SHANE WATSON Im a fashion expert

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Twenty years ago, you will remember, there was nothing easier to get dressed for than a party. Something velvet, something lace, black tights, heels, bows, diamante, sequins…

The biggest risk involved in party dressing was snapping a heel on the stairs or snagging a 15-denier stocking on your baroque pearl jewellery.

Now? Oh, where to begin?

The trouble is, for us 50-plusers, all the classic solutions that worked for decades – the little black velvet dress, the slithery lace dress, the velvet tuxedo – are now classic add-years-on traps.

And the wider problem is that we may not be approaching the whole business of party dressing in the right spirit. We need to reset and take a fresh approach if we want to avoid looking older than we do on every other day of the year.

So now’s the time to set aside everything you ever thought you knew about party dressing (retire that black tuxedo) and rethink your look with the midlife party style crimes in mind.

Here are seven style tricks to bring your look up to date.

Smart all-rounder

Don’t buy something just for Christmas, because it won’t feel right at any other time of the year. What we’re looking for now is extra glamour and twinkle but also something you can dress up for the fancy office drinks and dress down for a neighbour’s festive curry night – and then wear over and over in the new year.

Hush’s sequin wide-leg swishy trousers (£130, hush-uk.com) are sparkly and elegant enough to wear with either a sweater and flats, or a velvet blazer. Hush also does a £130 red V-neck dress – light enough to wear year-round, in a rippled texture fabric you don’t have to iron – that’s party-ready with shiny boots or a faux fur chubby jacket, tights and black kitten heels.

DO: Wear sparkly sequin pieces, but for maximum versatility and anti-age points keep them below the waist. The new rule with sequins is a little go a long way, and a few feathers or some fur are a better bet – less obvious and more flattering.

DON’T: Invest in all-over silver sequins.

Beware the ageing blow dry

Obviously essential to get a blow dry, but very important not to come out of the salon looking like your first headmistress. Everyone suits something different in the hair department, but the rule for all 50-plusers is avoid stiffness, don’t settle for a blunt easy-to maintain cut and make sure your hair looks like it’s a living thing.

DO: Make use of that ‘adding gloss’ product: Philip Kingsley’s Finishing Touch (£25, asos.com) settles dry frizzy hair instantly.

DON’T: Be tempted to get festive colourful highlights. That ship has sailed.

Shoe-shine time

Shoes are the instant route to injecting edge, glamour, fashion savvy… everything we need to keep us looking nothing like our age.

Equally, it’s crucial your fellow party-goers don’t look down to see some boring black suede sandals you found at the back of the cupboard. Shoes can kill an outfit and age it faster than ‘American Tan’ tights.

The bad news for those of us who have velvet, suede or gold platform sandals that have given us good service – these are back to looking clunky and ageing. The shoes for now are lower, leaner, more elegant: silvery flats, vintage-looking strappy sandals, high-polish kitten heel slingbacks. Silver has the edge over gold this season and shine has the edge over matt unless it’s a faux ponyskin or leopard print.

DO: Try a leopard-print slingback (£109, mintvelvet.com) or faux-patent kitten heel (£35.99, zara.com).

DON’T: Necessarily make a beeline for metallics. Shiny black and red are as high-impact and will be useful year-round.

Light on lace

Lace trims on necklines and inserts on sleeves – and even skirts – are great for prettifying outfits for eveningwear, but the days of the all-over, close-fitted guipure lace dress or top are over.

Anything lacey and clingy is ageing in party season, and anything lacey and see-through (like lace trousers) is just a bad idea. If you have great legs, consider M&S’s on-the-knee velvet skirt with a deep lace panel hem (£40, marksandspencer.com).

DO: Wear a lace trimmed something under a buttoned-up jacket (keep it spiky and feathery not floral).

DON’T: Wear lace tights. Love them, but their natural partner these days is a skirt that just covers your bum.

National velvet

Velvet is the only good fabric for a party trouser suit (satin is too much, cord is too plain), so long as it’s not black. On 50-plusers a black trouser suit is cold, not cool. Likewise a jacket with nothing underneath (the fashion-forward way to wear a trouser suit) is a bit chilly for us.

I’m for buying the suit with the waistcoat and wearing the waistcoat and trousers together, with a pretty blouse, and each piece separately: the trousers (fitted on the hips not the legs) with a bubble-hem top and jacket with a short-sleeved knit.

Inky deep blue beats black these days – and Mango has a good navy double-breasted suit (trousers, £49.99, jacket, £89.99, shop.mango.com).

Red, cinnamon or burnt orange (try Mango’s burnt orange velvet single-breasted jacket, £99.99, and trousers, £59.99, shop.mango.com) beat burgundy or emerald green (now ageing Christmas cliches).

Dark brown is a rich new alternative to black and achieves that thing we’re all aiming for – not looking like this is what you wear to parties and have been for the past ten years.

M&S’s chocolate brown wide-leg velvet trousers (£40, marksandspencer.com) are worth a look. That said black velvet trousers are still a good fallback provided you wear them with something other than black on top (ivory or silver are the top choices this year).

DO: Break the mould with a leopard-print sharply tailored jacket – great with black velvet trousers and heels.

DON’T: Venture into midi velvet dress territory.

Brighten up black

Black, as previously mentioned, is not the friend of 50-plusers – with a few exceptions: if it’s a luxey black embellished top (£140, mintvelvet.com) and you’re wearing it with a lighter furry jacket or wrap; or if it’s a good-quality velvet jacket and you’re wearing something bright underneath.

My 60-year-old friend sometimes wears an LBS (little black sweater) to December parties, with silky cream trousers and dangling pearl earrings, and she looks terrific. But generally plain black head-to-toe is a no and anything but velvet or soft fluffy wool will not cut it during party season.

DO: Make black and ivory or silver your new ‘all-black’.

DON’T: Wear black and plain jewel colours (matronly), although black and a strong chilli red can look wonderful. Try Hush’s bubble-hem satin top (£95, hush-uk.com) and Zara’s black fringe midi skirt (£55.99, zara.com).

Sparkle with subtlety

Who hasn’t got a drawer of larger-than-life jewellery bought to uplift something black and turn it into party season gold? Well, we’re not playing that game any more (see Brighten Up Black). So unless you’re the kind who wears bold, blingy jewellery the rest of the year, this is the surest way to make yourself look like a pantomime dame.

DO: Wear something dazzling and minimal, such as Marks & Spencer’s rhinestone dangling earrings (£16.50, marksandspencer.com).

DON’T: Wear heavy necklaces. And no chokers; they only draw attention to your neck.