Dear LPG,  

As we get older, we, especially the ladies among us, often find that centrifugal force becomes too strong, and we either have to, or choose to, let go of whatever keeps us needing to keep up with the latest fashions.   

I am well past that age, and while I hope that I spend my time looking reasonably smart, I have stopped using all the information found in the ladies’ glossy magazines and on the morning television shows as a reason to make notes and search out new signature pieces to add to my wardrobe. 

But then we ladies are at an age where present buying is a serious challenge when it comes to finding something for our friends, especially the female ones, simply because, like us, they have everything they are ever going to need already. 

I have joined the band of ladies of a certain age trying to slim down the number of items of clothing overflowing in my bedroom drawers and closets, although that is an arduous process.    I must admit to having draws of clothes that I will never wear again, not only due to their unsuitability to be seen on a person of my present age but, when one considers my now much larger stature, even I know it would never work. 

I spend hours trying to make sense of the sea of paperwork that my house now holds, but the other thing that needs more of my attention is the ocean of clothing that gets bigger and harder to say goodbye to.

The truth is that if you are anything like me, few of them will ever fit again, when you look at all those clothes, you can remember which holiday you bought the swimming costume for. Even though you would rather not ever imagine yourself in it again, you only have to close your eyes for a moment, having looked at it to be back on that beach with the sun shining down and that cocktail ready to be sipped. I suspect you have shoes that cost the earth back then, and you only ever wore them once. Though you would be asking to break an ankle or fall over if you decided to put them on now, the thought of how impeccably they matched the rest of your outfit when you attended that special wedding, makes them impossible to part with.

If the latest adverts that I sometimes see and hear are being taken on board, the next generation of ladies that reach our age will not have our problem because although fashions seem more diverse and fast-moving than ever, the fashion of having an app and swapping and changing clothes is so much more acceptable these days while charity shops and second-hand clothing is also more tolerable.

Just in case there are any older ladies out there trying to make those heart-rending decisions that any decluttering exercise forces upon us from a clothing point of view, I have found a few lists of what are called the wardrobe staples required by the fashionable UK women of today, and while the actual design details will differ, perhaps they might help with the making of some decisions. However, a serious amount of age-related lateral thinking might be needed. 

I hope that my help does not confuse readers more…

FE, Catford.

FE hopes that the following links might be helpful…

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…and LPG has found an example or two when it comes to those advertisements that FE mentioned…

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