These are the new 'rules' of getting dressed in your 30s

Here's the thing about turning 30: it's pretty much the same as turning 29.

Nothing seismic happens. You don't develop an overnight penchant for twin-sets. In fact, it's probably only midway through your thirties that you realise your age is creeping up on you, and that maybe a few wardrobe tweaks would be prudent.

NB: wardrobe tweaks, not wardrobe annihilation.

Gone are the days where "dressing for your age" has to be prescriptive: this is not the 1950s. Women should dictate their own terms. They should also wear whatever they darned-well feel like.

What this means in sartorial terms is less of a blanket rejection of whatever Bella Hadid wears and more of an age-appropriate adaptation.

Take dungarees, for example. Maybe you can no longer wear denim ones layered over a bandeau top, but how about a dressier pair in black silk? Worn with a self-coloured tee or Breton, this look could happily be worn to the office (unless you are a City worker, obvs).

The casualisation of most workplaces (jeans are more widely acceptable than they were 10 years ago) works to the thirty-something's advantage. So, too, does the general trend towards dressing more youthfully than your age dictates.

When fifty-somethings are still wearing cutoff jeans, Bardot tops and - yes - playsuits, it's premature to be rejecting them in your thirties. If you feel good in them, wear them. Look at Iris Apfel: 94 and dressing however she pleases. She is a lesson to us all.

As they age, some women are terrified of being called "mutton"; others are either more confident or simply don't care. This is why every woman's sartorial No-No list is different. Past 35, I realised I looked ridiculous in a Peter Pan collar: rather than looking youthful, it aged me.

I also stopped wearing pleated miniskirts (too schoolgirl) and swapped pearls for a short diamante necklace that reflected light onto my face.

Sequined tops have the same pleasing effect, which is why I plan to wear them until I'm 90. Like youth, sequins are wasted on the young. Wear what makes you happy. Happiness is anti-ageing, you know.