One other reason to love Georgetown

They may not raise their own children, they may treat waitresses and Kate Spade saleswomen like half-deaf servants out to steal their husbands, and they may have let their once-biting wit and knowledge of all things Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman - courtesy of Groton and Yale - lie fallow for decades while they planned their wedding, attended others, lunched, shopped and gossiped with "the girls," but yesterday afternoon, I realized one thing about Georgetown women that impressed me so much I may just have to give them a second chance:

Georgetown women are the queen bees of age-appropriate dress.

Let's be clear, when I say "Georgetown women," I'm not talking about the in-town-for-the-weekend bridge groupers in jean shorts and plaid bucket hats, the throngs of university chicks who walk four-across in matching Reef flip-flops and hold up everyone behind them while they decide whether to go to Urban Outfitters now or after they hit up the Body Shoppe, or even the Eurotrash contingent filing in and out of the neighborhood's Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton. No, when I refer to "Georgetown women," I'm talking about the elegant 40-and-up crowd who you know just by looking at them belong there. These women aren't carrying any shopping bags, they don't stop to peer into any store windows and they certainly aren't dressed in a function-over-fashion style.

But unlike so many aging women - Hollywood women, in particular (see 42 year old Teri Hatcher above woefully trying to look half her age at the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End premiere yesterday in a skull-tank, skin-tight skinny jeans and platform slides) - who abide by an I-will-still-put-forth-effort attitude when it comes to daily dress, Georgetown women do so with the express understanding of the reality that there's fashion-over-function and then there's age-appropriate fashion-over-function.

The Georgetown women L and I took note of yesterday were all in heels - tall heels - but they were of a sleek, sophisticated ilk, not chunky-heeled Miu Miu resort pumps with buckles and raffia-trim or pink-and-red patent leather bow-adorned Marc Jacobs peeptoes. Their trousers were snug and exposed hints of hip and bottom contour. Their blouses were crisp, fitted and made of rich summer fabrics like cashmere-silk, high-thread-count Pima-soft cotton, seersucker and linen. Their dresses were tea-length and waist-cinched with nary a fabric-encased roll in sight. Tortoise-shell Jackie-O sunglasses, well-cared-for skin, both body and face, and animal-print-lined large totes with Laura Mercier compacts peeking out from within.

I'm aware most women my age and younger probably consider Georgetown women too conservative, too preppy and decidedly unsexy. That's fine with me. Those girls can have their Teri Hatchers, their Courtney Loves and their Sharon Stones.

In a word, Georgetown women are ladies, and I can only hope that one day I too will walk those cobblestone blocks in their fabulous heels.