![]() ![]() Play around with some ideas and try some things on. I wouldn't wear a slip dress on its own (too bare) but it's another thing that instead of dismissing out of hand will work beautifully with a few tweaks, perhaps layered under a tea dress where it can peep naughtily out at the hem and neckline, or over a sheer-sleeved top. I think this is also a look that lends itself well to another rising trend – the slip dress. There are plenty of T-shirts and jumpers with lace or sheer inserts on the back, shoulders or sleeves and still more with gauzy panels at the hemline, flattering to older knees and midriffs. I like the idea of a sheer blouse over a shift or slip dress, perhaps knotted under the bust and a sheer blouse over a vintage inspired camisole would be a pretty way to get arms and cleavage out and yet not out, if you see what I mean. On close inspection I think the outfit was two separate items worn together, and it worked beautifully. I saw Nigella Lawson wearing a plain black dress with sheer lace sleeves and lace at the neckline. These could be worn with a plain bra under tailored jackets, V-neck sweaters and occasionally frocks, thus discreetly preserving my modesty. My ideal purchase would be a perfectly plain round-necked sheer T-shirt, perhaps with a little appliqued lace here and there – actually I'd like two, one black and one white. Pared-down and geometric is the grown-up way to go, which leaves you to embellish and dress up or down according to your mood and in chilly spring, according to temperature. ![]() Avoid the excessively frilly and anything that looks like a nightie – that must remain the preserve of the young. ![]() It comes in two extremes: frilly and frou frou, or pared down and geometric. Sheer is another look that was around last year and will stay for a while longer. Sheer smooths and flatters, blurs and softens and you can be as elegant and bohemian as you want to be. Counter-intuitively perhaps, sheer is a gift to older women in the way of soft focus or candlelight. The whole point of sheer is that it's light and fey and soft and feminine – stick your favourite thermal vest underneath and you've done the style equivalent of stamping on a macaroon in hiking boots. There are far too many shapeless, gauzy shrouds in penumbral shades wafted out, which in itself is bad enough but I reserve special loathing for the billowing chiffon sleeve and extra-special loathing for those who decide it's perhaps a bit immodest and whack some unforgivable variation of the jersey camisole/vest/T-shirt underneath without matching the neckline to whatever's on top (but that might be my OCD). I hate it when it's the bastard child of Bet Lynch and Hyacinth Bucket. I love sheer but only when it's done properly. Which is why I want to discuss that most tantalisingly feminine of looks, sheer. I was going to say "still" but the word offends me – I mean why wouldn't you "still" want those things? Old concepts hang around like stale cigar smoke and one of these is that once you're past menopause you are no longer feminine – "erotically pointless" I read the other day – well, cobblers to that. One of the unexpected things (some might think) is that older women like to be stylish and feminine. Battling through the hormonal storm to the other side bestows a certain serenity and whether the physical symptoms are disabling or merely a blip there are still the psychological factors to consider, not just for ourselves but in how others perceive us. We talked about the effects of the menopause and she explained that her worries lay not so much in what lies in wait at the end of it – in that it is seen as a rite of passage into old age – but in the psychological adjustment required in getting there. I keep returning to a conversation I had with a reader at Mirror Mirror last October. I rather like this transitional time, when we slide from a slightly dog-eared old year to a crisp, clean new one and (as one does) I spend a lot of time simply thinking. ![]()
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