Idiom

People in England use the expression "Mutton done up as lamb" to say that someone is trying (not very successfully) to look younger than they are by dressing inappropriately for their age. Is there a German equivalent?

Hello Shannon, What do you mean by dressing up inappropriatly for their age? Is there a rule for each age group to wear a certain style or do you mean the person is a fashion victim who is trying to follow the latest fashion? Gruß Paul

Hallo Paul Nope, there aren't dress rules for age groups so "fashion victim" is much closer to what I mean. "Mutton done up as lamb" would apply to a woman wearing clothes/makeup/hairstyle designed for a MUCH younger woman and not carrying if off very well. For example: have you seen the Gilla video of the song Rasputin? I prefer the German version of the song to the English one but have to say that Gilla entspricht genau meiner Vorstellung von "mutton done up as lamb". Gruß Shannon :)

Hallo Shannon, If you only want to refer to women than you could use the term "Speckbarbie". It describes a woman who wears clothes that doesn't fit her body shape. "Speck" means here her fat body parts queesed in so it's quite mean thing to say. "Herausgeputzt wie eine Weihnachtsgans" = "dressed up like a Christmas goose" describes a person who is overdressed but not really classy. "Proll" is a person mostly male who tries to look rich with his pimped up car for example. Also depending on which city you are in you could classify the person by a suburb. In Berlin a "Proll" could also been called "Spandauer" by a local. After all "Fashion victim" is quite used term in German and can be used for both genders. Hoffe das hilft dir weiter! Gruß Paul

Hallo Paul Excellent! Thank you for your help...this gives me lots of scope!!!! Of all the options I think "Herausgeputzt wie eine Weihnachtsgans" best expresses what I meant without being totally rude or mean. Du bist der beste! Gruß Shannon :)

Danke sehr :)