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Tips from a 54-year-old fashion instagrammer

Paris — If you find yourself increasingly at a loss on how to dress age-appropriately, it might be useful to learn a few things from former Elle France fashion director Sophie Fontanel.

Paris — If you find yourself increasingly at a loss on how to dress age-appropriately, it might be useful to learn a few things from former Elle France fashion director Sophie Fontanel.

The 54-year-old started chronicling her outfits on Instagram by accident. Mid-fashion shoot and frustrated with the mood on set, Fontanel put the clothes on herself and showed the 16-year-old model how to pose — “Be yourself, act natural!” Needless to say, a style star was born.

Fast forward two years and Fontanel’s selfies have garnered her 69,000 followers on Instagram — and a profile in Vogue. Now, the fashion journalist says brands give her clothes from the showrooms to take home and photograph herself in.

That’s not surprising. A quick scroll through her feed is sartorial inspiration for everyone, whatever your age.

Her style — an eclectic blend of menswear, oversized vintage shirts, pastel tailoring and a healthy dose of Celine — hasn’t always riffed off the same confident formula. Ten years ago, she told The Telegraph, she had a wardrobe epiphany and decided to break away from the simple, largely all-black dress code of peers. She said: “Everyone in the fashion industry in Paris dresses exactly the same!” She started dressing for herself, stopped dyeing her hair brown and followed her intuition.

It goes to show that age is not a factor when it comes to being stylish. As Fontanel puts it: “You can show your body. It is important to be proud of it whatever your age.”

Here are some other style lessons Fontanel shared:

THINK BIG

“I love big skirts or pants that sit below the waist, and mannish shirts with voluminous sleeves,” said Fontanel, who believes they allow her to belt things differently and experiment with shape and silhouette. “The key to all my looks is comfort,” she explained. “But not ‘comfort’ as in I have forgotten my femininity or elegance. If you feel comfortable, it is as if you are naked, and it is sexy! And if you feel sexy then everyone will know you have a good relationship with your clothes and with your body.”

BLACK IS BORING

“When you avoid black, you enter a new era of colour,” said Fontanel. “I now love wearing white, baby blue and pastel pink — very soft colours that are the polar opposite of the all-black outfits I wore in my youth.” The style icon, for example, has a thing for white shoes, as they make a striking contrast to filthy pavements.

MIX IT UP

For Fontanel, mixing masculine with feminine apparel is the way to go. “I imagine myself as a mixture of Jackie Kennedy and Clint Eastwood,” she said. “My look can be very feminine but also masculine, with large garments in soft colours.” Blending high and low fashion works too. A leather Valentino skirt over a £5 (S$9.80) nightdress? That’s the Fontanel way. “Remember not to take fashion too seriously. If I feel too serious, I can start to feel pretentious,” she said. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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