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Negotiating vulnerability and attractiveness through dress.

Julia Hahmann1, Miranda Leontowitsch2

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Older women navigate social pressures regarding appearance by adapting their clothing choices. Despite vulnerabilities from bodily changes, they develop strategies to express attractiveness and stay fashionable, challenging age-related expectations.

Keywords:
AgeingArc of acquiescenceExpectationsHuman bodyMateriality

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Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Sociology of Fashion
  • Gender Studies

Background:

  • The aging female body faces intense social scrutiny, with pressure to maintain attractiveness and desirability.
  • Clothing practices are a key site where older women negotiate societal expectations, bodily changes, and personal identity.
  • Dressing and appearance become arenas for experiencing vulnerability due to social judgment and normative pressures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore how older women's clothing practices express and manage vulnerabilities associated with aging.
  • To investigate the role of clothing materiality and dressing practices in older women's experiences of vulnerability.
  • To understand the intersection of aging, social expectations, and personal expression through fashion.

Main Methods:

  • Re-examination of qualitative data from a study employing situational analysis.
  • Utilized semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation to gather insights.
  • Analysis focused on understanding vulnerability through the lens of clothing practices.

Main Results:

  • Older women adapt their dress in response to bodily changes, sometimes conflicting with normative femininity expectations.
  • Despite initial vulnerabilities, women develop clothing strategies to reclaim a sense of attractiveness and self-expression.
  • Adaptation to changing circumstances is crucial for maintaining a fashionable and attractive self-presentation in later life.

Conclusions:

  • Practitioners can address gendered clothing vulnerabilities by acknowledging and discussing them with older women.
  • Biographical work can be a valuable tool for helping older women process and integrate their experiences with aging and clothing.
  • Understanding these vulnerabilities can inform more supportive approaches to aging and fashion.