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Jamie Lee Curtis: A fan of simple living
In the May and June issue of AARP Magazine, actress Jamie Lee Curtis discusses turning 50. She also talks about her commitment to simple living and the benefits she has gained from her uncluttered choices:
“My style is a distillation. I’ve etched out who I am through myriad haircut attempts, outfit attempts, beauty attempts, diet attempts. It’s been an evolution. I’ve let my hair go gray. I wear only black and white. Every year I buy three or four black dresses that I just keep in rotation. I own one pair of blue jeans. I’ve given away all my jewelry, because I don’t wear it.
“The same way that midcentury modern architecture was in the ’50s, I want to be as a human being. New. Different. Challenging the old. Function over frivolity. Clean living. Clean lines.
The article is inspiring, and I recommend giving it a read.
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26 comments posted
Posted by Robert McEvily - 05/03/2008
Love it, Erin - thanks for the link!
Posted by L - 05/03/2008
I saw her discussing these issues on Oprah and, in general, she makes sense. But why the black and white clothing? Strange choice.
Posted by Kellie - 05/03/2008
Erin, Thanks for tip on a great article. I have to agree with Jamie Lee’s perspective. I turned 50 about six months ago. That and a major career change gave me a big push toward simplifying life — purging what doesn’t work, isn’t needed and focusing more on what does work. It’s affected everything: what I do, who I spend time with, what I wear, where I put my energy, how I take care of myself and my husband, my work, my home. Change in one area flowed into the next. Creating a life that is simple and uncluttered has given me more time for living and enjoying it!
And about the B&W clothing - it’s simple, it’s classic. Everything goes with everything else, easily dresses up or down. Color is easy to add with a scarf or fun flats. A wardrobe of B&W was best when I traveled for business.
Posted by Craig - 05/03/2008
Can’t say I entirely approve of her choices.
Fifty is too young to go grey.
If my wife gave away all her jewelry I would know she had gone off her rocker and been replaced by a pod-person. Nuff said.
Posted by Barb - 05/03/2008
I love it! Why wait until you’re 50?
Posted by Beverly - 05/03/2008
It goes back to what works for one doesn’t always work for another, but find your style and stick to it. I waited until the last one got married and my next role in life was Grandma before I let my hair go gray. Now that I have I’ve found I look fabulous in red! So I wear the B&W with red for my own look and still keep things simple. I never go out without earrings and bracelets, that’s part of my thing too. But I only keep the ones I truly love. JLC is a great role model for aging well and being good in her body (her modeling in underwear for More a couple of years ago is an example), and I applaud her for having overcome the various obstacles in her life.
Posted by Sue - 05/03/2008
50 too young to go gray? Nonsense! At 35, I decided I had better uses for my time and money than to color my hair every month. I quit and never looked back. Nice to see that the famous and influential are catching up with my fashion sense!
Love the idea of an all black and white wardrobe! I wonder if I can pull it off with brown and cream?
Posted by Michele - 05/03/2008
Great article and very inspiring.
Posted by Katie - 05/03/2008
I admire Jamie Lee Curtis for a lot of reasons… she seems like a very honest person.
Posted by tazistanjen - 05/03/2008
She sure looks great in grey.
Posted by Ann at One Bag Nation - 05/03/2008
We love Jamie Lee Curtis’ kids books especially the adoption book. I’m struggling with what to do about my hair; as an older mom, it’s very tempting to color it - which I was planning to do today!
There’s a great article at CarrieandDanielle.com about investing in a few things - be it clothing or something else - that you really love. I think it’s very good advice.
http://carrieanddanielle.creat.....255BD4B6A6
Posted by Cynthia Friedlob, The Thoughtful Consumer - 05/03/2008
I’m a great fan of a simple wardrobe — How to Get Dressed Without Driving Yourself Crazy — and I went gray when I was 45. I wear simple earrings and rely on black, cream and gray in my wardrobe (tossing in a red bag or shoes, or maybe a pale blue shirt on occasion).
Now if I could only get the stupid piles of papers off my desk, I’d have a totally simplified life!
Posted by Harris - 05/03/2008
Jamie Lee Curtis is so together! Isn’t it the ultimate “unclutter” to be free in our choices of clothes, hair, etc and not feel we have to follow the latest trend? Almost every woman I see on TV looks uncomfortable in her clothes. Tugging at her too short skirt, fru-fru overdone hair and spike heels. I’ve always heard women dress for other women. Well, lets give each other a break….let’s accept each other, after all, we are all sisters.
Posted by Tara - 05/03/2008
Funny, I read an excerpt of her interview in “The Week” (a magazine that summarizes notable news from other publications each week) and thought “Wow, this would be great for Unclutterer!” I *loved* her description of the aging process as a distillation of personal style, and how that frees you up to live more simply.
Posted by Sandy - 05/03/2008
I met Jamie Lee Curtis a while back when she was promoting her children’s book. The book is fun, but I really loved her sense of humor. My mom (at the ripe old age of now “over 70″) still does PR and one of the things that she was tasked by her client (independent bookstore where JLC was coming to speak) was to find out the top 3 books that the author had on their “wish list.” The bookstore gave them away to the author for free. This was a while back, but her books were The Reader, The Pirate’s Son, and The Daughter of the Queen of Sheba.
She was a really really interesting gal.
Posted by Anne - 05/03/2008
gray here at 17! fought it for 20 years, and said, enough! My hubby loves my gray, and although I sometimes look at hairdye…I know the commitment it takes with just one box…the growing out part(all the way) is long!!
I believe in simplicity in clothing, and have 3 colors capri’s, and mix and match with 6 different shirts for a season…easy to get dressed, laundry and life is too short to bother (to me) with the teen/tweentie stress I had on clothing!
I too agree how nice to see “hollywood” show that simple is good for them instead of the extravagance usually portrayed, but Ms. Curtis has always seemed to march to a different drummer than the usual hollywood crowd!
Posted by Larisa - 05/03/2008
Yeah, I started going grey at 17, and it’s starting to get noticable now, at 27. I’ve been considering henna (I’ve got pretty dark hair, which makes the grey stand out a lot), but I’m not sure I want one more thing to add to my routine. Wearing only black and white seems a bit extreme to me, but if it works for her, great.
Posted by John of Indiana - 05/04/2008
I agree, Craig, 50 is too young to be grey. Or balding.
Unfortunately, I had little say in the matter.
Must a gene or something that kicks in around 50 that makes women with grey hair look sexy as all get out…
Posted by Keeper Of Stuff - 05/04/2008
Tara, my comment is regarding your comment, “I loved her description of the aging process as a distillation of personal style, and how that frees you up to live more simply.”
A friend once told me her theory on aging. She said that, barring health issues, people generally become MORE of whatever they were when they were young. Like boiling sugar and water to make syrup, the sweet people tend to get even sweeter, and the bitter people tend to get more bitter, etc.
In the ensuing years, I have often reflected on her theory, and have found it has great validity.
Posted by Mary - 05/04/2008
@Sue:
ABSOLUTELY you could do what JLC is doing but with brown and cream instead. It’s a classic approach to one’s wardrobe to adopt a very simple palette and only buy those colors. Brown and cream would be a wonderful palette.
And let’s face it — while we can all wear black and white, not all of us really look our best in black and white. JLC has the coloring for it. I don’t. Black and white both make me look like I’ve been ill. Brown and navy blue, however, both make me look like a million bucks. I have the hardest time choosing one of the two, mostly because I seem to always have trouble finding what I want in either color.
If you take JLC’s approach you’ll be able to get by with a lot less clothing and you’ll always look sharp. You’ll need fewer shoes/handbags etc too.
Posted by Taka - 05/05/2008
If I had Jamie Lee Curtis’ life, I’d let my hair go gray too. No, wait, my hair IS gray, I just don’t crow over it. And I don’t believe for a minute that she owns only one pair of jeans. Phooey. This interview reads like a Hollywood script.
Posted by Kris - 05/05/2008
she’s awesome. seriously.
Posted by Emma - 05/06/2008
She’s such an inspiration. I love the fact that the only person to disagree with the grey hair is a man… I’m starting to grey now at 28 and considering hair colour - I think I’ll leave it and see!
Posted by kimberly - 05/07/2008
I’m not a very fussy girl so I like JLC’s perspective. Her choice to have a streamlined wardrobe is probably very freeing to her.
Posted by Laurel - 05/10/2008
About ten years ago I decided I would no longer wear uncomfortable shoes or itchy nylons, so I got rid of them. In the winter I wear tights or silk long johns with boots. At one point I got rid of any clothing that wasn’t black, but color has gradually crept back into my life. I think it may be time for some wardrobe pruning soon since every color leads to more purchases - needing items to match other items and so on. I am already pretty low maintenance, but I love the idea of no maintenance, but still looking good like Jamie Lee Curtis!
Posted by John - 05/11/2008
Jamie looks so great for 50. I cannot believe she has turned that age! I agree on the purging as well. Why do we need all that stuff?
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