How proud I was of Cherie Lunghi, the 56 year od actress, and her performance on today’s Strictly Come Dancing. She was so refined and graceful, just like a beautiful swan. Just goes to show that even Head Judge, Len, can get it wrong when he said that ’she would be the first to go’ - because of her age! Pot, kettle, black springs to mind.

Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

I’ve just had one of the strangest experiences, which I have to admit I quite liked. Have you ever wanted to talk and talk with no interruptions? Well I have, and today I did just that. I have just recorded my first MP3 for my Fabulous Foundations programme. These are recordings of style and image tips and hints that will rarely change. They are not concentrating on trends or fashionable items but the staples, such as underwear. I was actually quite nervous to begin with but once in the flow, it was great. So if you want to hone your own style and image, in the privacy of your own home (or car), then watch out for them on sale on the website www.feelfabat50.com - very soon.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to see the fabulous Marianne Williamson - she of the great quote featured at the end of my book ‘ Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?’ She did not disappoint. I have always felt that we have physical, intellectual and spiritual muscles and they all need exercising if we are to be in good shape. My spiritual ones have been a little flaccid recently and a dose of Marianne was just what I needed. Not biased towards any particular religion, she just inspires with her warmth and intelligence. I would urge you to geta copy of her book ‘The Age of Miracles’ as it struck so many chords with my own life. If you want to feel better about reaching middle age, then this book is sure to inspire you to do just that.

Along with Trinny and Susannah, I have had always had a pet hate about trousers we wore back in the 80/90’s with a pleated high waist falling to a tapered leg. Less than flattering, these monstrosities would make your backside look huge and your legs, short stumps. So I for one, was extremely glad when they seemed to disappear from our style wardrobe staple and were relegated to something a very old lady might wear. But, here we go again. The latest version could be really unflattering on the wrong person because this time around they are short and cropped, stopping well above the ankle bone. Called the carrot pant, the hype says they show off your ankle so elongate the leg. Unless you have perfect pins, preferably long, I’m not so sure but always one to try anything, I’ll let you know when they hit the stores. Sometimes it’s good not to be a follower of fashion!

I managed to catch some of Simon Mayo’s afternoon programme yesterday on Five Live. He was talking about being 50 with a couple of studio guests inclduing Sian Lloyd, the weather girl - can you say girl at 50? She was saying - quite rightly too - that there is no female equivalent of Jeremy Clarkson, Peter Sissons, Jonathan Ross. Why is that? By anyone’s admission, women of 40 and 50 today look fantastic compared to those of the same age group 20 years ago. The trailblazers of Anna Ford et al have all been ‘dumped’ and left us with no-one to carry on. If the world of pop can still worship Madonna at 50, I don’t see why the media in its other forms, cannot do the same for the talented women. I racked my brains to think of any female journalists presenting the news and could only think of Penny Smith and Fern Britten who fit the 50 age group. If you can think of anyone else, please drop me a line.

You may be forgiven for not having heard of Charles Chang-Lima before. If you are a curvy, voluptuous woman, you may need to rectify that - and quickly. His new collection of stylish clothes - Monik Charles Chang-Lima - has been designed for US sizes 12 - 20 ( 16 - 24 in English money). Looking at the clothes, I can see why he will get an adoring fan club. They are really stylish and extremely flattering. Every image conscious larger size woman will be thrilled with the attention to detail and the fashionable, yet timeless, elegance his collection has to offer. As the designer adds his own touches to each garment personally, you know they won’t be cheap but it’s money well spent if you consider them investment pieces. The sole UK stockist is Harrods at the moment but I’d say “watch this space”.

I think we all knew that BUT the latest research is that it’s not the vertical but the horizontal that we need to covet if we want to look leaner and taller. Peter Thompson, a perception specialist at York University, based his theory on much earlier work by the scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, who drew 2 squares, one with horizontal and the other with vertical stripes and compared them. The experiment showed that the one with horizontal stripes appeared taller and thinner than the other square. My own theory is that which ones work best for you depends on other factors. If you are very curvy, vertical stripes only highlight those curves, making you appear bigger, whereas horizontals will hug and enhance.  If you have no curves, the opposite happens. It also depends on the width of the stripes Very wide stripes can make you look bigger, whatever the direction of travel, or totally overwhelm if you are small in stature.   

I have mentioned in previous blogs how ethnic fashion is making inroads into our style culture. It make sense in this supposedly credit crunch period that we want to look good without spending lots of money on our image. The savvy fashion pack are headed to Oxfam, not just to donate their clothes but also to purchase. Sales at charity shops broke through £100 million mark this year and are steadily rising but Oxfam have taken this one step further with the opening of new boutiques at Westbourne Grove, Chiswick High Road and Shawfield Street in Chelsea. These tick all the boxes for fashion, quality and of course, price, with the bonus of being ethical attached. So no rummaging around in boxes here then. Expect donations from the red carpet celebrities such as Keira Knightley and Dame Helen Mirren, shoes from Jimmy Choo and Bertie and pieces from many UK designers such as Stella McCartney and Giles Deacon. Too bad we don’t all live near London. Travelling doesn’t really help the carbon footprint, so Oxfam, if you’re listening - please open nationwide asap. 

Well it had to come eventually. The style gurus have decided that enough is enough of ‘grey is the new black’ and ‘blue is the new black’ and now we’re back to black definitely is the in thing. A tricky one that because not all of us can wear black that well without looking old and tired. So how do you adapt to the style trends this season? Well, first of all it depends where you wear your black. If you are warm skinned, or black really washes you out, wear it lower down your body or use it as a trim. A black lace, also on trend this season, is stylish and not as harsh as a black fabrics with lots of depth, so you might get away with it. I quite like thin knits in black as you can wear a different colour underneath to take away some of the harshness. Be careful when teaming blacks together if they are not part of the same suit. A black may have a blue, brown or even a purple tinge and they can clash really badly when worn side by side. It is a fallacy that black can make you look slimmer. On the wrong person it may actually add weight so if you’re not keen on black, and have no room for it in your wardrobe, choose another deeper shade you love if you want to look slender. Make sure the fabric is matt and do your own thing instead! You don’t have to follow the crowd.

Authenticity and uniqueness are top priority in my mind so I was delighted to find a site that ticks all the boxes with a very reasonable price tag. Style Shake (www.styleshake.com)  is a really clever website that lets you design your own garments using a set of templates, a variety of fabrics and some great colour choices. Use your proportions to gauge the best hemline and waistline choices and your bodyline to choose the most flattering style. Turn around is about 10 days. If your budget stretches further, you could give Austin Reed a try.  Trouser and skirt suits, in a variety of fabrics, are available at Kingston, Regent Street in London and The Royal Exchange in Manchester. Prices from £500 and you’ll need to wait about 6 weeks.