Perimenopause and menopause are often treated like an embarrassing secret. Most of us grew up watching the women in our lives just get on with it, without ever talking about what was actually happening. And even where things have opened up, society still tends to treat this stage as a problem to deal with silently: hide the hot flushes, dress “appropriately” for your age, disappear a little. At The Female Archetypes, we’re not interested in that narrative.
Our bodies go through an enormous change during perimenopause. For many women, this begins in their 40s, sometimes earlier, and can be linked to factors like surgery, certain medical treatments, or genetics. It can last several years, right up until menopause itself, the point marking one full year since your last period. As oestrogen levels drop, they affect a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which regulates body temperature. This is largely behind hot flushes: the hypothalamus mistakenly signals that we’re overheating and sets off the body’s cooling response, widening blood vessels and causing sudden sweating, even though nothing’s actually too hot. That’s why flushes can hit with no warning, and why the heat you feel is really the cooling process itself. The same hormonal shift is linked to weight redistributing toward the midsection, a well-documented pattern that has nothing to do with how much you eat or exercise. And oestrogen and progesterone don’t just affect temperature and weight. They’re also connected to mood regulation, which is part of why emotions can feel less predictable during this stage.
All of this makes getting dressed more difficult in many ways. A body that’s warmer than expected, a different shape than it used to be, and less predictable day to day is hard enough to dress for on its own. But it carries a mental load too. A lot of middle-aged women feel like they are told to start dressing “appropriately,” to soften, to fade. Sociologists call it the invisible woman phenomenon: the sense that past a certain age, women stop being seen at all, in rooms, in shops, in the culture generally. Getting dressed through menopause means navigating both at once: a body that is changing, and society expecting you to take up less space while it does.
On the other hand, many women describe feeling less interested in performing the version of femininity society expects of them. They become less concerned with softening themselves to be palatable and more willing to be exactly who they are. In this process, they embrace what we call the Hera Archetype at The Female Archetypes. In Greek mythology, Hera was queen of the gods in her own right, not by anyone's permission, famously formidable even within a marriage of equals. The Hera Archetype isn't about hierarchy or grandeur. It's about authority. A woman who's lived enough to know exactly who she is, and dresses like someone who knows it, rather than someone apologising for taking up room.
So what does that look like on an actual Tuesday morning? Here are a few places to start.
Dressed for whatever temperature today decides to be 🔥
The real hero here is our Adjustable Size Trench Coat. If you look closely, there are small metal eyelets under each arm- deliberate vents that let heat escape when you need it to. Add the hidden mesh panel under the back storm flap, and the coat is perfect for hot flushes. The side-seam panels are replaceable too, so as your body changes, the coat adjusts with it. Layer a wool jumper underneath on the colder days, and lose it the moment a flush hits. The coat does the rest.
Proof that “invisible woman” was never going to be us 🕶️
The Adjustable Size Overshirt and Adjustable Size Wide Leg Light Wash Jeans do all the talking here. Structured enough to command the room, but built with the same give as everything else we make, because commanding a room and being comfortable in it were never supposed to be exclusive. The wash is soft, the shape is sharp, and the fit adjusts around whatever your day is actually doing. Nothing about this outfit lets you fade into the background.
The only thing that adjusted was the waistband 👖
The waistband on the Adjustable Size Wide Leg Dark Wash Jeans moves with your midsection, whatever it’s doing lately. No new size to figure out, no need to try on loads of different jeans to find the perfect one. Declining oestrogen can affect immune regulation too, which is part of why sudden food sensitivities, new intolerances, or digestive flare-ups like bloating and acid reflux can show up out of nowhere in this decade, even for a body that’s never had these issues before.
The Adjustable Size Cotton Blazer allows your body to breathe too, thanks to dropped underarms and eyelets, so you’re not sweating through a meeting on top of everything else.
Zero decisions required. Just get dressed and go 🤍
Menopausal brain fog doesn’t leave much room for decisions, and some days there just isn’t the headspace for an outfit to figure out. The Adjustable Waist Denim Dress solves the whole thing at once: one piece, a waistband that moves with you, done. No combinations to second-guess when your brain’s already asking enough of you. Put it on and go.
None of this is about hiding what’s changing, or performing youth you’re not interested in performing. It’s about getting dressed in a way that actually works with a body that’s changing and rejecting the invisible woman stereotype while you’re at it. That’s the whole idea behind the Hera Archetype: not grandeur, just authority. Knowing exactly who you are, and dressing like it.
What does your Hera Archetype actually look like? Let us know in the comments!
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Written by Jasmine Niblett, 17.09.2026