Blue Skirt Thinking

Still mulling over the midi skirt? Me too. But this lovely image from Hobbs might just send my hemlines southwards. And that's because, this gorgeous shade of blue perks up any outfit whilst the matching tailored jacket upgrades the look and flatters a grown-up complexion. Mid-length, mid-life, too-much-like-Miss-Marple crisis averted. Fabulous not frumpy, that's what we want.

The Menswear Manifesto

In the name of equality, and because I'm not attending New York fashion week, That's Not My Age has decided it's time to focus on grown-up menswear. But first let's set the record straight, that's not Mr TNMA in the photo, he is very shy, a confirmed atheist who would rather go and wave at the pope than appear on this blog. It's Nicholas Fugler, 50, director of retail at Jermyn Street tailors, New & Lingwood who puts a vexed generation at ease when he says, 'You grow into your style in your forties.'

Though I don't consider myself a menswear expert, I'd like to think that by surreptitiously easing Mr TNMA out of his ageing rocker uniform of baggy Rolling Stones' tour t-shirt and skinny black jeans and into a wardrobe of timeless basics I have a certain first-hand knowledge. But, in order to compose a proper grown-up guide to menswear, I enlisted the help of a couple of style experts of a certain age: Mr James Anderson and Mr Paul Tierney.




And this is what they said:

Do
1. Go more Savile Row than Carnaby Street. Buy good design not cheap shit and choose classic heritage brands.
2. Opt for a clean cut look. You can get away with being scruffy and grubby when you're younger but have to make a bit more effort after 40, or risk looking like a complete loser.
3. Have a range of instant throw-ons in your wardrobe; cotton v-necks, cashmere sweaters, classic 501's/Japanese selvedge jeans, chinos.
4. Buy proper shoes, like a good solid brogue. A shoe made on a last, will last!
5. Be proud to be eccentric but don't end up looking like Jon Snow. A novelty tie does not add character to any outfit.


Don't
1. Worry about what style magazines say, half the people who work for them don't practise what they preach.
2. Avoid short-sleeved shirts, far too company rep.
3. Wear a fleece - it'll add twenty years to your age.
4. Try not to get stuck in a decade, the Top Gun bomber jacket belongs in the eighties.
5. Get preoccupied with seasonal trends. Leave the jaunty man bags and décolletage to Cristiano Ronaldo.


And now for some gratuitous pictures of men who do get it right:









From top: Hamish Bowles, Joe Casely-Hayford, Guy Pierce, Malcolm McClaren, John Malkovich, David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker.


Do you know anyone who needs to follow the menswear manifesto?



Photos
Nicholas Fugler: Fashionistable, Hamish Bowles: The Sartorialist, Joe Casely-Hayford: Lulu Kennedy, Guy Pierce: Daily Mail, Malcolm McClaren Sun-Times, John Malkovich: MySpace, David Bowie: NME, Jarvis Cocker: Eamonn McCabe.

Missing the print

That's Not My Age can't wait till it gets cooler and I can start wearing 'the beast' again:



But in the meantime, I need a little animal to liven up my pared-down life. So I've been thinking about accessories, and wondering whether or not there's room in my wardrobe for a pair of eye-catching desert boots?



When it comes to animal print, a little goes a long way (read my rules for living with leopard here) so I'd wear them with slim black trousers, faded jeans or Jane Birkin-style khakis and a simple black blazer.


What do you think? Are they spot on or a print too far?


Photos
First picture: Norman Parkinson
Desert boots: Clarks

Casual Glamour

I know you're expecting the grown-up guide to camping, but that would be a very short post: don't.

Suffice to say that putting up a tent is more stressful than travelling Ryanair non-stop for the rest of your life and Mr & Mr That's Not My Age came very close to divorce on Saturday afternoon in Southwold.

So, let's move on to a more cheery topic. Casual glamour. Sartorially speaking, casual glamour is the best way to approach any situation. Even camping. Easy-to-wear, effortlessly chic separates form the basis of the look - take a pair of stretch jeans, khakis, jersey pants, then crank up the glamour-factor with a glitzy top. Or go for a totally pared down look, say, plain cotton trousers and a grey marl t-shirt and pile on some top-notch accessories.

That's Not My Age has been hankering after this Jaeger London sequin sweatshirt (above) all season - and I haven't let the 'pure polyester' content label deter me. Now this is an exclusive piece, straight from the catwalk but at £299 it would've been straight to the overdraft facility, for me. So, I waited patiently for the sales and as soon as it went to 50% off, That's Not My Age was into the Regent Street store with my gift voucher faster than I could get to the bar at Latitude after the Great Tent Debacle.

Now to prove that the luxe sweatshirt isn't just a passing fad, I'd like to introduce you to Jaeger's A/W 2010 collection. Check out that fabulous Lurex hoodie - oh I can't wait for the January sales!




And here's my classic grey Athé by Vanessa Bruno version. Perfect for layering up, easy to pack and totally chic - if a little less glamorous than its fancy polyester cousin.



That's Not My Age spotted Bret Easton Ellis wearing a hooded sweatshirt for his book signing at Latitude, Mr American Psycho even put details of his latest shopping spree on Twitter, “Not to sound too much like Bateman but the James Perse t-shirts and hoodies I bought a week ago are the best clothes I’ve worn in a year…”



And if you're wondering about the best clothes for a grown-up lady to wear to a summer festival, may I recommend:



A pair of fine jersey Harem pants (nothing too voluminous,these are less droopy than most but they still make my backside look like a prize-winning pumpkin when I sit down) and an eye-catching t-shirt to draw attention upwards and away from the derriére. I'm sporting a Comptoir des Cotonniers wrapover top with sequin shoulders, a Christmas present from Mr TNMA....this year he'll be getting The Idiot's Guide to Camping.

Double trouble

The other day, a surprising thing happened. That's Not My Age accidentally wore triple denim. Oh you can forget about doubling up, that's so last week. When it comes to denim, three is the magic number. A big fan of head-to-toe indigo back in the eighties - Levi's 501s, Lee denim jacket, Katharine Hamnett anything, all on a student budget, I might add - maybe I've been in denial about the Texan Tuxedo (love that term, thank you fab blogger, Wendy B) this season? Or perhaps I'm just a late adopter. But this time round I didn't actually intend to wear double denim. Well, not the way it appeared on the catwalk, anyhow.



It all happened by accident. In a complete rush to get dressed and out the door, with the bottom half of my outfit sorted - wide leg Levi's and another pair of mum shoes - one minute I'm debating the merits of the bootcut, the next I'm in flares! Twenty four hours is a long time in fashion. I had five minutes to find something to cover my top half and catch the train. That's Not My Age grabbed at an old denim shirt, decided it didn't look that bad and legged it with not a moment to spare. The slouchy denim bag I've been using all week came too. At the station, I looked down and wondered. But it was too late. I managed to brave it out all day, confident in the knowledge that at least I didn't look like this:



Mick Hucknall, 1988, 'I always wore what the fuck I wanted, sometimes it was mad and sometimes it was just ordinary.' You're not kidding.

So, I'd like to recommend double/triple denim to you all. I'll definitely be wearing it again. And now there's a new denim boutique at Net-a-Porter, I might even go quadruple.



Just remember:

1. Darker indigo shades are the chicer, more grown-up way to do double denim. Leave acid-wash to the kids, and Jeremy Clarkson.


2. Try mixing two different shades - a pair of grey jeans and a black denim shirt - it's double denim but not as we know it.
3. Keep it sleek. Avoid the baggy silhouette, if it doesn't look good on a catwalk model....



And now, I'll leave you with a couple of questions:

1. Triple denim - yes or no?
2. Mick Hucknall mad or just plain ordinary? Do you think he'll be wearing double denim when he's fronting The Faces this summer? Simply red faces all round, perhaps?



Photos
Chloé catwalk: style.com
Mick Hucknall photo and quote from Q magazine (February 1989)
Dark denim catwalk: Banana Republic

Why the long skirt?

Now that the legs have gone all gorgonzola on me, I spend summer looking for ways to cover up and stay cool. Like camping and watching Wimbledon, hiding the varicose veins has become an annoying seasonal hobby. It's easy enough to ignore the not-so-thin blue lines if, like That's Not My Age, you live in jeans, trousers and black opaques for 90 per cent of the year but as soon as the sun shines I start to think how much simpler life would be if I could get my legs out. Every year I vow to get the ugly veins removed but that means paying to go private - and frankly I'd rather spend the money on something useful, like a holiday. Preferably to a Muslim country where I can keep myself covered up.

So, what to wear when your legs are passed their sell-by-date? The Capri pant and shirt combo looks chic but can be a little bit too snug when the temperature soars. And I quite like the idea of crumpled linen trousers, but who wants to look like they're wearing dirty laundry? So, a maxi is the perfect option. And like volcanic ash, the floor-skimming skirt is making an unexpected appearance on the radar this summer. Empty airports and waist to ankle coverage, now you're talking. The good thing about the maxi is it looks best with flat shoes. Team a full length skirt with heels, add a staircase and you're looking for trouble.

And long skirts definitely have that Martini factor. Wear with a slouchy grey marl t-shirt for pure casual glamour. I could wear the outfit (above) by L'Agence from Net-a-Porter all summer long. The photos of the lovely grey-haired lady are from The Times. Check out the 7 ways to wear a maxi skirt feature soon (there's also a video on the new website) because Rupert Murdoch's paywall is up and ready for action. You have been warned - he wants your money!





Now, just don't get me started on age spots.





PS What do you think about paying for online news?

J'adore Juliette Binoche

Today, That's Not My Age is feeling a special love for the fabulous Juliette Binoche. At Cannes, the 46 year-old looked pretty damn hot in a monochrome Givency jumpsuit, picked up the Best Actress award (for her role in Copie Conforme ) wearing a stunning Céline floor-length gown and gave a whole new meaning to the term statement necklace:



Proving that she can work her magic off-screen too, Binoche's elegant protest led to the release of Jafar Panahi, the imprisoned Iranian film director. Hoorah!

Hold onto your hats readers, because now things get really exciting. In today's Telegraph, the Parisienne beauty eschews Botox and reveals one of her best-kept beauty secrets: facialist, Su-Man Hsu, 'She does these facials that keep your face alive, so that it doesn't fall down dead, you know?' My face may not be dead yet but it's terminally ill. So, That's Not My Age was straight on the phone to the lovely Su-Man Hsu to book myself in for a session! S-MH doesn't have a salon or a website, all her clients are word-of-mouth, so I told her Juliette had sent me. Tune in next week to find out whether a Facial Booster Massage can breathe life into my sagging jowls.


A 90-minute facial massage with Su-Man Hsu costs £100 (07779 151 346)

Photos
Givenchy and Céline red carpet: MailOnline
Jafar Panahi: The Independent

The grown-up guide to festivals: part 2

OK, I'm supposed to be getting ready to go to Brighton, right now! - so better make this a quick one. Just figuring out what to wear, and my inspirations are this gorgeous picture of Milla Jovovich in an old Emporio Armani campaign, photographed by the mega-talented Peter Lindbergh and Cecilia Chancellor rocking out in a 1993 issue of Elle magazine. That's Not My Age is probably about twenty years older than these two beautiful models, so I better tread carefully or I might end up looking like Courtney Love after a night on the ale.

Regular readers know that I occasionally dabble in a bit of rock chickery and so trying desperately hard not to look like a denim-clad cliché/ the oldest groupie in Brighton here's my outfit for the tonight's gig. OK, OK I said we were going to a festival - and we are - it's just that we're only staying one night and plan to see just one or two bands. Mr TNMA says he hates festivals because they go on too long and there are far too many people. And he's not wrong. So this is the perfect solution.



Don't you love my sequin blazer? A bargain at £50 (down from £195) in the Whistles sale, I've been trying to find the right occasion for months. During the day I'll be toning things down by throwing a military jacket over the top - love this image from Comptoir des Cotonniers, their mothers and daughters campaign is superb.



And I wish I had one of these cotton bird print scarves from Jigsaw:



That's Not My Age likes travelling light, so all I need now are a spare pair of knickers and another t-shirt. It's a toss up between this cute nautical stripe from Wildfox and a plain grey marl number from Diane von Furstenburg:




And that's all folks. Mr & Mrs TNMA have left the building!






Tee shirt photos from Matches.

30 years of Ally Capellino

That's Not My Age would travel anywhere to see a wall of bags - even over to Wapping. Which is where I was on Thursday night for the Ally Capellino retrospective. Capellino is queen of under-stated style, her work is both retro and modern at the same time - vintage without being vintage - and that's what makes it eternally appealing. Here's Ally (Alison Lloyd) in an old issue of Marie Claire:



Well known for her gorgeous bags and accessories, back in the eighties and nineties there was an Ally Capellino clothing line too - with shops in Soho and Sloane Avenue. That's Not My Age has an old navy tweed jacket which I still wear today. Timeless, it is. And j'adore my new canvas rucksack (you can see me wearing it in the post below). Anyway, enough about me, I asked AC if she'd ever thought of going back into fashion design, 'I'd love to if someone would like to get involved in the production and financing of it. I don't really want to do it on my own.' Are you listening Bernard Arnault?






That's Not My Age bumped into the lovely Emily Chalmers from Caravan. Emily, her husband Chris Richmond and their Ally Capellino bags were in one of the photos commissioned to go with the exhibition:



One thing that really struck me was the sheer abundance of very stylish people of a certain age. Not Botoxed or scary or trying to stay young, just doing their own thing and looking fabulous. DJ and milliner, Thelma Speirs was rocking the warehouse with some banging tunes - That's Not My Age loved hearing Cilla Black and Mary Hopkins again - and wearing a gorgeous Peter Jensen jacket.



Carol Waters, 51, runs a haberdashery and linens shop, Lloyd Waters, in Essex, which That's Not My Age will be visiting soon.



As Ally Capellino says, 'It's important to keep an open mind about what you wear. I'm at the stage now where I'm not very comfortable in anything too revealing, but I'll still wear a bikini this summer. People with confidence in what they wear are attractive.'



And can someone send that wall of bags round to my house when the exhibition's over please?

AC 30
The Wapping Project
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
London, E1W 3ST
23 April - 6 June

Ally Capellino confidence quote from The Observer

Her name is Yasmin

Last year, whilst boarding a Virgin Atlantic flight back from New York, Mr and Mrs That's Not My Age spied Mr and Mrs Le Bon being fast-tracked onto the plane. Homeward-bound after an appearance at the Met Ball, the Le Bons boarded the aircraft to the tune of No..No..Notorious, sung by cheeky ground crew.

Back at Heathrow, we were impressed to see Yasmin, Simon and a Virgin steward keeping it real at the carousel with the plebs from economy - though why SLB needed his guitar is still a mystery. After the six and a half hour overnight flight, the 45 year-old was still looking good (that's Yasmin not Simon), face practically unchanged since the Elle magazine covers of the eighties. Chic in a camel Belstaff jacket, easy trousers and low-key trainers. I admire a woman who knows that travelling in style doesn't mean tottering through check-in with a burly minder, four inch platforms and over-sized sunglasses. And with that in mind, I'm pleased to see the latest YLB for Wallis collection hits the shops next week. My favourite supermodel's venture into fashion design, is, as you'd imagine, elegant, infinitely wearable and timeless.

Available online from 30 March.

Which is your favourite YLB maxi dress?


ylb4wallis.com