least 3cm heels, now all my high heel shoes untouched for at least 2 years. White is a no-no for me but yes to blues and grays and all the cotton pants, chinos and sneakers. I have 4 sneakers otw as of right now.

 

[papertiger]

I receitei tis poem when I was 11. I think the must have been a predictive moment, as when I'm a grandma I have a feeling it's going to be the less polished/Hamptons/wearing white and stone on the beach way. I certainly will NOT be leaning to spit.


When I am Old

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.


We already grow our own veg and I 'do' female friends and Book Club - and wear 'matronly' structured bags and square scarves (if I hear one more time 'matronly' in the same sentence as 'frumpy' I will ).
Jenny Joseph

 

[papertiger]

Except for gardening, I’ve done these things, or a variation, most of my life lol
in fact my mom sometimes asks me why I dress like an old lady (I’m 54)
pics of my version of CG with the last pic a deviation into dark academia, or what we used to call, schoolgirl

nowadays I live in doc martens or birkenstock slip on sneakers

View attachment 5396055View attachment 5396056View attachment 5396062View attachment 5396064View attachment 5396063View attachment 5396058

My mother used to say that to me too but only certain objects, structured bags or pill box hats etc. I think that's because her gen through away their 'stuffy' structured hats and carried hobos.

They say the rule is at a 'certain' age there's no irony in dressing as you did when you were a young person but my mother never suddenly turned into Queen Elizabeth.

Actually, when I dressed in some of her clothes she realised how she must have looked. When I wore one of her inherited late-1960s mini dresses (think micro-mini) she said "you're not going out of the house like that?!?" and I shot back "why not? You did" (yes, I was a brat) to which she had no answer. Amy Winehouse completely based her personal/stage style on her very sexy pin-up grandma.

My mother was so fashionable when she was young, spent time and money on all aspects of appearance, and an early adopter, handbags were 'granny's bags' because her mother wore the proper structured bags. That's another rule 'they' make up, that we can't feel young wearing what our mothers wore. My father bought expensive things for my mother and occasionally they just stayed there. I just mixed all my inherited mother's 1960/70s/80s stuff and wore/wear it in the 90s/00s/now.

I can't do the clean, light/pale neutral classic all-over look (totally pprciate those that can or will) I'm going to be batty dark academia till I die. I love today's fashion and yesterday's fashion. Why should what's fashionable, even statement pieces, be only thought of as appealing to the young?

Looking at all the well dressed grandmothers in this thread celebrity and otherwise, when/if I get 'there' I am going probably going to look more Anna Piaggi (or at least Helena Bonham-Carter) than Audrey Hepburn or Dianne Keaton, although all have/had great style. We have to celebrate all kinds of older women and the freedom for them to celebrate themselves.

 

[diane278]

I don’t know how many readers here are in their 70’s or 80’s but my friends and I don’t actually feel we’re really “that old”…..at least not on the inside. We’ve discussed this and most of us feel 20 years younger than our actual age (Although we do agree that sometimes looking in the mirror or seeing a recent photo is a bit shocking, and at times don’t think that’s what we really look like.) If you’re relatively healthy, getting old is freeing In so many ways. Everything is relative. At 72, I’m considered a youngster in this community.…which used to shock me as I was “old” in my previous neighborhood.

 

[tinybutterfly]

LOL. I am the poor man's coastal grandma - a Talbot's girl. I live too far from the beach to give coastal grandma a proper go.

Me, too! I live in the Midwest, so far from the coasts, but yes, Talbot's, J. Jill ( very similar to Eileen Fisher ) Land's End, L. L. Bean...I have had some Eileen Fisher, but I actually prefer J. Jill.

Living on the East Coast (Washington, D.C.) and traveling frequently to NYC, I wore a LOT of black most of my life. But as I’ve gotten older (55) I’ve realized it’s no longer all that flattering with my complexion and looks sorta harsh. So I try to limit wearing black to dressier nighttime events or, if in the daytime, I only wear it on the bottom (black jeans, black pants etc). In the past few years I suddenly came around to wearing white—a key element of the #coastalgrandmother look (though I don’t have kids)—and I’m surprised at how much I like white. Also big on all shades of gray as a substitute for black, and mostly neutrals like olive and navy. I admit to living in long cardigans and the occasional denim/linen shirt a la Ina Garten, who as we know is a coastal grandmother icon in addition to Diane Keaton.


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I hear you on the black now looking harsh. I used to wear sooooo much black. In recent years, I isolated all my black clothing in another closet, trying to get myself to wear other colors instead, but eventually I'd get back into my black clothing section because it is 1. So easy 2. Classic 3. Doesn't show spills.

Like you I am venturing into gray and navy. I love olive. I can wear white, it looks good on me, but I am a messy person, I spill things, so even though I used to wear white shirts on the regular, in recent years I have also set those aside. Maybe I should bring those white shirts back out and just get a Tide stick.

The only thing I don't participate in is the book club and gardening club, though I do read and garden.

Such a fun thread!

 

[Cosmopolitan]

I can wear white, it looks good on me, but I am a messy person, I spill things, so even though I used to wear white shirts on the regular, in recent years I have also set those aside. Maybe I should bring those white shirts back out and just get a Tide stick.

Good thinking on the Tide stick!