Once women reach a certain age, society does something weird. It starts sending messages that you’re simply too old to dress as if you have a social life. In general, it seemed as if society had been moving away from those unrealistic expectations laid upon moms and women over the age of 35, but maybe not.
Jessica Buwick, a mom on TikTok, found out fairly quickly that people still have interesting ideas about how “old people” should dress when going out in public. The mom, who was 37 at the time, ordered a plethora of outfits to try on in search of one for her son’s graduation after seeing other moms on social media dressing up more for graduations than parents did when she graduated.
In her silly, lighthearted video, Buwick tried on all of the outfits, but none of them made the cut for various reasons. One was too short and didn’t zip. Another was ill-fitting and confusing. They were obvious catastrophes that just didn’t work, so she made the misfortune into funny content, but people had a lot to say.
Then the comments got ugly
While many people laughed along, others took the opportunity to take jabs at Buwick’s fashion choices.
One commenter decided to point her in the right direction by commenting, “Maybe YOU should have shopped in an age-appropriate section of the store so you don’t look like a SKANK in your clothing, thereby humiliating your poor son.”
Yikes. That was unnecessarily rude and harsh, but, sadly, it was a common tone as multiple people pointed out how she was going to embarrass her son.
Her response was absolutely perfect
However, instead of letting the haters get to her, Buwick decided to follow up with a video of more “appropriate” outfits for an elderly mother to wear while attending her child’s graduation.
“Apparently I triggered a whole demographic of y’all when I shared my dress options for my son’s high school graduation. A lot of you were horrified with my choices,” she said. “Apparently they were not appropriate for a high school graduation nor for someone of my age…37.”
Clearly, the mom received the message and proved it by donning a floor-length gown with long sleeves to make sure minimal skin was showing. In another outfit reminiscent of The Sound of Music, she burst into song to complete the look. It didn’t make the cut in the end, though, because the sleeve was slightly sheer. The outfit she settled on at the end was clearly more the speed she thought the commenters were expecting.
So what did she actually wear in the end?
She took the comments in stride and made others laugh while doing so. Her son’s graduation had already passed, and in a follow-up video she showed the outfit she decided to go with: a cute pair of dress shorts, a tank top and a brightly colored blazer.
While I’m sure someone will disagree with that outfit choice as well, Buwick seems to have found a perfectly hilarious way to handle the negativity.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
