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Who was the cantankerous old bag that said we should dress our age? I bet she never experienced the delight of bagging a bargain in Diesel. So what if you've got knickers older than the sales girls? In a society obsessed with the beauty of youth and staying young, those of us who can remember disco the first time round need to get through the day somehow.
One solution is to pick your camp and stick to it: follow these rules and you'll never be the centre of a fashion faux pas. If you're in your twenties you can pretty much get away with anything, even puffball skirts if you really have to. Thirties you should be a little more demure: fitted cardigans are a must for the onset of bingo wings. In your forties you'd better throw away that mini A-line; you may see better days but it definitely won't. And if when you reach your fifties the draw of thermal vests and comfortable shoes is so strong, why fight it?
Alternatively, you can throw off the constraints of ageist pigeonholing and embrace fashion as a tool to express your personality. The 'Material Girl' is still kicking against society's dictates. Continually re-inventing herself and now in her forties, Madonna remains a steadfast fashionista. Although her style may not be accessible to all, she really shows how to work it.
If you're not one for crotch-hugging Lycra then maybe a more demure example of growing old with grace (and taste) is Helen Mirren. In her fifties, she is still able to ooze glamour and confidence whilst remaining true to herself and her birth certificate. It's narrow-minded to assume that the older you get the worse you dress; look around you and you will see the high street teaming with attractive women in great outfits, who could be in their twenties or their forties.
Marks and Spencer's was once the proud home of sensible underwear and high quality shortbread. They have since benefited from being one of the foremost retailers to promote fashion for all ages, using iconic - although eye-poppingly skinny - models to show that a woman can look good despite her years.
Compared with the 1950s - where teenagers rebelled against puritanical tweed and twin-sets with dyed denim - the lines have been blurred. I have the same black shrug as my mother; we shop in the same places, and I am proud that while she may be in her fifties she looks fabulous in a calf-length fishtail skirt with chunky belt and kitten-heel boots - an outfit that a late twenty-something like me would happily wear.
If it makes you feel and look good, why deny yourself? Let's all hold hands in a big sisterly circle and scream at the top of our lungs, 'We're here; we're not old dears, get used to it!'
Words: Jemima Cattel
Photography: John Stewardson
Clothes supplied by Covet
Make up/styling: Nadine Gibbons
Model: Eve Walter of Adage
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