'Is this a bit young for me?', a few years ago before nature took it's toll on my body I can remember thinking if your asking that question the answer is obvious! Five years down the line and I have realised that the lines are not as clear cut as I once thought they were. I am very slim around a six to an eight but regardless of your size as you enter your early twenties your body does some strange things, be it cellulite, varicose vain, fat pockets, skin pigmentation, general weight gain or the skin losing elasticity, we all get it and generally not long after our 21st! What a gift! Now because of these imperfections at my mere mid twenties I am regularly left in a changing room battling with my brain that I'm nearly a decade older than Pixie Lott and that even she can only just pull those hot pants off!...... Best pop them back then!
With mutton aside I understand that I no longer look great in everything but I still wanna be current maybe even cutting edge. How do you achieve fashion when the trends are so young, my advice dress the trend around your imperfections, so you have cellulite on your thighs, no doubt it makes you feel incredibly self conscious, I know the feeling, I've seen oranges with smoother skin than my upper thigh but don't be put off by something like the short trend. I've just purchased leather shorts, which conceal lots of blemishes as long as you buy big so...... stick to a looser fit to prevent the double buttock, invest in some 120 denier tights, they hide everything and are tough enough to pull you in to a great shape, still not confident? Whack on another pair of tights! 240 denier equates to looking like an 18 year old again!!! Love it!
Start to think around your shape, skinny jeans are great but a love handles worst nightmare, go for some control pants (sexy ones, yes sexy control pants available from Triumph in black and light chocolate) and invest in this seasons must a boyfriend sweater, it'll hide a multitude of sins! Get the idea, hold it in on the inside and where its hard to hide bulk up on the outside!
The main thing to remember is not not expose the bits that make you anxious, if you wondering if your too old and your exposing those bits you are probably not too old but just this is the wrong style for you! Almost anything can be dressed for an age, pay careful attention to length and also arm exposure, it's a sad fact but as age takes it's toll the area around the tops of our arm usually bears the brunt looking similar to a turkeys neck, a look the Saturdays are currently not sporting and thus I suggest you don't. I'd let tights and shape underwear become your best friends and go up a size where you can in clothing, when you squeeze into anything it'll make you look older, a size bigger is not only more comfortable but will look classier. Be careful with prints too, they have age written all over them, youngsters go cutting edge, like the current smudge trend however those of us young professionals who are homeowners tend to pick fabrics that would look good as a bedspread for our spare room or a new table cloth for the dinning room, it's our nesting tendencies but the fact is these cute fabrics will make us look less vintage and more actually born in the 60s than we would like!!
The very best advice is find a friend like me who will be brutally honest, my friends never have the chance to ask the dreaded 'am I too old for this?' question, as I'd have whipped it off them before they got the sentence out! Brutal yes, caring, yes.......... will they thank me, course they will, Jude Laws not gonna ask for their number when they've dressed a decade too young!
