Despite the fact that Monica Bellucci publicly stated in a recent interview that ageing was sexy, it would seem that not many fashion and media outlets are on this particular gold-plated bandwagon.

In fact, despite the fact that living legends like Catherine Deneuve, Carmen Dell’Orefice and well, Bellucci, continues to stun society at large with their well-preserved looks, open any high-end magazine and you will realise that once you’ve hit the big 5-0, you seem to become pretty much invisible.

Unfortunately, the buck doesn’t stop there. I was recently having a conversation about fashion with two very lovely middle-aged women and within a few minutes I was reduced to utter dismay.

While one of them shyly confessed that she used to love wearing white but no longer does after being ridiculed for doing so, the other shamefacedly told me that she had been lusting after a pair of red shoes for ages but that her daughter had bluntly (and callously) told her that she was past it and that she should settle instead for some comfortable shoes that would be more befitting for her age.

While fashion cannot save the world, it has certainly saved many a woman from feeling like she had all the self-worth and autonomy of an old bag

Now I’m not going to get into any dated clichés about age and wisdom and all that jazz because well, it’s all a load of tosh and goes against my fundamental belief that a woman does not have to be young and a size 6 to be beautiful or to wear what she wants. Fashion is a small yet beautiful way to express yourself, and while it cannot save the world, it has certainly saved many a woman from feeling like she had all the self-worth and autonomy of an old bag.

Life is too short not to buy the red shoes and the leather skirt, and well, it’s certainly not done any harm to Tina Turner, and won’t do any to you. Iris Apfel would hardly be Iris Apfel had she given two decaying figs about what her narrow-minded neighbour had to say about the colour of her stockings.

We should not be censoring other women from embracing themselves even as they get older; we should be promoting it and celebrating all the different things that make us individuals, without fear of judgement or reproach.

Many girls my age talk about equality and giving a voice to everyone, yet many women who become mothers and grandmothers slowly find themselves edged towards the wings of their own lives, unable to afford the youthful currency they once had.

Indeed, if age should teach us anything, it is the beauty of a woman who knows what looks good on her and who has the confidence to play up to her own strengths.

After all, while age is an inevitable part of life, orthopaedic shoes aren’t.