- Basically, these shoes
should never be allowed. Somebody should burn
'em or ban 'em or both. Today, we're gonna dump that frump. (whistling)
Bye-bye. Hi ladies, it's Erin. And welcome back to my channel. For those of you who are new here, my mission is to help you
look like the best version of yourself, help you live
your best life over 40. I just turned 46 and I
don't know about you guys, but I just wanna stay in the game, man. I don't wanna enter frump town. I don't wanna enter invisibility. I want to be seen. I'm still youthful, vibrant, sexy. I want to look the way that I feel. Everything I do on my
channel, on my website, on my Instagram account
is geared toward that. How can I help all of us, myself included, live our best lives over 40, look like the best version
of ourselves, you know? And if you wanna dig
deeper, it's more than just, you know, frivolity or superficiality. We're talking about the
way that you look affects the way that you feel, affects
everything in your life. When you're looking good,
you will feel better. You will feel great. You will have more to give everybody else. There's no need to say, "Ugh, I don't need to worry
about this kind of stuff. "It doesn't mean anything,
it's not important." No, it really is important because the way that you
feel is incredibly important. And when you look good, you feel good. In this video, I wanna
talk about five ways that we're all dressing frumpy over 40, that we can modify and we can change. And they're really simple
tweaks, and you'll see 'em. I'm gonna show you bad, better, best. In the video I did that's
very similar to this one, I talked about how to look younger, that is definitely part of it. If you dress in a more modern
way, you will look younger. If you dress in a less frumpy way, you will look younger,
100% guaranteed, okay? But in that video, I got a lot of comments from you guys saying I wasn't
comparing apples to apples and that you wanted to see
the existing outfit tweaked. Now, I did strategically buy those pieces that I thought would be the frumpy pieces, so it is really hard to make them better. But I'm gonna show you
how you can style them so they'll look better, but I'm really not recommending better, I'm recommending best. Frumpy piece number one, the bad, bold tee. This is not good, here it is. The floral, it looks like applique. It almost looks 3D, but it's not. It's just like printed onto the tee shirt. It's doing something cool in the sense that it's drawing the
eye up, which is nice. But the print itself is so over the top, frumpy, and old, it's dating you. So you don't wanna go in this zone, and I'll show you another tee coming up. It's like the bedazzled
tee, it's just as bad. You really wanna look
for modern tee shirts that will keep you away from frump town. I'm wearing a pair of just
kind of stretchy beige jeans, which make it a little bit worse. And then, it's really
bad because of the shoes. These are the shoes in the beginning and I said really needed
to go away forever, never to return. (whistling)
Bye-bye. If I wanted to make this look better, what I would do is I would first for sure, swap out the shoes. So remember in the other video, I showed you these Bueno sandals
that are comfort sandals? So I didn't wanna show you heels, like go from comfort shoes to heels. That's not fair, right? So I'm going from comfort
shoe to comfort shoe. Both are in the comfort shoe category. These are just a heck of a lot cuter. I like these so well, by the way, I ordered them in black too. That was the first shift. The second shift is just
redoing my hair a bit. So the way that you style your
hair also has a major impact on whether you look frumpy or not. So just considering your hair. I think it looks really youthful when you wear your hair up in a ponytail. I think it can look youthful when you have little pieces coming down in the front. I think it can look really youthful when you have a center
part versus a side part. If you have some really gentle
waves, that's very youthful. If you have a shorter hair
cut, you know, maybe a pixie, maybe you do a lob or angled bob, that's more modern than like the mom bob. So just, you're just staying away from dating, aging haircuts. I know a lot of us, especially as we're
going through menopause, we lose hair and that stinks. It stinks really bad. So make sure you go back
and watch my hair video. I did a whole video on how you can make your hair look thicker, and it's everything from
supplements to instant fixes. So make sure you watch that
video and I will link it below. So the second change that I would make to make this outfit better is I would turn the tee shirt around, so I'm not actually looking
at that horrid, floral print. It's just so bad, I can't even take it. So I'm switching it around. And I've talked about this before. This is a really simple
styling trick that you can use. If you don't necessarily
love the front of your shirt, try it the other way around. And then I also pulled it off the shoulder to give it a little sexy, and then took the knot
and kind of twisted it so it created some more
shape in the midsection. And also, you know, when looking
at this tee from the front, like the placement of
that knot is so weird. It's like right on the
hip, right on the hip. Why? I don't understand that. Like the knot placement is key. Somewhere in the middle,
maybe a little off-center, maybe high, highlighting the
waist, but right on the hip? Mm mm, no. Here's the best option. The best option would be skip
that tee shirt all together 'cause it's really bad and
go for a modern tee shirt. Here is a pastel cammo tee
that I got from Nordstrom. It does have a tie at the bottom, but this tie is so much smaller. It's not really drawing the eye. You could even tuck it
in if you wanted to, but I wanted to show you
a very similar option, but miles ahead in terms
of being in modern. Staying away from those bad, bold tees, the old lady tees, we don't need those in our life. No more frumpy tees. And then with the last
look, the best version, same sandals, same jeans
paired with this tee, they look so much more modern. But you could also always do a white jean, which would be really lovely,
a pair of white shorts. I'm gonna show you some
white shorts in a minute. There are other ways that you
can modernize it even more. I just wanted to kind of stay as close to the original look as possible. So here again, you got bad, better,
(bell dinging) best. The second way that we're
looking a bit frumpy over 40 is with all of the tent tops. Beware the tent top, beware the poncho. Here it is in its full glory. This striped kind of like
ocean-colored poncho. Notice the bold stripes right across what? Oh, tummy and hips.
(gasping) No, no, that's not good, it's
just adding volume there. That's where the eye goes, it's like... (bombing) This outfit is made
even worse by pairing it with some stretchy legging-like pants. I say this a lot with like the
matchy-matchy legging pant. And then the horrible sandals. They're very comfortable by
the way, super comfortable, but B-A-D bad, and not
doing anyone any favors. And if you wanna avoid frump town, definitely avoid these shoes. So to make this better, the first thing I'm gonna
do is swap out the shoes, 100% get rid of those. I'm swapping them out
for a pair of loafers. These are from Express, very affordable. And then the second
thing I'm going to do is get rid of those terrible legging pants, and instead, swap it for jeans. Now, the top is tricky because again, we have the stripes
highlighting the problem area, but if I turn the top around, the pattern is actually different and it's not as in-your-face with the hips, butt, and thighs. So that's an option. You could try belting it. You could try knotting it. You know, some way to cinch that fabric, maybe tucking it in a bit. You just don't want that
overall huge muumuu tent effect. Your best option would be to
totally remove the tent top. And you could wear a top
like I'm wearing right now, which is more body-skimming. It has some shape, but
still very forgiving, billowy, covers the
arms, beautiful neckline, beautiful color, still framing the face, but it's giving you a bit more shape. You don't wanna walk
around wearing a tent, Again, same pair of
jeans I just showed you by Moussy Vintage. A modern pair of jeans can really work wonders for your look. Especially as you get older, you know, you swap a frumpy pair of jeans
for a modern pair of jeans, that completely changes your look. There you have it bad, better, best. The third thing you should avoid if you don't wanna look
frumpy is ill-fitting shorts. I don't know why this happens, but especially those
stores geared for women over a certain age, the
shorts are cut weird. They're not flattering. They don't look good. So really be careful with the shorts. If you're gonna go for the shorts, which is already a
gamble, which by the way, I did a whole shorts over 40 video. If you missed that, you may wanna go back
and watch that video. This pair of shorts in
particular, I don't know, it almost is like a
cocoon shape, you know? Like a half circle on the leg, and it's just a very odd shape. They're linen, so they're
cool and they're lightweight. They're very see-through,
which I don't like either. And the length, ah, I don't know. Don't like the length either. These are the same sandals I featured in the last look that are just not good. And then this is the bedazzled tee I was telling you about in the beginning. Like this tee is horrible. No one should wear this tee
ever under any circumstances. So to make it better, I'm going to cuff the shorts
twice to shorten them. I'm swapping out these
sandals for the Bueno sandals that I showed you before. And then I'm just gonna
do a little French tuck or half tuck with the tee shirt. This tee shirt is the same in the back as it is in the front, so
there's no salvaging it really. Remember the styling of the hair is key. Put it up, put it in
a ponytail if you can, if your hair is long enough, thinking about modern hairstyles,
very important as well. Thinking about modern sunglasses too. I didn't talk about that
a lot in this video, but I did talk about it
a lot in the last video. I featured both outfits with sunglasses. So make sure you go
back and watch that one if you didn't already. Best would be to get rid of
this tee shirt altogether. I'm gonna swap it out for
a really pretty blouse by Free People, it's a lace blouse. It does have long sleeves. They push up really easily. And then I swapped out the
shorts for a pair from Nordstrom. The shape of these shorts
is totally different. They're still linen,
same fabric, same color, but the shape is so
different and you can see it. It's more of an a-line shape. And remember in my shorts video I talked about how if you get shorts, you wanna little room around the legs to make your legs look smaller? That shape does that. And then it's the same Bueno sandals. So here's bad, better, best. The fourth offender when
it comes to looking frumpy, the crotch framing tunic. You're like, "What, what did she just say? "Crotch framing tunic,
that sounds terrible." Well, that's because it is, it's terrible. So here it is, my friends,
the crotch framing tunic. What does it frame? Where does the eye go? (bombing)
Right into your crotch. That's exactly what I wanna
highlight when I dress. No, I do not. And also, that V-shape
where the extra fabric is on the hips makes your hips look bigger and makes you look wider. It also makes your legs look shorter. It's just really bad. Now, I understand the concept. The concept is to create
this like hourglass shape. So you're highlighting a waist and you're creating a little
more volume on the hip. So you create hourglass, right? It also covers the hips, butt,
and thighs, which is nice. But there's another way to do that. And I'm gonna show you in the best. But let's try to make it better first. So I paired that with the same beige jeans that I showed you from the look before, and those same sandals that
need to go away forever. To make it better with this
top, instead of tucking it, what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna actually take that like weird hip,
asymmetrical flap hem, and I'm gonna tuck it into the pockets so it creates more of a rounded hem. So that's a really fast workaround if you have this top in your closet. You can just take those those ends and tuck them into the
pockets in the front. Then I swap out the shoes of course, these are the same Bueno sandals. And then I added a hat. Just makes it a little bit cooler, and also keeps you sun safe, bonus. Best would be to get rid of
that crotch framing tunic altogether and go for a different tunic like this one by NIC+ZOE. This one has a rounded hem, no
weird crotch framing hemline. It also has a really cool
keyhole detail at the top, which what? Draws the eye up toward the face. It's body skimming, but still
forgiving around the tummy, still covers hips, butt, and
thighs for the most part. It's a little bit shorter
than the last one, but it's kind of nice because it gives you a
little more leg, right? It doesn't really cut off your
leg like that first one did. Let's take a look at this again, bad, the bad crotch framing tunic. Better, we really tweak
the hemline of the tunic and we swapped out our shoes. Best, we swap out the tunic,
go for a different tunic. And that one definitely looks the best. The fifth thing that
some of us are wearing that makes us look frumpy is a super matchy-matchy set, matchy-matchy. Now, I know matchy-matchy
is having a moment, and there definitely is a
modern way you can do it, but you have to be really careful because if you do the sweater set, mm mm, no, that's not gonna help ya. Or if you do something like this, it's not gonna help you either. This is a set, matchy-matchy set. It's a leopard print tank with a kimono, duster kimono over it, also leopard print. But what makes this kimono even worse is that turquoise print at
the bottom, which again, calls all the attention right there. And this is traditionally
like the hip, thigh area, not where you wanna call attention. And then I paired it
with the same beige jeans and the brown sandals. Not only are we doing the matching set, but we're also picking up on the beige and wearing the beige jeans. It's just too much, it's not
youthful, it's not modern, and we need to reinvent this look. So to make it better, what I would do is I
would lose the kimono. I would just wear the tank. I would do the tank with the jeans. Swap out the shoes and you've
got a much more youthful, modern look instantly, much
better, much more wearable. Now, best would be a
totally different kimono, same print by the way,
stay still leopard print. This one is actually by Vitamin A. So it's a swim coverup, but you could also wear it out and about. I love, you guys know I love
a multifunctional piece. So I paired this over a silk camisole. This one is by LILYSILK. I just did a video recently, actually, where I featured a
bunch of LILYSILK pieces and a special promo code to save. So if you're interested in a
really high quality camisole, I'll put the code below. I'll put that video below
so you can go check it out. Okay, so I paired that
kimono and camisole combo with these modern Moussy Vintage jeans, which by the way, I've talked about a lot, but in case you missed
it, it's a Japanese line. Great for petites, definitely size up. I normally wear a 26
in most pairs of jeans, and in the Moussy Vintage,
I always order 27. You just need a little
wiggle room in these jeans because they're stiffer, it's
more of a traditional denim. So let's go back to bad. This is just, it's just not, I mean, you guys can see it, right? It looks so, I look so much older. Then better, way better, and then best. Really, we're shaving off years. We're getting out of frump town. We're hitchhiking out of frump town and we're goin' to cool town. So was this video helpful? We're gonna put everything
in the description box below, by look, by time code. Which frumpy look did
you think was the worst? Which one were you like, "Oh
my gosh, that is so bad," please tell me in the
comments, I wanna know. Which transformation do you
think was the most dramatic? Which of the bad to the best did you think was the most dramatic? Please share that in the comments below I would love to know your thoughts there. And would you like to
see another one of these? Is this helpful? Did you like the better
in addition to the best? Let know that in the comments too. You guys, I'm over on
Instagram @busbeestyle. You just want some everyday casual kind of outfit inspiration,
that's a great place. Also, I give out so many freebies when you sign up for my
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it's a whole thing. Make sure you subscribe to the newsletter to get all of those freebies. And I don't know if you guys know, but we do have a private
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up for free with your email. And then you can post and ask any style-related question you want. It's a lovely community in The Hive. The Bees, we call them the
Bees, they're wonderful. Everybody's so positive and
supportive, just like here. And if you really wanna
kinda dive in there a little bit more with your style, that's a great way to do it. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and share my channel with a friend. Thank you guys so much for watching. (bell dinging)
I will see you next time. Bye-bye.
(upbeat music)
