{"id":17329,"date":"2015-03-21T15:45:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-21T15:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/?p=17329"},"modified":"2015-03-21T15:45:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-21T15:45:26","slug":"how-to-look-fabulous-in-your-50s-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-look-fabulous-in-your-50s-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"How to look fabulous in your 50s and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Style-Forever-Cover\"<\/a>Stylish ANNIE DAVIES meets the author of a new guide to looking fabulous in later life<\/h3>\n

With Dame Helen Mirren giving young upstarts like Jennifer Lawrence a run for their money in the Red Carpet style stakes, and singer songwriter Joni Mitchell who is the new face of Yves Saint Laurent at aged 70, older women are getting more attention from the fashion world these days.<\/p>\n

And about time too, says 51-year-old fashion journalist and lecturer Alyson Walsh, who has just published Style Forever, The Grown Up Guide to Looking Fabulous.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be young to have style,\u201d announces the proudly botox-free writer. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing more ageing than a woman trying desperately to look young.\u201d Take that, Madonna!<\/p>\n

As a former fashion editor of Good Housekeeping and regular fashion commentator for The Guardian, The Financial Times and Saga Magazine she should know what she\u2019s talking about.<\/p>\n

Alyson has been flying the flag for the stylish older woman for the last six years in her blog ‘That\u2019s Not My Age’, named because of the habit many of us have of starting to knock a few years off the older we get.<\/p>\n

The blog is aimed at women who have no intention of disappearing into a sea of boring beige at the first sight of a grey hair or a wrinkle, but who don\u2019t want to resort to cosmetic surgery or swerving down the \u201cmutton dressed as lamb\u201d route.<\/p>\n

Its fizzy mix of fashion news and tips and its positive tone have struck a resounding chord with a burgeoning band of regular readers from Generation FAB. That\u2019s Fifty And Beyond, thank you for asking. If you\u2019re wondering how to wear trainers without looking like an overgrown teenager, or concerned about being too old for a biker jacket, then look no further for advice.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Not My Ages passes over fresh-faced 20-something starlets to shine the light on more mature women with a little more life experience: women like Dame Helen Mirren, First Lady Michelle Obama and International Monetary fund boss and former synchronized swimming champ, Christine Lagarde, the platinum-haired 59 year old that one newspaper referred to as possibly the \u201csexiest woman in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Style Forever picks up the blog\u2019s baton and runs with it. Whether you\u2019re a Casual Glamourpuss, a Scandinista, an Ageless Rocker or a member of any of the other fashion tribes listed, you\u2019ll find something useful between its covers, from how to wear colour without looking like a crazy person to acquiring French chic when you\u2019ve not been beyond the White Cliffs of Dover. There is advice on the best jacket, the worst underwear (Jettison those Spanx!) and even a step-by-step guide to tying your scarf the Mary Berry way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted the book to be a celebration of older women,\u201d explains Alyson, who is herself more likely to be found in leopard skin print coat, jeans and trainers than a sensible two piece with pearls. \u201cOur demographic was overlooked. That\u2019s also why I started the blog.<\/p>\n

Magazines were full of younger women and clich\u00e9d style rules for older ones. Yet there were so many older women out there who looked amazing and I wanted to focus on the positives. I wanted it to be empowering.\u201d \"Illustration_48_Susan_Greenfield<\/a><\/p>\n

And in any case, what\u2019s the point? As actress\/comedian Amy Poehler says in the book: \u201cFighting ageing is like the war on drugs. It\u2019s expensive, does more harm than good and has been proven to never end.\u201d<\/p>\n

With quirky illustrations by artist Leo Greenfield rather than photographs airbrushed to the limits of belief, the book features a cast of role models who\u2019ve really earned the title.<\/p>\n

At 64, neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield is more than capable of rocking a short skirt and leather jacket ensemble and regularly does so. She says: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be young again. Maturity and experience give you confidence and that’s wonderfully liberating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wonderfully-liberated 95-year-old New Yorker Iris Apfel has a similar viewpoint.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t know who you are and you copy someone else\u2019s style then that\u2019s sad,\u201d believes the silver haired, fashion muse, who refers to herself as a geriatric starlet. \u201dYou must learn who you are and dress to suit your personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Iris\u2019s case that means trademark saucer-sized spectacles and armfuls of exuberant bracelets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard work getting to know yourself,\u2019 she warns. \u201cThe biggest fashion faux pas is to look in the mirror and see someone else,\u201d<\/p>\n

Someone with a clear sense of her own style is Sue Kreitzman, 75, artist and star of the Channel Four Documentary Fabulous Fashionistas and currently adding a splash of colour to a tv commercial for paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never liked fashion. I\u2019ve always done my own thing,\u201d she says cheerfully.\u201dAnd now I\u2019ve been on the cover of the Sunday Times Style Magazine. Holy Moly, it took me 70 odd years to be one of the cool girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"fashion2\"<\/a>Style Forever shows you that looking good isn\u2019t just for the young.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the 1960s, fashion has been fixated by youth but fortunately it really does feel like the times they are a-changing,\u201d writes author Alyson Walsh. \u201dWe\u2019re finally seeing more gorgeous women in advertisements, online and in the media. Hallelujah. The over-50s are having a fashion moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dip into this book and you could become part of it. As shopping guru Mary Portas says in the introduction: \u201cStyle Forever is a book I\u2019ll have in my arsenal without doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Style Forever is published by Hardie Grant and priced at \u00a312.99.<\/p>\n

For more information on style for Generation FAB visit:
\nwww.thatsnotmyage.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stylish ANNIE DAVIES meets the author of a new guide to looking fabulous in later life With Dame Helen Mirren giving young upstarts like Jennifer Lawrence a run for their money in the Red Carpet style stakes, and singer songwriter Joni Mitchell who is the new face of Yves Saint Laurent at aged 70, older […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[7907,7901,7903,7897,4308,769,7906,7900,7898,7895,7899,7905,7908,992,7902,7904,7896,614,628,4827],"class_list":["post-17329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 18:42:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17329"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17401,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17329\/revisions\/17401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17329"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}