When the world feels unstable politically, economically, or personally, it’s easy to put yourself last. Midlife women are often the ones holding things together: family, work, budgets, everyone else’s emotions. So investing In your style, your image or your self-care can feel indulgent when hearing news of economic stress and global crises.
Historically however, women have continued to pay attention to style and self-care in exactly these kinds of periods, not as indulgence but as a way to preserve dignity, agency, and hope when other things feel unstable. In wars, occupations, and economic crises, rather than abandoning style and self-care, women used them to hold onto dignity, agency, and hope when everything else was out of control.
For example, in occupied France, women matched gas-mask cases to their outfits and if they were able, they tailored their uniforms to emphasise waist and shoulders. Despite the chaotic surrounds, they personalised their restrictive clothing to maintain a sense of self.
In Britain, despite the Utility Apparel scheme (CC41) to standardise clothing in alignment with rationing, women still found ways to express their style. For example, some married in dresses made from recycled parachute-silk. And when stockings were rationed, women drew ‘seams’ on their bare legs to resemble the seamed stockings they used to wear, again refusing to let hardship erase their sense of style.
British Vogue’s wartime mantra “If women must buy less, then they will buy better” captured a shift toward intentional, morale-boosting dressing rather than surrendering to drabness.
In post-war Europe, as in other war torn regions, women scavenged and restyled clothing, using fashion as a part of their personal reconstruction. For some women, curating a meticulous image or organising a wardrobe can become a daily ritual of self-regulation and safety. For others, it is more a creative act.
Back in 2020, during the dark days of Covid-19, I recall the joy when my friend and I found masks in the Pantone colours that matched our colour palettes! We relished this little creative opportunity.
This is before we knew that fabric masks were less effective than the N95s and others.
Personal style can be about so much more than how you look. Here are just a few other things it can offer us:
Agency and control
When external circumstances are chaotic or oppressive, choosing what to wear becomes one of the few decisions we can still make. It can be a small but meaningful assertion of control as well as a creative act.
A sense of community and morale
Shared rituals such as ‘making do’, swapping patterns, and dressing up for special occasions despite rationing, created solidarity and a sense that ‘life goes on’ and joy can still be found in small moments.
Somatic self-regulation and safety
For women feeling disempowered, clothing can function as protection and a way to feel safe in their body. Oversized layers and muted colours may initially serve as comforting camouflage; but later, more intentional and stronger style choices can help rebuild a sense of visibility and self esteem.
Narrative and symbolism
Getting dressed can become a daily story, stating for example, “this is who I am today”. Professional image consultants (this is what I trained as; I am not a stylist per se) understand that wardrobe-building can support wellbeing. Aesthetics is only one part of the style puzzle.
Although most of us expect to get there, midlife can catch us off guard. Roles shift. Identities evolve. Our worlds can feel uncertain. And yet, this is exactly the time when how you present yourself to family, community, your work, and yourself, matters; how you feel internally impacts how you appear and how you present affects how you feel. Building a wardrobe that feels like YOU supports self-expression and offers a sense of choice and control. This is especially important during any kind of transition, when how you present to the world is shifting along with everything else.
If you’d like my guidance to reframe how you present yourself, my approach is gentle and collaborative, with room to explore what feels comfortable and right for you. There is no pressure to look a certain way or become anyone else. The idea is to become more aligned with your own self. Sometimes a little self-care can help brace us for what else is going on, whether that be close to home or further afield.