Ah, the Kardashians! We, the people, have probably had enough of them, but the gossip press sure hasn’t. The latest was a smack in the tush to K-Momma Kris Jenner for this outfit, which was described as “too young for her age”. 
Most of the criticism of the outfit was levelled at the pants. Those, however, seem the least egregious to me. After all, you can find that color in pretty much any “old lady” department. So, I’m certainly not offended by the color–and quite glad they aren’t embroidered with little penguins or umbrellas all over them.
Likewise the black tee isn’t a faux pas. It’s your usual tee, no biggie.
Where, then, does the outfit start to fall apart? It’s the accessories! Let’s start with the shoes:
OMG, where *does* one start with these fashion travesties! Leopard clogs with something like a six-inch heel. You have *got* to be joking. This style, as well as the huge-heeled covered wedge shoes (which I like to refer to as “Frankenstein boots”) and sky-high pumps are, for most occasions, for the young. They tend to give one’s feet an outsized Olive Oyl/Minnie Mouse/Daisy Duck appearance, and appear to be oh so cute on, skinny girls in very, very short skirts.
In a term, they’re ugly, and don’t compliment the pants, esp. if you’re out running errands. Who wants to run errands in six-inch heels?? Either a flat (if one insists on leopard) or a mid-heel neutral toned pump would look great with this kind of pant.
The next set of accessories send the death knell to the outfit:
Oh, gosh, where do we start! First, the hat: what we would call a fedora and the Daily Mail UK calls a trilby. Whether trilby or fedora, it actually ages Jenner, whom the Daily Mail describes as looking “much younger than her 56 years” (and she might if she laid off half the accessories she’s sporting.)
Next, let’s tackle 3 in succession: earrings, bag and jacket. The earrings simply look trashy, as if they came from a Claire’s shop in the local mall. Sure, wear a big dangling earring if you like, but not a pair that would look better on someone in high school. The bag, too, is cheap-looking. Perhaps an oversize bag is great for shopping, but between the leopard heels and the pink pants, a silver over-sized bag is over-kill. And then the cropped jacket. Well, at any age, unless you are wildly thin, a cropped jacket will make your rear end look larger than that of the average school bus. If you have a penchant for motorcycle jackets–even if you don’t own one–an average length men’s style would have looked better here. Or, quite frankly, a tuxedo-style suit jacket couldn’t go wrong.
Now, take a look at how daughter Kim accessorized an equally bright pair of blue denims: 
In this case, daughter really does know best: Kim wears flat sandals with a matching large bag, light-colored neutral toned tee, cropped tuxedo style jacket, and simple large hoop earrings. The outfit looks just as effortless and far more polished…..
Which brings up one of my most important points for women over 40: When dressing in trends, make sure you do not look like a throwback to your teens or 20′s. Kris’s tough chick black-silver-leopard accessories in many, many ways give the look an 80′s gloss. Nothing will age a woman more than futile attempts to replay her past in her current wardrobe.
Which reminds me: K-Momma might want to think about getting that signature black dyed short haircut a rest. That’s another 80′s style relic. I did it too, back in the ’80′s, but would never, never think of going back to that. My gosh! It would be like wearing a pompadour with a fishtail! While it may look cute and retro on someone in her 20′s, it won’t make anyone in her 50′s look cute. She’ll look just retro–like a puffy-sleeved dress in an antique clothing store.
SO…..the moral of the story is: it’s not the pop-of-color pants that cause the fashion faux pas, it’s the poorly chosen and badly matched 80′s influenced accessories. If you feel you’d like a pair of brights, go right ahead, but make sure you accessorize in a polished, modern way.
