Style Icon: Felicity Green

It was an absolute joy to hear Felicity Green in conversation last night, I love listening to fascinating people talk about their life and work. The first woman to join the board of a national newspaper - Green worked for the Mirror Group in the 1960s, when Fleet Street was an exclusively male environment and London was in full swing. The 85-year-old journalist with over 60 years experience in industry, spoke of her days as fashion editor on the Daily Mirror; of taking the mini skirt to Moscow, meeting Mary Quant and giving Harold Wilson's wife, Mary, a home perm. A delightful raconteur with strong opinions about style, Green insisted that the host for the evening, Susie Stone, remove her belt before the talk began, 'That dress shouldn't have an interruption!'

Then it was back to a childhood in Dagenham, where her fashion sense came from watching films. Skipping school to go to the cinema every Thursday afternoon with her father, Green was inspired by the Hollywood greats, 'Norma Shearer was my favourite. I kept a big scrapbook full of her pictures - but then I caught whooping cough, vomited all over it and the book had to be burned!'

And the octogenarian fashion expert's tip for looking good at any age? 'Look at this dress I'm wearing now (a simple black tunic), I'm 80-odd but I would have worn it in my twenties. Women mostly go wrong because they read an article saying 'Puff ball skirts are in' and think that they have to follow the latest craze. Experiment with fashion, just don't buy anything this year that you'll look daft in next year.'

Read Felicity Green's advice on how to develop your own sense of style here.




What are your tips for achieving timeless style?