mutton dressed as lamb

mutton dressed (up) as lamb

A disparaging term for an older woman who tries unsuccessfully to look much younger or finds herself attractive in the style of younger women. Primarily heard in UK. I don't know what she's thinking wearing a dress like that. She looks like mutton dressed as lamb!
See also: dress, lamb, mutton
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

mutton dressed as lamb

or

mutton dressed up as lamb

BRITISH
If you describe a middle-aged or old woman as mutton dressed as lamb or mutton dressed up as lamb, you mean she dresses in a style which is suitable only for a younger woman. I'm always careful to avoid looking like mutton dressed as lamb. Note: Mutton is the meat of an adult sheep, and lamb is the meat of a young sheep, as well as being the name of the animal itself.
See also: dress, lamb, mutton
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

mutton dressed as lamb

a middle-aged or old woman dressed in a style suitable for a much younger woman. British informal
Mutton occurs in various derogatory contexts relating to women. It has been used as a slang term for prostitutes from the early 16th century, for example, while the phrase hawk your mutton means ‘flaunt your sexual attractiveness’ or (of a prostitute) ‘solicit for clients’.
1988 Salman Rushdie The Satanic Verses Mutton dressed as lamb, fifty plus and batting her eyelashes like an eighteen-year-old.
See also: dress, lamb, mutton
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • mutton dressed (up) as lamb
  • be mutton dressed as lamb
  • cougar
  • be a cougar
  • in (one's) day
  • in (one's) time
  • in somebody's day/time
  • in time
  • younger brother
  • when I was a kid, I walked to school uphill both ways
References in periodicals archive
TV host Carol said: "I am constantly aware of not being mutton dressed as lamb. In my head I'm still 20 but I know I'm not.
ROCK THE AGES; Expert on ways to look like lamb, not mutton: REVEALED: HOW TO BE STYLISH YEAR AFTER YEAR
Are these women mutton dressed as lamb or are they right to flaunt it if they have it?
WONDERS OF AGE
I don't want to be accused of being mutton dressed as lamb. How can I do it without looking silly?
Shopping: Ask Rachael; Answering your shopping queries
This is certainly not the case for me and I pride myself on being stylish, even though I may not beat the height of fashion (after all, nobody likes to see mutton dressed as lamb).
Letter: Refreshing
With so many highly fashionable garments included in the autumn/winter collection, will the upper end of the Marks and Spencer's customer age bracket be deterred by the age old fear of being 'mutton dressed as lamb'?
Post Style: Limited appeal from M&S? A little over a month ago, we reported on the fluctuating fortunes of former high street favourite Marks and Spencer. Now, with the release of its new Limited Collection for Autumn/Winter 2004, Rosamund Jones Griffiths assesses Marks' fashion sense
One, the thought that, at 42, I'll slip into the fashion category marked 'mutton dressed as lamb' and two, the fact that it will hurt.
Tat-too old for body art
I've always looked after myself and dress fashionably but now I'm wondering if I'm mutton dressed as lamb.
Prospect of being 50 makes me feel old
He was no longer debonair, he looked mutton dressed as lamb. Everyone, from sportsmen to starlets look luscious until they open their mouths and you're hit with unnatural perfection, the identical perfection you see in the mouth of the next star,male or female, and the next and the next.
It's my pearly hate!
She knows what suits her svelte figure and how to dress right for her age, never looking frumpy or mutton dressed as lamb. Here's our pick of Helen's best looks.
Fashion insider; A dame who knows how to dress
Its stigmatisation has been exacerbated by the expressions "mutton dressed as lamb " and "dead as mutton."
Back on the menu; The phrase "mutton dressed as lamb" has coloured people's perception of a tasty and tender meat. Jane Hall looks at what's being done to return it to its rightful place as a British dinner table staple FOOD MATTERS Taste
But since we have been together I've overheard friends making unkind comments like: "Mutton dressed as lamb" and: "Whatever does he see in her?"
Dear Rachael: CRUEL JIBES MAKE ME FEEL SO UGLY
Wolf branded Enrique Iglesias and Cliff Richard for " mutton dressed as lamb".
Wolf savages Mika's act
This is because fashions for the young make the old look either frumpy or the dreaded mutton dressed as lamb.
The week of a working mum
WE ALL think we know when we see mutton dressed as lamb in the human sense, but what of the origin of the condition.
PETER ELSON: At last, we might actually get mutton dressed as itself; Super fogey Prince Charles, is behind this
There comes a certain age when if you're not careful, a lady can look like mutton dressed as lamb. And it's not as old as you might think it is.
BEAUTY STYLE: Stay Sparkling until midnight