And the point is ....

 It's my body and I'll wear what I want to. Come on, sing along!

I have a friend who posted this on facebook yesterday:

My 14-year-old daughter helped me clean out my closet and made me get rid of my star track shirt, my old lady tops, and all of my capris. Tim Gunn would be proud.

I have to admit it immediately got under my skin. I don't have a problem with her cleaning out her closet. In fact I admire her for having the initiative to tackle such a job. I also think it's pretty cool that she had the help of her teenage daughter. We all know how often girls drift away from their mothers when they reach the teen years, those years where your teen thinks you're "stupid" and finds it totally embarrassing to be seen out in public with you. So, when I hear a mom and her teen are spending time together I get all excited - for them and all humankind!

What got under my skin was the list of items that needed to be tossed followed by the statement that some dude would be proud of her. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for tossing out clothes that no longer fit, and those that have become threadbare from wear, and even the ones that just don't do "it" for me anymore. But to toss out a complete style of clothes just because someone else says to get rid of them? I don't think so!

I wasn't sure who this Tim guy was and apparently some others were confused too. Someone asked and Denise answered with the following:

When Gunn was a guest on the "Oprah" show, he laid down the law to the over-40 crowd. If you're over 40, you should never wear:Horizontal stripes, Jackets that hit at mid-thigh, Pleated pants, Double-breasted blazers, Capri-length pants, and Low-rise jeans

I'll address his "list" a bit later but first wanted to say that I decided to do a little web-sleuthing to see what else I could dig up. Here's a photo of Tim  and Tim, for the record I think your  tie sticking out from under your jacket looks stupid, maybe I should make a statement to such....oops, I just did.

I found this on Wikipedia and this on Oprah's website. At this point, I am compelled to go public and admit that I absolutely cannot stand Oprah Winfrey (oops, hope I haven't just offended half of my followers). But you have to know this in order to understand my next statement. I am in the camp that "if Oprah is for it then there's a 99.9% chance that I am not!" Therefore Tim, you're guilty by association, and strike one for Tim.

Strike two comes from reading his bio and other articles. It is apparent that he is very open in his criticism concerning women and how they dress. It really rankles me that any one person thinks they have the right to judge another person's appearance and to especially to do so publicly. My question to him would be "who died and left you in charge?"

Strike three comes because of his gender. In my eyes if you're a man you have no right to state what is and isn't appropriate for a woman to wear. How would you know? Are you going to wear it? So, even if you're a gay man, you're still a man and shouldn't have a say in what I can wear! Got it?

Ok, with all that said I'll climb off the "I hate Tim Gunn" soapbox and climb onto the "I hate his list" soapbox. I'll go out on a limb say that I assume he is basing his list on what he doesn't find visually appealing. I do believe, however, he's painting in a very broad brush stroke by stating that women over 40 should not wear certain clothes. Why is the age cut off 40? Is that some magic number? Why not pick 35 or 60? How many of you know women that look much younger or much older than their actual age? Should a 45-year-old woman, who could easily pass for 35, throw out all her capri-length pants and double breasted jackets just because she's over that magic number?

Are we supposed to go out the day after we hit 40, toss all our clothes, and start over with a new wardrobe? While I'd love a bunch of new clothes I find it neither practical nor realistic to think that's going to happen. Can you imagine telling your spouse "honey, I can't go to work anymore because all my clothes are on 'the list'" Therapist's incomes will definitely soar as they counsel thousands of women suffering from poor self esteem because "Tim" says I'm dressed wrong. Oh puhleeze!

I've decided that since Mr Gunn has had his say, that it's only fair that I be allowed to weigh in on his list.

1. horizontal stripes - personally I don't know anyone who really looks good wearing horizontal stripes. Maybe we should ask all fabric manufactures to just stop producing fabric with stripes and totally eliminate that problem. Of course then there's be those people who'd complain that it's not fair to have vertical stripes and not horizontal, so why don't we just do away with all stripes and be done with it. Besides doesn't this  sorta remind you of this? 
2. jackets that hit mid-thigh - we all know that your jacket needs to be that long in order to hide your big booty. Is this an attempt to make all those lovers of big butts happy? 
3. pleated pants - don't look so great on women with big bellies, so  I guess this was stated under the assumption that any woman over 40 is overweight. While I can't feign innocence here I know plenty of women who are over 40 and have a trim waist. But too bad, so sad, you're over 40 so out with those pleats.
4. double-breasted blazers - if you're going to be the one who decides who can and who cannot wear something ... well you got it wrong here. It has nothing to with your age and everything to do with your bust size. I think double-breasted looks better on men because they have no breast ... unless they're fat and have man-boobs, In that case they need to stay away from the double breasted jacket also.  
5. low-rise jeans - wearing low-rise jeans produces two problems for women. One, if you're not toothpick thin your muffin top will show. And two, if you get the right size that won't create a muffin top, after a couple of hours of wear your pants start to droop and you're constantly having to hitch them up. For the record, regardless of your age, muffin tops aren't attractive. 
6. and now for the big finale, the item that got all Denise's friends in an uproar - Capri pants! There's just some things you don't mess with and obviously capris are one of them. I found this blog  post that stated it rather well: 

 Capri-length pants : This is the one that really gets me. I thought about naming this post: "kiss my capri wearing ass." Sure capris are not the best for short legs. But capris are a fashion staple -- there's no getting away from them either at the gym or in the summer (especially at the beach). Even with short legs capri-length works especially if you are wearing the same color on the top. So shoot me.

Capri pants make up 95% of my warm weather wardrobe. In my opinion they look a whole lot nicer than me running around in shorts that show lily-white legs; they're cooler than long pants, and more practical than a skirt or dress (have you ever ridden a bicycle, climbed a ladder, or worked in the yard wearing a dress?).

To wrap it up, I'm  here to say I dress according to what works for me. If you have a problem with it, that's on you not me. So go ahead and laugh all you want. Just keep your comments to yourself and for heaven's sake don't take my photograph and post it on facebook. If you do I'm coming after you. You've been warned!