Choice of footwear also makes a difference.

Older women should also refrain from wearing stiletto high-heeled shoes as it is both dangerous and fashionably unbecoming.

I agree with Mr. Jackson...elderly women should not wear high heels for the sake of safety and appearances.

My 60 year-old grandmother still wears strappy stilettos and she is far too old to be emulating younger celebrities like Beyonce and others.

She is no spring chicken and should dress with more dignity.

Whenever I see an older woman wearing a leather mini-skirt and 6 inch stilettos, I cringe.

Some styles of fashion wear are best reserved for younger women.

Flip flops should also be avoided. Use snug wellfitting footwear.

Sadly, this perpetual quest to appear and dress younger is primarily an aging Baby Boomer affliction.

My late grandmother always dressed appropriately and having endured hip replacement following a fall, she wore sensible shoes to prevent an avoidable spill.

On the other hand, my elderly 62 year-old mother in-law still thinks she's young and opts for the aforementioned 'strappy stilettos' along with 30-something fashion attire.

She has taken a few tumbles herself and this could have been easily avoidable had she been wearing sneakers or lower-heeled footwear.

Earth to mother in law...you are not fooling anyone and 60+ is not the new 40.

Act your age!

My relative recently solved shoe problems by holding their event in a setting that does not allow stilettos on their bocce courts!

And elder men shouldn’t wear elevator shoes, either.

>...this perpetual quest to appear and dress younger is primarily an aging Baby Boomer affliction.

>>...my elderly 62 year-old mother in-law still thinks she's young and opts for the aforementioned 'strappy stilettos' along with 30-something fashion attire.

^ If she really wants to feel young (again),
perhaps she should consider wearing safe and sensible footwear that is more reflective of her generation...Birkenstocks.

Old people can never be young again.

Older women and tacky-looking footwear aside, another potential hazard is falling off ladders.

Changing lightbulbs and clearing out rain gutters have led to countless falls that have required hospitalizations.

Best to hire someone or have the kids perform these basic chores.

Getting back to the shoes...older women (50 and over) should not try to emulate 20-something women in terms of shoes and fashion.

You are not fooling anyone...including yourself and others.

Those of us over a certain age like to think we are not as old as we are. Wearing the styles of our youth, doing chores the way we have always done them, and acting like the teenagers we once were is part of our way to remain young at heart.

Great article , so important , a spring board into endless conversation to prevent falls . I enjoy this ladies style of exercising . Web Link
I appreciate the optimal tools like transfer poles , various grab bars and excellent options for safe bathrooms .

What hypocrites you open-minded Palo Altans are. You're all for "my body, my choice" except for women over 50, who are supposed to dress according to what you consider appropriate.

I'd say that by the time a woman reaches the half-century mark, she has earned the right to wear whatever she wants. Sexist/ageist much?

"...by the time a woman reaches the half-century mark, she has earned the right to wear whatever she wants."

I'm not so sure about that as equality and entitlement have two different meanings

Discretion and good taste (though subjective) are also considerations.

As Reggie Washington mentioned earlier...some styles of fashion are better suited for younger women.

Exercise is so important for people of all ages. For your physical and mental well-being. Preventing falls for the elderly is something middle aged adults should be talking to their elderly parents about. Rug removals, bars in the bathrooms, etc. Common sense and good judgment.

"I'd say that by the time a woman reaches the half-century mark, she has earned the right to wear whatever she wants. Sexist/ageist much?"

^ True as there is no accounting for poor taste in fashion choices.

Until I finally put my foot down, I was publicly embarrassed by some of my wife's 'youthful' attire.

She is 58 and used to dress like an exhalted member of the Kardashian clan.

Long story short, one day she tripped and fell wearing a pair of those ridiculously high-heeled shoes resulting in a badly sprained ankle.

Upon my sage advisements, she now wears Sketchers.

My Greek grandmother who was a great cook used to say, "You cannot pass mutton off for spring lamb" and I imagine her gastronomical insights also apply to older women striving unsuccessfully to appear far younger than they actually are.

My grandmother always wore sensible shoes and never suffered a dehabilitating fall.

@Stelios
I grew up on a small Indiana farm in an extended family (grandparents, parents, children) and my grandmother did most of the cooking.

She would always tell us that the younger and more tender chickens were better suited for frying while the older hens long past their egg-laying days were best suited for stewing since they were kind of dried out and had tougher meat.

She wore those old orthopedic black lace-ups that elderly women frequently wore in the 1940s and 50s and the only time she actually fell was when she was trying to catch a chicken for Sunday dinner.

Now try and picture an elderly woman trying to catch a chicken wearing high heels and an all too revealing cocktail dress.

From that point on, I was assigned the duty of catching, slaughtering, plucking, and cleaning the chickens.

And to this day, I will not eat chicken regardless of it's age or preparation.

My elderly grandmother (63) recently took a spill while attending a social gathering wearing extremely high heels and her orthopedic surgeon has suggested a hip replacement.

Later that evening I was watching 'Stella Dallas' on Turner Classic Movies and my grandfather mentioned that Barbara Stanwyck's tacky attire and shoes vaguely reminded him of grandmother's fashion sensibilities except that hers is a bit more modern.

He would never have said that to her face.

On the other hand, my grandfather (73) dresses very plain, bordering on dull...just another old man you commonly see at the grocery store wearing a tropical shirt, khaki slacks, white sneakers, and a faded adjustable ballcap.

I agree with Spikes

Any older woman (50+) who actually think she's still chronologically young should have her head examined as there is a entire new generation of younger women far removed from their older and delusional predecessors.

At 40 years of age, there is absolutely no way that I can logically place myself in the same ballpark as far younger women...ask any man.

@Myron...I wear Sketchers most of the time and avoid high-heeled strappy bimbo shoes like the plague.

Though some onlookers might suspect that I am far younger than I appear, chasing the eternal Fountain of Youth is a costly exercise in futility fueled by unrealistic vanities.

These comments make this the funniest post for days.

I remember my four grandparents well. The grandmothers always wore dull old woman type clothes and the grandfathers clothes they wore to work/play/go out in (in other words the same things) day after day after day. That is until the grandmother who moved into a retirement home in her 80s. She went out and bought new clothes, lots of bright colors, had her hair "done" for the first time in years. She did wear sensible footwear though, but instead of black/brown she chose beige and other colors to match her outfit. Moving into that retirement home gave her a new lease on life and changed her completely. Not sure that would be for everyone, but it did it for her.

I think this quest to look and dress younger among older women has more to do with many of them being single (i.e. recently divorced, widowed) and in search of male companionship.

It is very difficult for a 60 year-old woman to compete with a younger woman for a man's attention unless she is moderately wealthy (i.e. comfortably divorced, widowed).

That said, I cannot comprehend the older, oftentimes married women who embrace celebrity fashion trends and are trying to emulate 'stylista' wardrobes designed for women who are light years younger.

So if wearing fashionable high-heeled platforms/stilettos that pose a potential risk if injury...walk don't run and for the older ladies, have your Medicare card handy.

This talk about older women wearing "Those Shoes" (an old Eagles song) is more reflective of those residing within the (408) and urban (415) area codes.

Most (650) women (regardless of age) have better taste when it comes to choosing women's footwear.

That's how to tell the outsiders at local midpeninsula shopping malls and restaurants.

"It is very difficult for a 60 year-old woman to compete with a younger woman for a man's attention..."

^ With that perspective in mind,
most single 60+ women would probably have a better batting average seeking the company of elder men 15-20 years their senior. To a 75+ year-old man, a woman in her 60s might be considered a 'younger woman' but not to a middle-aged single man. This consideration might negate what others consider poor or inappropriate fashion sensibilities as The Love Boat can sail in all kinds of waters.

As far as the (408) observation, this is probably true but most people do not go around asking what area code a person is from and using one's choice of shoes as an indicator is not very scientific.

Lastly, anyone can fall regardless of age.
If I had a dollar for every band-aid, dab of Neosporin, tetanus shot, and stitches applied, I'd be a wealthy man.

As a 82 year-old divorced male, I tend to date women in their late 40s and I could care less what kind of shoes they are wearing.

At my age, there absolutely no way that I would ever consider dating a woman over 60 or older than me.

Why bother?

What constitutes a senior or elderly person? Is this based on eligibility at age 65 for Medicare and Social Security?

On the other hand, AARP membership and its promotional offers are available to anyone over 50 of age.

I've also noticed that there are age variations regarding senior discounts at restaurants.

At 20, I consider anyone over 40 as significantly older but not necessarily an elder or senior citizen.

My 63 year-old mother-in law dresses as though she was a cast member on Sex and the City.

Very unbecoming and she has fallen twice from wearing platformed high heels that got caught in sidewalk cracks.

Women over 55 dressing as though they were 20-somethings is just not sexy...except to maybe an 80 year-old man.

Fortunately my wife of 30 years understands this and besides, neither one of us can afford to get divorced at this point in our lives as there is too much to lose or at stake.

"Women over 55 dressing as though they were 20-somethings is just not sexy...except to maybe an 80 year-old man."

^ My wife said the same thing over coffee this morning.

Her analogy was that a simple coat of wax does not make an older car collectible.