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Jess Cartner-Morley has been the Guardian’s fashion editor since 2000. She is online now answering your questions from tips for the well-dressed man to trouser fastenings
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Redstar1000 asks: What brands produce comfortable (and stylish) trousers for post-partum bodies? I’m looking for a pair that fits well over my c-section pouch, still very noticeable one year after birth, sadly.
nardacnardac asks: I’m perimenopausal and suddenly clothes don’t fit round my waistline anymore. Are there any tips and tricks for dressing fashionably that will look sexy despite my thickening waistline? I don’t want to have a whole wardrobe of shift/tent dresses as my only option.
You are in luck my friends. Defining, accentuating or narrowing the waist has been such a strong element of women’s fashion for so long (corsets!) that it can be easy to think of it as a non negotiable. But a lot of the best dressed women around right now are wearing generously cut shirts and not tucking them into their trousers at all. It’s very elegant when you get your eye in and it means you can pick a waistband solely on grounds of comfort. Alternatively, look out for trousers which are elasticated on the back half but look smart at the front. Me + Em do great ones.
I can’t see this happening in the medium term. The overarching trend for decades has been the decline of men’s tailoring as a proportion of menswear sold. Hence why every designer got into sportswear and streetwear. Clothes have got more casual and more comfortable and most of us like it that way. In fact I was at the weekend I was walking through a back-to-school kids’ uniform section in a store and wondering how long it will be till schools ditch the matching trousers and blazers? It seems to me kind of wild that children are dressed more formally for school than their parents are for the office?