Alright, alright, I know it's shallow, but here we go. The truth is, in an age where thinness is valued, many of us do want to look thinner in our clothes.

Anyone who's as skinny as she wants to be can stop reading here, but for everyone else (like me, after a winter of lard butties) here are some tips. 

* Aim for a long, lean, sleek line in everything you buy - don't buy clothes with volume. 

* Dress in one colour from top to toe, including tights and shoes. It's an age-old tip, but it really does work. If you tend to wear dark clothes and it seems too gloomy, make sure that your top half matches your bottom half (say, a jacket and skirt) but wear a contrasting blouse. Or wear dark brown, navy or charcoal instead of black. However, this trick also works in paler colours, including white.

* Matt dark fabrics with stretch are your best friend: think microfibre stretch tees, merino knit pencil skirts, suedette pull-on boots, poloneck sweaters. 

* Avoid texture, which adds bulk - mohair, boucle knits, guipure lace etc. If you like this sort of thing, save it for cushion covers and sofa throws, not your body.

* Stick to fluid, feminine fabrics such as wool or silk crepe, chiffon and knits. Avoid stiff, men's-type suiting fabrics or anything hard-edged such as patent leather or vinyl.

* 2-5 per cent stretch in any garment is usually a good idea.

* Don't wear your clothes too large. Jackets, coats and blouses should fit to the shoulder. Everything else should skim your figure, not envelope it.

* Don't wear shirts with a dropped shoulderline - these are men's garments, designed to make chests look broader (not something women generally want).

* Flip up your blouse collar at the back - it makes your neck look thinner. 

* Wear a long necklace or long thin scarf. If your necklaces have a tendency to drape themselves over one boob, try a heavy, flat pendant instead. 

* If your blouses gape, sew snappers inbetween the buttons for a better fit. 

* Wear your v-necks cut to the top of your bra or slightly higher. V-necks longer or higher than this, and crewnecks, tend to make your chest look vast. 

* Consider Henley necklines (round with a button-down front) or Moroccan necklines (round with a slit down the front), which bring emphasis back to your centre front. 

* Keep sleeves to elbow length or longer to hide bingo wings.

* Avoid short-sleeved garments - they're never the right length and it's usually more flattering to roll up the sleeves on a long-sleeved garment, which makes your forearm look daintier.

* Don't hide your ribcage area. This is the thinnest part of your torso, so it should always be visible. 

* Check that your bra is giving you enough uplift. Look for a 3-4 section cup, with or without an underwire, and thick straps that hoick your boobs up so your nipples are midway between your shoulder and elbow (or preferably higher). Lower than this, and your boobs will be hiding your ribcage, which will give a matronly look.

* If you have rolls of fat between bra band and waistband, wear high-rise knickers or an all-in-one control girdle. They're a lot more comfy than they used to be. 

* Make sure your clothes have vertical, not horizontal detailing. Vertical seams of the princess type are very slimming in jackets and blouses, giving a visual effect similar to boning.

* Diagonal shaping is also slimming - look for wrap tops, surplice tees, diagonal stripes etc. 

* Avoid bustline pockets and patch pockets on hips - these add bulk. Look instead for vertical pockets, or those that are inline with the side seam so they are invisible.

* Wear your jackets cut to the hip or high hip - NOT longer. A longer cut may comfort you with the idea that it covers your bum, but it also makes your legs look shorter. If you want to cover your backside, choose something with a more fluid structure than a jacket, such as a long tunic top. 

* Avoid dirndle skirts and pleated skirts that flare from the waist - they add bulk. If you like fullness in skirts, choose circle skirts, eight-gore flares or stitched-down pleats, which are flat at the waistline but flare out from about knee level. 

* Alter skirts so that they hit at the slimmest part of your knee - usually it's just above where it widens out into your calf. If you like narrow pencil skirts, have this done by a tailor because the side seams will also need taking in a bit. If you prefer longer skirts, have them about 4 inches above the ankle, in fluid fabrics, never at mid-calf length, which makes your legs look fatter.

* Do your utmost to find a good pair of jeans - then buy three of them. Look for dark indigo, bootcut, slight stretch, a proper v-shaped back yoke and the stitching on the side seams visible from the front to give a long line down your outside leg.

* For evening, think of fluid matt black trousers with black ribbon, braid or lace down the outer seam - this works on the same principle. 

* Look for shoes with a low vamp and no straps, to visually slim the foot. 

* Avoid ankle-strap shoes, and don't wear ankle boots with skirts. 

* Wear heels - if you look taller, you look thinner. If you're not comfy in heels, keep your flat shoes feminine and interesting but beware of ballerina pumps which can foreshorten the foot if the toes are very rounded.

* Consider knee-length boots instead of shoes, in the same colour as your skirt, for a long, unbroken line.

Since my reader Shelley pointed out how useful reversible clothing is if you want to avoid baggage charges on airlines like Ryanair, I thought I'd run a few more past you.

These clothes are all from Orvis. Yes, I know Orvis clothes are expensive. But not only are they beautifully made and comfortable, on a cost per wear basis they actually work out as cheap as chips.

I've owned much of my Orvis gear for 13-14 years (mostly bought in the sales), including five of their reversible jackets and two reversible waistcoats, and I wear them ALL THE TIME. You pays your money and you takes your choice. The fabrics, it should be noted, are universally of high quality - butter-soft linens, soft ethnic cottons and thick microfibres that need no ironing.

Orvis make many different sorts of reversible garments, including sunhats, bathrobes, jackets, coats and skirts. You can find a three-page listing of them here.

They include many ethnic-style jackets of the type seen here, with its zig-zag pattern at one side and its black and white paisleys on the other. The prints are usually very different on the two sides, and some reverse to a plain side. Quilted together from beautiful printed or batik cottons, these are among the most-worn items in my wardrobe - I have a brown one and a blue one, both with elephant appliques, a taupe one with appliqued chicks on it and a couple of others done in geometric patterns.

The stone-coloured microfibre trench at top left is fully reversible to black, which should be all the coats you'd need while on holiday, while the intarsia sweaters above right in a cotton/wool mix reverse out to the opposite colourway (white on red instead of red on white, for instance).

This pinwheel cardi (above left) is reversible and comes in black and white only - I would buy it like a shot this summer if I had the requisite £85 - ouch).  These skirts have two layers of toning florals or paisley and are usually made of high quality viscose.They come in many different colourways - the trick is to buy ones where you like both sides equally. 

Add in a pair of jeans and a few t-shirts and that might be pretty much all you'd need for a city break - in fact, play it right, and you could walk onto the plane wearing most of what you need for the week. 

I've been looking at the Fall collections from London Fashion Week to pick out what might be suitable for the over-40s babe.

Well, quite a lot, is the answer. Leaving aside the micro minis, etc, there were quite a few usable looks strutting down the catwalk and the whole ethos so far has seemed very grown up, classic and - quite often - countrified. I wonder if this is a sign of the infant terrible, London, finally becoming an adult?

First up, from Christopher Kane (probably set to be the lead influence this season), came some interesting florals, usually on a black ground. If you like this look, you could track down a black tote bag with a big, bold floral design and that would update your whole wardrobe for the season. Alternatively, a scarf would do the trick. One other option that might be fun is to take a black coat or jacket to a professional embroiderer and have them treat the collar, revers or cuffs with some big, bold floral designs. 

From Erdem came some interesting dark florals and other prints such as these swallows, again often on a dark background. I love prints with a dark background, which were de rigeur for women in the 1930s and 1940s, because they are both practical and slimming. I'd snap these up while they're available, along with the heavy laces in black, taupe and grey that also featured in this collection. Heavy lace of this kind - guipure and its ilk - are one of those revolving wheels in fashion: buy correctly now and you could wear your pieces for the next 30 years. I'd go for a sleeveless vest and a long, v-neck top with sleeves. 

From Nicole Fahri, who produced a nice grown-up collection, came lots of classic looks in beige and black. I like this kind of thing because it's pretty much how I dress (right now I'm in a long black pencil skirt and long beige v-neck cardi with pockets, which could have been lifted straight off her catwalk) but she also showed another trend - plenty of black patent.

Patent was something that also turned up at Kane's show, so I predict the shops will be full of it, and pretty good knockoffs too, by autumn. I'd go for boots, shoes, belts or bags rather than whole coats, and certainly not leggings. 

Fahri also showed quite a lot of asymmetric garments - like Comme des Garcons but not as hostile, so if asymmetry is your thing (and it is mine), that's another trend worth exploring.  Asymmetric garments suit intellectual women who want to be noticed for their difference, not their sameness and are a great design thread for women over 40. 

If you like to spend winter in big fluffy cableknit sweaters and grey tweed, there were plenty to be found at Julien Macdonald's show, along with some very nice tailoring in dense black wools and camelhair.  Since camelhair also turned up at Fahri, that could be a go-to colour for the winter (time to get out my camelhair car coat with black chenille embroidery). Macdonald also showed lots of black chiffon, and black lace over nude chiffon - a great colourway for lingerie or sexy eveningwear. My major complaint about his show, though, was the use of some of the most anorexically thin models I've ever seen - one of the girls looked frankly like a corpse. 

There were more cream cableknits and grey tweed over at Pringle, along with gorgeous cobweb knits in black and camel colour. Apparently this uses a new technique involving soluble fibres, which washes away to reveal the cobweb pattern. Very pretty anyway. 

So, overall, classic but not in any way sombre, with lots of food for thought for next winter. But how about we get this one over with first?

As aforementioned, once you hit 40, summer dressing can turn into a total nightmare. While most of us look pretty OK swathed in sweaters, manufacturers desert the average woman entirely come summer and produce a plethora of skimpy, low-cut, short bits of nothing that only look good on a 16-year-old.

There's also the tricky issue of colour. Most women's go-to colour is black and black clothing accounts for 76 per cent of all women's clothing sold in the UK, but in the harsh light of summer, it looks a bit dreary to say the least and not everyone wants to dress in screaming shades of pink, blue and yellow as an alternative. Meanwhile, the manufacturers churn out black shift dresses all summer as if we all worked in law firms.

The freshest colour for summer is undoubtedly white, but it takes a brave soul to dress in white from head to foot and it's hardly the most practical colour if you're climbing in and out of cars or public transport or pelting along the UK's crowded, dusty streets.

Monochrome schemes, however - mixing black and white - look as good in town as at the seaside, so if you stick to black and white for your beachwear this winter, when you get back you can continue to wear the clothes throughout the British summer, if it ever arrives. 

The combination of black and white always looks crisp, which is important when you're wilting like limp celery. You can go for the more formal combinations of block colour and trad patterns like stripes and spots, or alternatively choose florals - or even both: as long as the colour scheme remains monochrome, all the patterns will tie together. Once you've pulled together your basic wardrobe, you can add accessories in any colour you like to make things ever-more summery.

Flicking through the Damart catalogue recently, I noticed how quickly you can build a wardrobe from their offerings of black and white clothes this year, and the prices are very reasonable. Therefore all the pix shown are Damart, but you can probably get this look from any high street store. 

I was very taken with the two-pack of dresses above, and the matching two pack of skirts (left), each with one plain black and one monochrome floral. They are all in pull-on cotton jersey for maximum ease of use (and no ironing) and the floral pattern will hide a bit of salt and sand as easily as city dirt. Add in both the black and white versions of this little cotton jersey shrug (above) with its cute fluted sleeve and that gives you many interchangeable outfits. It's good to see a shrug that's suited for daytime use and not just evening.  

Cleverly, Damart have also produced a matching swimdress, which means you can simply pull on the floral skirt over the swimdress to be covered for the walk back to the hotel. Or you could try this swimsuit instead, which is toning rather than an exact match. It offers slightly less coverage but a different neckline. 

This reversible skirt is also worth looking at - floral one side, diagonal striped on the other. I love reversible clothes when I'm packing and can't take much and although this skirt design doesn't exactly set the world alight, it looks very wearable with a simple tee or short blouse. 

This bias-cut floral dress (below) is very simple and flattering, with a skimming cut that feels comfy in the heat and the diagonal pattern making you look slimmer. Again, it can be dressed up with cardis and shrugs for a different look.  And for evening or lounging around, this colour-blocked maxi dress is fabulous, if you have the height to carry it off.  

Add in a couple of pairs of jeans or trousers in white and black, and that's your summer wardrobe pretty much taken care of, and if you want a bit of colour, add in some accessories in red, blue, aqua, gold or whatever other colour takes your fancy.

Have fun on the beach.

Damart can be horribly frumpy (they were once best known for thermal underwear, after all), especially in summer, when the majority of clothing available anywhere seems to turn to a dreadful hideousness, but as usual there are one or two gems there. 

Bypassing the vile leggings and cropped trousers, these jeans struck me as useful. You can choose from this pull-on type at top left (flat-fronted, but with handy belt loops, should you wish to hide your dreadful elastic secret), or a tummy-support design - IMHO, something every woman over 40 should have in her wardrobe. The former are only £16, while the latter are £35 and the nice thing about ordering from a catalogue is that no-one's watching when you try them on. 

This blouse (right) also has some very nice details - note all the vertical seams, the flattering neckline, the three-quarter sleeves that allow you to show off a bit of arm candy. It comes in ivory and a sort of grape colour on the UK site, but this taupe shade is only available on the .fr site.

This camisole (left) is also a good design - again with vertical detailing, wide straps you can get a bra under and enough length to be useful - while the piped navy cardi below is the sort of thing that would smarten up jeans or team with a white skirt or navy trousers for summer. It is a little formal for me, so even better is a navy and white striped one they have on the site.

Dressing smartly in summer is always a problem for mid-life women - especially for work. The office might be either air-conditioned or a sweatbox, while travelling can be a nightmare on public transport - at least in a car you can set your own temperature, but on a bus or a train, you never know what you're going to get. Meanwhile, if your look or your lifestyle doesn't suit strappy, clingy little bits of nothing and you do at least need to look respectable, the manufacturers aren't interested in you. 

Summer colours are often rubbish too. Pastels are often horrible shades of turquoise, peach and pink in cotton jersey or poly mixes that look cheap and nasty, and there are lots of overblown florals. Personally, when it comes to pattern, I favour stripes and polka dots for summer as they always look fresh.

With regard to colour, you can't go wrong with combis of a good neutral such as black, navy, khaki or taupe, mixed with white or cream, or self-patterned and tonal mixtures. The latter often work best in in medium-toned colours such as denim blue or taupe, as these go with virtually all other colours.

This classic shift dress shown right (what the Americans would call a 'jumper') is again available on the French site but I didn't see it on the UK one. Made of chambray, it could be worn almost anywhere from the city to the waterfront. I can see my friend C wearing this.

From the French site (not available in the UK) comes this crinkle cotton outfit (left), in khaki or blue. This is the kind of outfit beloved of French women in mid life: a bit of pattern, vertical detailing, no ironing required, a bit of flirt in the ruffles, and quite a lot of flexibility. You can team the dress with a cardi, shrug or the matching blouse, or go sleeveless, and the fabric can take an absolute hammering without showing a mark. I see a lot of women wandering round my supermarket in various dress-and-blouse or skirt-and-jacket combos like these. 

Sad that the UK site isn't offering these excellent clothes, given that it’s the same company, but there are some other nice dresses to choose from, including an A-line, button-down, princess-seamed dress in chambray. This is one of the most flattering dress shapes on most women, is cool for summer with that lack of a waist seam and can take a lot of dressing up or down with cardis, belts and bags. For my casual lifestyle, it would be a winner.

More on Damart later.