I am too young for beige.

This week I attended Vancouver Fashion Week to see my daughter Sara Armstrong present her Spring Summer 2015  collection on the runway.  I was wearing a piece from her 2012 collection, suitably lived in rolled up Levis (circa 1996), and a pair Vince Camuto heels.  A woman asked me, 'who are you?'  I said,  I am wearing Sara Armstrong, and I am just her mother.

I later learned that she is a publisher of an online magazine here in Vancouver, and she was impressed by my style. She asked if I was a writer, and I said yes, and a publisher of a magazine based in Saskatchewan.

We talked about the untapped market for ‘women of a certain age’ in terms of style.  At that point, I realized the juxtaposition between being 52 and not wearing head to toe beige and elastic waist pants was what drew her to me.

Women of a certain age. What does that mean? I didn’t realize until that moment that I was one of those.

I do notice that women of a certain age are often styled in beige, as if she is about to disappear into the twilight of her life.  That is not my aesthetic.  Not my way.  In fact, I don’t own beige in my closet, and aside from my yoga pants that I wear exclusively to yoga and the gym, there are no elastics in my pants.

I might be somebody’s mother, but I do have a pulse. And so should we all.