Yeah...It's All Relative, But Just What Is An Old Lady Bag????

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#61
papertiger said:
The phrase is just awful, sexist and ageist and there is no excuse for ever using it in my opinion. When some one uses the phrase as in "is this too much of an 'old lady bag'?" they never mean in a good way. They could use the word 'stuffy' or 'conservative' just as easily. Old ladies are easy targets. I hear other phrases too like 'don't be such an 'old woman about it' meaning stop whining and so on.

It has nothing to do with reality, total cliché with no basis in fact. My mother has never liked framed bags wears bags that are bright, glamorous and casual whereas I love a smart vintage framed bag.

Young women using that phrase should watch out as one day it's going to come back and haunt them :D
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More often than "don't be such an old woman about it", one hears, "Don't be a baby" or "Grow up" or something about big-girl panties. There are as many or more disparaging remarks about acting too young.

But people use the phrase on things that were on-trend for a certain generation. In other words, if people continued to wear the clothing trends people associate with the 1980's, they would quickly have become "dated" and younger people would associate them with the older people they saw wearing them. Likewise with frame bags and satchels; many people associate them with the people they saw wear them, which were mostly older people.

I guess it's just an expression in my eyes. And while the culture IS obsessed with youth and beauty, I still think certain expressions can be used without having to go all PC about it. A person can "act like a baby" or carry an "old-lady bag" or "swear like a sailor". I don't think that takes away the value of babies, old ladies or sailors
 
#63
old lady bag in my mind's eye is any dated bag with cracked leather

As to it referring to a design -- I happen to love retro bags with frames, flaps and turnlocks. Those would definitely be considered old design and/or retro. I have the LV Beverly MM and love the look but I can see why someone might call it an old lady bag.
 
#67
papertiger said:
The phrase is just awful, sexist and ageist and there is no excuse for ever using it in my opinion. When some one uses the phrase as in "is this too much of an 'old lady bag'?" they never mean in a good way. They could use the word 'stuffy' or 'conservative' just as easily. Old ladies are easy targets. I hear other phrases too like 'don't be such an 'old woman about it' meaning stop whining and so on.

It has nothing to do with reality, total cliché with no basis in fact. My mother has never liked framed bags wears bags that are bright, glamorous and casual whereas I love a smart vintage framed bag.

Young women using that phrase should watch out as one day it's going to come back and haunt them :D
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You are totally right ! I mean some day won't we all be there ? Aging is a natural process , something you cannot change while things like racism and sexism are something you can do about .

I am only 23 though for a 12 year old I am already 23, while I don't feel any different than when I was 5 people seem to alway remind me that I can't wear pink because I am not 15 any more. I love framed satchel and who cares what someone says? You cannot please everyone but there is one person you can always please - yourself !
 
#68
isabellam said:
A few random, semi-related thoughts:

Webster once said "He who defines, wins".

One person says:"Old, moldy cheese" Another says "fine, well-aged cheese"
One says "lovely patina", another says "beat-up"
one says "dreadfully cloudy day" another says "look at the lovely chiaoscuro sky!"
one says "used-up has-been", another says "wonderful, wise mentor"
one says "fetus", another says "baby"
one says "freedom fighter", another says "terrorist"

I generally hate the PC-anal-obsessiveness we have created and now face, but I must say that words and labels DO matter. We think in words, and words have emotional impact. Will the world end because someone cries "Old lady bag!" at the sight of a kiss-lock satchel? Hardly. But it's important to realize the we all have the power to uplift someone or create an emotional obstacle for them.

In other cultures (I'm thinking of France) "a women of a certain age" are seen to have charms that a fresh-faced 19 year old could never hope to have. And the older women realize that their fresh-faced days are gone and they develop other parts of their 'look' and appeal. I'm not French, so I may have this totally wrong, but it's my impression that there,there is a respect for age and the experience it engenders.

America, since the 60's when the Boomers came on the scene, has been all about bright and shiny youth. However, the culture change that they brought about is now positioned to bite the Boomers in the butt. Now, it's their task to create some respect for the more mature person. They didn't stay young forever, after all.
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Isabellam :urock: I just love your ideas !
 
#69
HauteMama said:
More often than "don't be such an old woman about it", one hears, "Don't be a baby" or "Grow up" or something about big-girl panties. There are as many or more disparaging remarks about acting too young.

But people use the phrase on things that were on-trend for a certain generation. In other words, if people continued to wear the clothing trends people associate with the 1980's, they would quickly have become "dated" and younger people would associate them with the older people they saw wearing them. Likewise with frame bags and satchels; many people associate them with the people they saw wear them, which were mostly older people.

I guess it's just an expression in my eyes. And while the culture IS obsessed with youth and beauty, I still think certain expressions can be used without having to go all PC about it. A person can "act like a baby" or carry an "old-lady bag" or "swear like a sailor". I don't think that takes away the value of babies, old ladies or sailors
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^LOL! Totally this.

I don't know. To me, it's like someone walking up to me and saying, "Wow, you're a giraffe." They're saying I'm tall, using a word that might not be super-flattering. But because there's nothing wrong with the underlying condition that they're acknowledging - my height - I'm not insulted. I see "old lady bag" in a similar light - it's a round-about-way of calling a bag conservative, classic, tasteful, and reserved to the point that your grandmother would consider carrying it. I only choose to use the term when I couldn't picture anyone but my grandmother carrying it (although she's more given to sequin-covered fanny packs, but there's no accounting for taste). Other people use the term differently. I don't ever hear an accusation of bad taste when the term is used, just classic, maybe sometimes a bit dated, but definitely not Courtney-Love-level bad taste, or bad taste at all. I'd be more insulted if someone said my purse looked like it belonged on a teenager - I don't want to seem like a "wannabe" when I could gracefully look my own age (and tolerate what comes with it, which are the high-school cashiers calling me "ma'am".) :shrugs:
 
#70
BEBEPURSE said:
What goes around eventually comes around again - just hold on to it long enough.:laugh:

In some cases, the bad stuff back than is still baaaad.;)
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Hi! I'm new, but saw this post and had to laugh. :D Having grown up in the original age of mini-skirts, my take when they came back was "if I was old enough to wear them the first time around, I'm too old to wear them this time around!" That, too, changed, but I sometimes wonder if fashion is something like musical notes - there are no original musical notes, just the way they are played. :jammin:
 
#71
CHANELllie said:
You are totally right ! I mean some day won't we all be there ? Aging is a natural process , something you cannot change while things like racism and sexism are something you can do about .

I am only 23 though for a 12 year old I am already 23, while I don't feel any different than when I was 5 people seem to alway remind me that I can't wear pink because I am not 15 any more. I love framed satchel and who cares what someone says? You cannot please everyone but there is one person you can always please - yourself !
Click to expand...

I 'feel' 15 most of the time even though a 15-year-old could be my grandchild. And other days I feel older than God - 'age image' must be like 'body image', I guess! I had a friend who was close to 100 when she died (old money and classy) who wore neon green nailpolish or hot pink suits if she felt like it, and she never looked 'wrong' because she had such a sense of being happy in her own skin (sounds better in French but I forget the words).
 
#72
I have this bag but I am an old lady - in my mid-thirties!


enshogirl said:
I've had only one "old lady bag" moment.

I had wanted a particular Cole Haan Village Bag for a long time. I happened to find it for a really great price and had to have it. I used it a couple times here and there in my regular bag rotation. Well, until I saw an "old lady" out at a restaurant with it.

I'm not usually such a snob, but the bag suddenly became too big, too brown... too old... so I sold it.


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#73
I only think "old lady bag" when thinking about how handbags look on me. I'm a middle aged lady and I've had a thing for buying vintage handbags on Ebay (which I've gotten over). For some reason, what looks old and tired on me looks totally cool on my daughter. The only ones I've kept are evening clutches. The older I get the more I feel like wearing current handbags, shoes, and jewelry, too.
 
#74
I am a middle aged woman and I ADORE soft pebbled leather frame bags...I love everything about them: the semi soft structure, the way they are open with a single tough to a clasp closure, the way they can be carried...in hands or with a long cross body strap attached to the rings....I have plenty in my collection but seems do not have enough...still looking to buy more!
 
#75
The Chanel flaps actually remind me of an older ladies bag that she would take out to eat in a fancy place or to an opera or something. Also LV Alma reminds me of an older ladies bag.
 
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