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What do you think of when you think of lace? Spanish mantillas? Those lacy black tights we all wore in the Eighties? A wedding dress? Princess Caroline of Monaco’s wedding dress? (Google it if you don’t remember, it’s the very heaven of wedding dresses).
I’ll tell you what I think when I think about lace: lovely on my stepdaughter, not on me or anyone over 50. A lace trim, a glimpse of lace in the neckline of a jacket, maybe: anything more is an instant ager.
But it may be time to rethink the lace ban.
The Dior cruise show was wall-to-wall lace (including on the celebrities in the audience), all of it white or cream and plenty of it – actress Rosamund Pike’s top and skirt, for one – very wearable.
Marks & Spencer, the everywoman store, is full of lace in every conceivable style from floaty to sharply tailored, all with matching linings. Me+Em, the upmarket High Street brand leader in event dressing, has at least 20 lace items in its summer collection. The message is lace is the brand new, sophisticated, see through – and now people who don’t do see through are welcome to join in.
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room. White, ivory, cream lace? Surely we’re too old for that.
Actually it’s not the colour so much as the weight of lace that’s standing in the way of us Fifty Plusers wearing it. Guipure lace, which is thicker and linked with thread rather than light embroidery spaced on a fine net background, is less delicate and offers far more coverage – both of which suit Us. (Worth noting that delicacy and flimsiness are often more of an ageing red flag than skin-revealing.)
Stick to the solid varieties of lace, with a colour-matched lining, and wear it in a clean modern way (avoiding the Chloe-inspired sheerness and romantic froth) and you’ll be fine.
And it’s worth it because the right lace injects a hint of transparency (fashionable and youthful) plus texture (fashionable and flattering) and – quite the trick this – prettiness without girlishness.
The obvious first choice and a big trend of the moment is a white or off-white lacey top. The High Street is groaning with these: skip the ones labelled romantic and go for a shirt with a subtle lace trim collar and ladder lace inserts (£27.99, zara.com) or something more dense with a ruffle collar like Sezane’s Chlo shirt in ecru guipure lace (£95, sezane.com).
How you wear lace now is the key to keeping it modern, not ageing. With high-waisted jeans and a brown leather belt – light tan faux suede jacket optional – or grazing the top of a straight denim skirt with low block-heel tan sandals is the way to go.
The lace is the one pretty, feminine element and the rest of your outfit should be simple and dressed down: no high heels, no costume jewellery, no full skirts.
Alternatively, wear a mannish shirt tucked into a minimal lace skirt like Jaeger for Marks and Spencer’s light midi kilt in modern navy diamond (as opposed to floral) lace (£150, marksandspencer.com). This is a good smart work option and it also comes in ivory, with a matching short-sleeved top (£89), to make up a cool, sheerish but not sheer, co-ord you could wear anywhere.
A floral white lace dress is too iconic for midlifers, but a lace dress in a bold block colour is a different matter.
The advantage of lace dresses is they allow you to play with the illusion of transparency (you can have a slightly shorter underskirt or bare shoulders with lace sleeves) and they look special. Me+Em’s puff-sleeve swing dress with pockets in cobalt blue guipure (£147.50, meandem.com) hits that spot between clean and modern and feminine and dramatic. The simpler and more demure the style, the better it works.
Don’t be tempted to dress up this kind of lace: wear it with plain open-toed sandals or silver flats. And stick to strong colours – the pale ones are too bridesmaidy. Black is 100 per cent off the menu when it comes to dresses, needless to say. You’ll look like a Sicilian grandmother.
Still, a little bit of black lace can be charming and provide semi-transparent coverage. M&S does a polka dot print midaxi slip dress with slim straps covered by a fine black lace V neck and short sleeves (£49.50) making the unwearable wearable and instantly a lot more grown up. And if in doubt, a silky camisole with a thick band of lace (£55, whitecompany.com) is an easy way to soften and evening-up a jacket and trousers.
