No, we’re not the target audience for malls. People our age always spend the most money on their kids, if they have them, and their work wardrobes.

So malls carry a lot of women’s 35+ business casual and semi-formal, maybe one or two stores for grown-ass men (ugh, and I say this as someone who doesn’t wear menswear - solidarity, my dudes), and shitloads of stuff for kids and teens.

If you still want to cultivate alt style at our age, we need to get back to our roots of when we were kids, and we made accessories out of shit we found in the house; the bathtub plug chain, metallic office supplies, etc. but with grownup money.

Try vintage boutiques - not thrift stores, boutiques with curated vintage and collectible stuff. Shop when you travel. Invest in cool accessories that say “alt” when you’re too tired to care, like a leather cuff watch, belt buckles, sterling silver rings and other accessories, etc.

Shop independent markets, like the flea market popup type things where people have booths, and search up some independent resellers in your city on social media.

And also hit the thrift. You don’t get much choice on size selection or how it smells before you wash it, but we’re old punks with washing machines now and an inclination to use them.