Get louder every decade: the new rules for dressing your age after 50

Worrying about what to put on as you get on? Relax, we’ve got you covered

In the rulebooks of how to age gracefully the don’ts make a lot more noise than the dos. No leather trousers! No cleavage! No man buns! No skateboards! The list of items allegedly verboten for the over-50s is endless. Your life has been boobytrapped, one false move and the world will fall about laughing. It’s enough to make your hair go grey – oh, wait.

Here’s a better idea. Let’s talk about how to dress right for your age, rather than how to avoid getting it wrong. The list of style icons over 50 gets longer every year, and between them they are tearing up the rulebook (except the one about skateboards, sorry). Iris Apfel, White House interior designer turned fashion influencer, filled her recent capsule collection for H&M with fringed violet jacquard miniskirts and frog-shaped rhinestone earrings, and it sold out in hours. Apfel turns 101 this year.