Year-round style

August. The month when That's Not My Age has one eye on the dishevelled sale rail (so what if it's jammed at the back of the store right next to the toilets, I have no shame when it comes to a bargain) and the other on the shiny new autumn/winter collections. Fashion is a topsy-turvy world and, when the seasons change over, it's best to stick to timeless styles that work all year round. Which is why I love this outfit from Hobbs (A/W2010). A Breton top and maxi skirt - OK that's a sweater in the picture but it could easily be a t-shirt - look just as fabulous teamed with plimsolls in summer, as with classic brogues and argyle socks in autumn. Talk about easy style.

And, sorry can't get Kristen McMenamy, 46, out of my head - Hobbs' gorgeous shearling coat instantly brought the middle-aged crush du jour to mind. As seen in the latest issue of Dazed and Confused.




Not sure about you but think I prefer the Vogue fashion story.


Do you have any transitional fashion favourites?

Vidal Sassoon

That's Not My Age can't wait till September when a new documentary, Vidal Sassoon, The Movie and an autobiography (aptly called Vidal: An Autobiography) are due to be released. I once asked my hairdresser, Mr Guy Healey, 44, why Vidal Sassoon, 82, was considered the best hairdresser, ever. After all, the free haircut I received at the Sassoon salon during my Manchester student days wasn't anything to write home about. In fact, it ended in tears. The moral of that little story is... you have to pay for a decent haircut. Anyhow, Guy told me that Sassoon revolutionized hairdressing, changed the rule book for everybody, 'Before it was about the finish. He made it about the cut.'



Back in the 1963, Sassoon created the five-point bob. An ultra-modern pixie cut worn by the fabulous Mary Quant. In his new autobiography Sassoon admits that he was so excited about cutting the fashion designer's hair that he accidentally nicked her ear! And that Quant's husband, Alexander Plunket Greene asked, 'Do you charge extra for that?'

In spite of the ear-cutting episode, Mr Sassoon went on to cut the amazing Grace Coddington's hair and become the world's most famous hair stylist:



Read more about Vidal Sassoon's autobiography here


Have you ever risked a free hair cut?

Photos
Vidal Sassoon: Tribeca Film Festival
Vidal and Mary Quant picture and quote: Daily Mail
Vidal and Grace Coddington: Little House of Style

Glad to be grey

Grey hair had a bit of a fashion moment earlier this year when the likes of Tavi, Pixie Geldof and Kate Moss joined the blue rinse brigade. Actually, word on the blogosphere was that Kate Moss had been over doing it with the dry shampoo but that's another story. And now the fad for young whippersnappers to tint their follicles has passed, it's up to the grown-ups to keep it real. Praise then to Kristen McMenamy who stopped dyeing her hair six years ago and says, 'You can get older and still be rock 'n' roll.' The 46-year-old silver fox and TNMA pin-up looks beyond amazing in this photo shoot for Vogue.

Anyway, enough about her, let's talk about me. That's Not My Age has a Caryn Franklin-style grey streak. It appeared during my late twenties and I subsequently spent years and a fair amount of hard-earned cash paying someone to dye over it. Until one day, a new hairdresser told me they liked it, that I should grow it out and make a statement. So I did. Fast-forward to summer 2010 and er, grey is the new black. Why, even Tom Jones has ditched the dye and gone au naturel.



On the rocks: That's Not My Age keeping it real.



That's not me, that's fashion broadcaster, Caryn Franklin.




The lovely Daphne Selfe, 81, models Sykes and a grey barnet, at London Fashion Week.



Jewellery designer, Sheila Teague, 57, loves platinum and silver.



Textile designer, Charlene Mullen, 46, shows off her handiwork and her silver-streaked hair.



The fabulously talented, Wendy Dagworthy, 60, head of the school of fashion and textiles at the Royal College of Art says, 'I think it adds character. Grey hair looks good - it's all about accepting your age and what you are.'


So, is grey here to stay? What do you think?


Photos

Kristen McMenamy and Caryn Franklin: Vogue
Daphne Selfe: Catwalking
Kristen McMenamy quote: Vogue

And I'd like to say a special thanks to blogger Charlotte OC for drawing my attention to Kristen McMenamy's platinum do.

Street Style: turn-ups

Sisters, Marcia Bennett-Male, 45, and Grace Bennett, 50, look lovely in rolled up trousers and florals. Marcia, a stonemason, spends her working life dressed down but likes to 'girly up' when she's out with big sis'. Read more about Grace, on her bike blog, Cycling in Heels.




Sculptor, Ray Okunubi, 47, describes his style as casual vintage. Paying a nod to the underwear as outerwear trend, he teams an old 1930s jersey undergarment with selvedge jeans, a silk scarf and Kangol hat.


For more thoughts on the humble turn-up, click here .

Good Grief, I'm in the Guide

And now for some trumpet-blowing of the self-serving variety. Parp. That's Not My Age is featured in this week's Guardian Guide. This little piece of internet news plus a large cup of coffee meant I spent most of yesterday in a state of giddy excitement - followed by an evening celebrating with the Blog Widower on top of a multi-storey car park in Peckham. We know how to live it up. Actually, Frank's Café and Campari Bar is much more glamorous than it sounds. The pop-up venue has a strong New York-y feel, amazing views over London and a gaggle of young hipsters in difficult clothing. The boy in the unfortunate, zig-zag patterned acrylic jumper and acid-washed jeans, I'm talking about you.






And the best thing about this week's Guardian Guide? The coverlines:



That's Not My Age: angrier, deadlier, sexier. Read all about it here.

Life begins at 50

That's Not My Age has been planning ahead. OK so I've got a few years to go till I hit the big 5-0 but when that day finally comes, I'd like to be prepared. Scientific research carried out at a top secret laboratory this week reveals that on entering the sixth decade, it's not too late to:

1. Run 100 metres



Jamaican-born runner Merlene Ottey, 50, is the oldest athlete to perform in the European Championships, ever. Later today she'll be representing Slovenia in the 4x 100 metres relay final. 'It's really truly amazing that she's still competing,' says former Olympic record-holder, Michael Johnson, 42, 'That she still has the desire, I don't have that desire to be out there.'


2. Get your kit off



'I am so bored with seeing stories about a mature man of 65 falling in love with a beautiful girl of 32,' Kristin Scott Thomas, 50, says of her latest film Leaving, 'Here a mature woman in her 40s, falls in love with another mature man, who isn’t a sex god figure. He’s just a bloke.’

The supremely talented KST, an early contender for the 2011 SBAFta (Style Begins at Forty)Best Actor award, admits that the sex scenes in the film, ‘Were nerve-wracking. I got the heebie-jeebies at one point, and we had to postpone shooting... though, there were a lot of other women on the shoot, like the cinematographer Agnès Godard, who were very supportive.'

3. Become a style icon



The latest series of Mary Queen of Shops saw the retail guru's profile sky-rocket. As well as making-over the nation's independent shops, Portas has become a role model for women who 'don't want to dress like their daughters,' and is planning a new series aimed at 'defiantly redefining middle age as the most desirable age bracket to be in.'

4. Shock old ladies



Rupert Everett, 51, has spent his whole life rebelling against a very conservative, colonial upbringing. On this week's Who do you think you are?, whilst uncovering his family tree, the actor met great aunt Marguerite for the very first time. She informed him that his great grandfather, Fred Everett, was a philandering sailor and a rebel, but, that she liked naughty boys. And so does Rupes.

Margueruite: 'Ooh you're not playing for the other side are you?!'
Rupes: 'This is rapidly deteriorating into an Ealing comedy.'


Photos
Merlene Ottey: Getty Images
Kristin Scott Thomas, photos and quote: The List
Mary Portas: Telegraph
Rupert Everett: BBC

A Room With A View

Have I told you we can see Big Ben from the end of our road? No, we don't live on Downing Street, Mr TNMA is certainly not part of the Brokeback Coalition and That's Not My Age mansions is not a fancy pants penthouse in central London. We live in a humble two-bedroomed flat, on a hill, a couple of miles south of the river. Zone two, if you must know.

Being on the fourth floor means we get to see excellent sunsets over the tower blocks of Stockwell. Cross the road to the local park for fabulous views of the cityscape. Bear with me, I'm getting there...and so, my love for the London skyline is what attracted me to the work of textile designer, Charlene Mullen (who coincidentally lives round the corner from me). The 46-year-old says her handmade, scenic cushions and lampshades, 'Are my idea of a Bayeux Tapestry.' Mullen's work is hand-embroidered in the UK and India. Aside from producing beautiful homewares, the designer likes finding old boys to work with, her merino wool blankets are crafted by Raymond Jones of Melin Teifi in Wales and 73-year-old Francis Moore. Mullen also collaborates with Working Well, a mental health charity in east London.






Check out Charlene Mullen's new website here, or view the collection at:

Maison Objet, Paris, 3-7 September 2010

The Tramshed during London Design Festival, 18-26 September 2010

Decorex International, 26-29 September 2010