Are You a Secret Authenticity Snob, Too?

While shopping for a unique Western shirt for my niece (who is running for rodeo queen), I shunned vintage-inspired remakes and instead turned to eBay for the real deal from the '40s and '50s.

When it comes to mass market furniture stores that sell new stuff that looks old, I'll skip that any day for actual antiques.

I don't like to eat Tex-Mex anywhere but Texas or deep-dish pizza anywhere but Chicago.

Could I be an authenticity snob without knowing it? Surely not.

After all, authenticity is the marketing buzzword for the baby boom generation. Apparently we middle-age consumers like to have an authentic experience. Supposedly we like style with substance and choose products and experiences that resonate with authenticity.

At first, I thought this whole authentic idea was a ridiculous notion (partly because I kept hearing celebrities throw around the word "authentic" which makes me automatically dislike a term.)

But then I started thinking about how we moved our family from the big city to a ranch near a small country town because my husband and I liked the realness of country life. I also wondered about how every visit to a theme restaurant or any other place where fun feels manufactured leaves me feeling a little ripped off.

No wonder people my age turn to spiritual exploration through religion, education, yoga or whatever means possible to try to find what feels relevant and essential.

And then there's fashion. I am constantly trying to pinpoint why middle-age women have such a love-hate relationship with fashion. I blame part of it on changing waistlines, but that doesn't explain all of it since I see plenty of chunky youngsters content with their purchases.

I think one reason we feel so let down by fashion may be because fashion designers constantly co-opt everything; it somehow feels – gulp – inauthentic to us. Looks like boho (faux hippie) and folksy (fake ethnic looks) may leave us midlifers feeling a little flat.

While designers like Marc Jacobs try to take the past and add a new twist, even this ironic take on fashion doesn't jibe well with the over 40 set. We've seen it all and worn it all.

We want something new, something now, something real.

Until a designer comes along that speaks to us as a demographic, maybe we will just keep shopping online collecting vintage jewelry and clothing.

Does that make us authenticity snobs? Well, a bit. Or we could just think of it in terms of keeping it real.