How To Dress Your Age?

Five decades of famously stylish women explain how they achieve their look. Plus, an age-specific guide to this season's key trends:

Teens: Diana Vickers, 19, pop singer
20s: Coco Sumner, 20, musician
30s: Sophie Ellis-Bextor, 31, singer
40s: Sadie Frost, 45, actress and designer
50s: Jo Wood, 55, organic entrepreneur

extreme left: Sophie Ellis-Bextor (with her auburn hair - mama looking good!)

My style hasn't changed much over the years, but I think my taste has improved – I make fewer mistakes. I still have clothes I had when I was a teenager. I'm quite experimental – I love quirky fashion and don't take it seriously. It's only putting clothes on, so it doesn't matter if you get it wrong. I'd rather do that than play it safe.

I love vintage fashion, especially 50s and 60s styles. When I was growing up I found fashion intimidating. So I worked out that if you wear customised or secondhand clothes, you're taking yourself outside of that world and you'll not be judged so much on whether something is "on trend" or not. All my favourite pieces are really exciting finds that were cheap and cheerful, found in charity shops, markets or on eBay.

Once I reached my late 20s and had my children, I started feeling more comfortable in my skin. I'm in better shape than I ever was when I was younger. Everything seems to have fallen into place and I understand myself better. I've stopped caring what anyone else thinks. I've lost my inhibitions and rediscovered the joy of dressing up, too.

I've always had a clear sense of what I liked and what I didn't like. There's a slight misconception about me – that I'm always well turned out – but I think the complete opposite is true. I always have ladders in my tights, loose threads hanging down or safety pins holding things together, but I just don't think it matters that much. Fashion shouldn't be po-faced, regardless of what age you are – it's fun.

I still feel a bit too irresponsible to wear designer clothes all the time. I have a healthy mixture in my wardrobe, and I like classic designer pieces, but I tend to treat all my clothes, irrespective of whether designer or not, the same. Sometimes I'll see something crumpled up on my floor and I'll wince and think that's really not the way I should treat that. Some of my favourite designers are PPQ, Chanel, Paul & Joe and Dolce & Gabbana – who are particularly good for stage stuff – but I think we're lucky to have the best high-street shops in the world.

Growing up I always loved Sindy – before she looked like Barbie. She had big, dark hair, red lips and eyeliner, and she was really curvy. I also used to watch Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and Grease lots. If you take the tartiness of Grease, the tailoring of Mary Poppins and the remaking ethos from The Sound of Music, that's sort of what my wardrobe looks like. A tarty nanny in a curtain.

ORIGINAL POST: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/10/fashion-age-style-trends

Official charting - Bittersweet

It's official, Bittersweet failed to perform well on the charts. Digital Spy and The Guardian gave the song 5 stars and BBC Radio 1 (curse those sods) gave it 3 stars. It was #1 on MTV Dance for weeks (it's still #1). PopJustice and several other websites gave the song favourable reviews. Sophie was on top of the PJ Almighty for several weeks (months even!). It's hard to believe that a song as good as this landed somewhere inside the top 40., and not in the top 10.

Bittersweet peaked at #25 on the UK Singles Chart, #14 on the UK Club Chart and #38 on the UK Downloads Chart. I hope it does well in Russia. By the way, Can't Fight This Feeling is #1 in Russia (thanks Fran). It's good to see that Sophie has a loyal fanbase there. Go Russian fans!

Sophie has plans for a second single - either Revolution or Off And On. The second single hits the radio sometime in July and the album will follow in August. Hopefully everything will go as planned and she'll have a decent top 10 hit with the next single.

Wishing the best for Sophie....

By the way, i'm back. I'm done with my exams (such a relief). So how have you been?

Nice little write up from The Guardian

The Guardian had a really nice review of Bittersweet. I think it's worth posting here.. Sophie is a popstar who is here to stay, 12 years in music and she's still making really good tunes - that is an achievement!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/01/singles-out-this-week
Sophie Ellis-Bextor should seem rather old-fashioned in these days of Ke$ha sicking up her lunch in Paris Hilton's wardrobe and Gaga strapping 20 B&H on her face, but while faces come and go, tunes like this skyscraping electro disco-pop blockbuster never fall out of vogue. If you can't handle her fantastically nonchalant warbletones you're better off making a cup of tea for the tune's duration; but also think about where your life's headed because the signs, frankly, are not good.

Question Time: Sophie Ellis-Bextor with The Guardian

Question time: Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Sophie Ellis-Bextor on talking posh, looking weird and why she'll never do an interview without Blue Peter being mentioned


You and your mother [former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis] have been campaigning to bring back family mealtimes. It doesn't sound very rock'n'roll.
We really love our food and we both have families, so we're quite good people to talk about cooking and eating together. Sonny, my eldest son, is five, so it's important that we have mealtimes together. It's partly so I can see what he's eating, because kids can get really distracted. Also, I want to keep an eye on him so he has good basic manners.

You were relatively young (25) when you had Sonny. Do you think your record company disapproved?
If they did, they didn't show it. I don't think that old-fashioned idea of record companies exists any more. But, you know, sod them if they were worried about it. These things happen. It's cool that I managed to have two in my 20s. But I still want to work – I think it's quite healthy for them to see me not being defined as a mother. It keeps my mind stimulated.

But it meant that you took time out in your mid-20s, an important time for a female pop star particularly, at the height of your success. Was that difficult?
Not really. I had just done my second album and I felt that my third album was really important – that if it was good, I would have a career for life. I immersed myself in songwriting when Sonny was about four or five months, but I was always able to be there for supper and bath time.

Did you worry you wouldn't be able to pick up where you left off?
I think it's always good to have a bit of that worry, because that's what spurs me on to make good stuff. People are always going, "There are lots of young female singers, are you worried?" But I love music and I want there to be good people out there. Also, I think women really come into their own in their 30s. It gives you a bit more depth. There are a lot of people out there who lie about their age and I think it does us all a disservice. It can't all be over when you hit 30. That would be rubbish.

You're famous for being wonderfully weird-looking. How do you feel about the way you look?
I think it stood me in good stead because when I was a teenager, boys were just not interested. I didn't see myself as a good-looking girl and that was good, because I didn't rely on it. It's not really a big deal to be pretty – there are loads of pretty girls out there – so it's good to stand out. A lot of what inspired many musicians is celebrating differences, and people relate to that – more people feel like the unpopular, freaky one than the one in the in-crowd.

Do you still feel like that?
All the time, but I've now found lots of like-minded weirdos so it's OK. And now I'm producing my own crazy-looking offspring.

How is Kit? [Ellis-Bextor's son was born in February, nine weeks early, weighing just 2lb 10oz, after she developed pre-eclampsia]
He's doing absolutely amazingly. He's really chubby and is all circles – cheeks and thighs. He was incredibly small to begin with and I'm just really relieved that he's not like that any more. He's great now, but it wasn't the easiest time. I know it's a cliche, but something like that really does put everything in perspective.

You must be the only pop star who has never tried to hide their middle-class background. Did you ever think of taking the "mockney" route?
I wouldn't have pulled that off at all. I was working with someone the other day and they said, "Have you ever tried rapping?" Come on, please, that would be ludicrous. In real life, I'm not super-posh but if that's the stereotype, I really don't care. It could be worse.

Does it annoy you that Blue Peter always gets mentioned too?
No, I understand it because it's a big cornerstone of people's childhoods.

Is it true you sold Blue Peter badges in the school playground?
Yes. It's bad isn't it? 50p for a badge, or £1 for a badge and an autograph. I hope my son doesn't do that to me. And if he does, I hope it's for more than £1.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has contributed to the Changing Plates report, with Oxford University and Birds Eye, which looks at meal times and their role in modern life.

SOURCE: The Guardian