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Patty is the founder of The Brilliant Age, a lifestyle platform for women navigating later life and beyond with curiosity, style, and intention. Through thoughtful essays on reinvention, personal style, relationships, and purposeful living later in life, she encourages women to question outdated rules and design lives that feel vibrant and true. Patty also writes Spark 60, a weekly one-minute dose of inspiration delivered every Wednesday.

Latest Posts By Patty Lowell

4 days ago

Boomer, Generation Jones, or Something Else? Why These Labels Don’t Define Women Over 60

At various points in my life, I have apparently been a proud member of multiple demographic clubs, none of which I remember signing up for. Born in 1963, I was considered to be on the tail end of the WWII Baby Boom movement, aptly named the Boomer generation…

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1 month ago

Looking to the Red Carpet for Real-Life Style

Awards season may not seem like the most obvious place for a woman in her 60s to look for fashion inspiration. After all, much of the coverage focuses on young starlets in gowns that appear designed more for spectacle than for real life. And most of us are unlikely…

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2 months ago

Long Hair Over 60: Breaking Old Beauty Rules

My mom never stopped asking me when I was going to have my long hair cut short. Even at 96 years old, she felt compelled to warn me that long hair on women of a certain age looked “inappropriate,” her word for attention-seeking. With an adorable…

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3 months ago

Lessons from my 16-Year-Old Self: Reclaiming Freedom in our 60s

A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with a dear friend who remarked that she couldn’t believe her 16-year-old granddaughter had gotten her driver’s license. That comment led to a whole conversation about who we were at 16, back when we were dancing…

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4 months ago

Rebranding in My 60s: My Most Important Client Ever

For more than a decade, I’ve worked in nonprofit branding – the business of shaping how a product, person, or service is perceived by an audience. It’s a process that’s both strategic and deeply intentional, rooted in understanding what people want, how they feel, and what sparks connection…

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5 months ago

Staying Put in a Sort-of New Place

The process of renovating my 60-year-old primary bathroom started not with a design consultation or interview with a general contractor but with a conversation about dying. As suggested by all the smart financial planners, my daughters and I had a heart-to-heart chat about how…

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6 months ago

Over 60 and Stuck in a Rut? How to Add Joy, Energy, and Purpose to Your Post-Career Days

You’ve traded deadlines for downtime, meetings for me-time, and that inbox full of “urgent” emails for a calendar full of… well, white space. You thought closing the door on your 40+-year career would feel glorious – and mostly it does – but sometimes, you find yourself three episodes…

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7 months ago

Eyeglass Trends for Women Over 60: Frame Your Look, Not Your Age

Let’s be honest: most of us don’t think twice about our glasses. We pick a pair, wear them until they practically fall off our faces, and only replace them when the prescription is so outdated we can’t tell if that’s our neighbor waving at us or a tree branch swaying in the breeze…

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8 months ago

Long-Distance Friendship after Retirement: Staying Close Across the Miles

A crazy, somewhat sad thing began to happen as my friends reached their post-parenting, pre-retirement years. Many began to build or buy second homes in fun locations with the idea that they’d retire in a destination where adult children and grandchildren would love to visit…

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9 months ago

Cuddles and Companionship with a Part-Time Pet

For many women of a certain age, taking on the full-time responsibility of a pet can be out of the question. Despite the well-documented advantages that pets have on relieving loneliness and isolation, their care and feeding can add up to a significant expense…

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