Women’s ready-to-wear buyer at Browns Fashion, Octavia Bradford, references Attico designer Giorgia Tordini and actress Zoë Kravitz (who is actually 29 but we’ll give her that) as "perfect examples of how you don’t have to wear slacks and a brooch when you approach 30". Both women, she says, have an identifiable personal style "but tailor their look to suit a vast variety of environments". Like me, and most of the women I speak to about this, Octavia doesn’t believe in 'age-appropriate' dressing in theory, but acknowledges that it exists for the individual in reality: "The term irritates me, particularly when it’s used in relation to the way people dress. Yet, just two years into my 30s, I’ve realised it’s kind of a thing." For Octavia, the conundrum of 20s dressing to 30s dressing manifested in a single item. "It was denim shorts – I’d look at them, descend into a propriety minefield and end up knee-deep in an existential hot pant crisis. As much as I don’t like to admit it, this whole age thing does have the potential to add another obstacle to the insecurity-ridden ordeal that is getting dressed every morning." While Octavia has decided not to pay attention to age-appropriate dressing, she does pay attention to appropriate dressing, i.e. appropriate for your surroundings. "Sophistication and environment are valid considerations," she says. "It sounds like a cliché, but what's most important is being comfortable in your choices and staying true to your personal style."