BoomerGirl Diary

Sherrie Mathieson believes you're never too old to look cool. But "cool," in her book, isn't about designer sunglasses or punked-out hair. It's about style that's timeless, contemporary, young-at-heart and natural.

The Connecticut-based style consultant and author of "Forever Cool: How to Achieve Ageless, Modern and Youthful Personal Style," says today's clothing stores are filled with gaudy, poorly made styles that make shopping a mine field, especially for the 80 million baby boomers who are now over 40.

Photo Gallery

Forever Cool

Before-and-after shots illustrate the difference between being cool Never, and Forever!

"Certain stores are aware of the boomer population but I don't think they're doing it quite right," Sherrie says. "There are a few stores, four or five that I can name immediately, that I don't think do the job, because they end up with certain prescribed looks that are matronly."

Besides the short supply of suitable clothes, Mathieson says the other barrier to what she calls "Forever Cool" style is some women's reluctance to give up the past.

"There are two extremes going on," the author notes. "There's the rather dowdy, usually conservative, woman who has kept things in her closet forever and is not up to speed with what's going on. She's wearing jeans and sneakers, and whatever, from as far back as the early 80s."

On the other end of the spectrum, is another by-product of the 80s: glitz.

"(Glitz) is enjoying a resurgence," Mathieson observes. "It's the whole Hollywood-oriented bling and over-the-top sexuality look — which can go from leather to animal prints to low-cut (tops) to short skirts to over-blonded, over-bleached (hair) ... you name it. And over-plastic surgery."

Fashions from the 80s are a particular pet peeve of Mathieson's.

"I think it was the heyday of the older boomers, like myself. I still see the wide shoulders and things in people's closets."

The book is filled with before and after photos that illustrate common fashion faux pas and Mathieson's "Forever Cool" solutions. A white-haired woman in a wide-shouldered long leather coat gets a "Never Cool" thumbs-down while, in adjacent shots, the same woman glams it up in two updated looks.

But where can you find clothes that fit the "Forever Cool" bill without breaking the bank?

While Mathieson personally likes J. Crew for style, quality and price point, she says the key to youthful dressing is "in the mix."

"And that's not necessarily going verbatim to a specific shop ... because it's never just handed to you, unfortunately. You still have to shop on an item-per-item basis."

You didn't think "cool" would come easy, did you?