Anna Berkeley is a 52-year-old Fashion Stylist and Body Shape Expert and ex-Selfridges Buyer, who has worked in fashion for nearly 30 years. Anna is also Founder of the Think Shape app, which helps you to understand your unique body shape and dress accordingly. She writes regularly for The Times, The Telegraph, Stella, Red and Daily Mail. As part of our National Age Without Apology Month, with the 2025 theme of Get Your Glow, we speak to Anna about how to get your glow through fashion after 40.
How can women aged 40+ dress confidently when their body shape, identity and style is evolving?
“The first thing I'd say is don't feel guilty about giving yourself time to think about the way you dress and what will make you feel good. We usually all have some sense of what looks good, but if we don't understand why it looks good, we can't replicate those winner outfits that sometimes just happen or feel like they happen by chance.
“So give yourself time to spend on yourself - consider it self-care. Dressing confidently and feeling good in clothes is a process, especially if your body shape has changed.
“It helps to go back to basics here and in brief, that would be thinking of three to five words that sum you up as a positive character. So mine might be creative, happy, friendly, things like that.
“Then think about some words that would describe how you would want someone to perceive you from the way you dress. So mine would be interesting, approachable, confident, sexy, those types of things. That's a really good starting point - consider it as a bit of a project, but a fun one and one to be dealt with sensitively and kindly.”
You specialise in body shape, why is this particularly important?
“It's something that we're not taught. It's something that we have to really learn about, especially if you don't work in the fashion industry. So it's vital to understand what your body shape is and that's your outline, you know, the names we've all heard of like ‘apple shape’ and ‘pear shape’, but on my Think Shape app we've renamed those as things like ‘Greek Goddess’, because I was fed up with women feeling like their shape wasn't the best shape, or any of those kind of reductive feelings that we can have that are attached to body shape.
“So it's important to understand what the outline shape is, as that's your form. And then it's important to understand what your proportions are, because this gives you information. So what kind of neckline to choose depending on your neck length, what kind of shoulder shape to choose depending on how broad your shoulders are compared to your hips. How long are your legs and therefore should you wear high-waisted trousers with something tucked in, or should you wear a trouser with a top that sits out, so that the legs look roughly the same length as the rest of your body.
“These things sound complicated, but they're really not. And I aim to make these something that can be used in a quite a forensic way to help you. They're not rules, they're tools to try and assist women in that quest to feel more confident and dress in a way that they want to.”
What are the main fashion dilemmas you hear from women aged 40+ and what's your advice for them?
“Being stuck in a style rut is a big one - we hit certain ages and certain parts of life which require shifts - and actually that's a good thing. It mustn't be seen as a negative thing. It's just part of the process. We should all evolve, style develops over time, it changes over time. It’s unlikely you’ll want to wear the same things that you wore when you were 20, for instance.
“Then we get into certain parts of the body that women worry about - upper arms and tummy are probably the ones that I hear most about. One thing I'd urge you to do is say to yourself – seriously, who's worrying about your upper arms except you. Most women are too busy worrying about their own perceived issues and they're not looking and and judging as much as we think they might be.
“We just need to all own who we are and accept our bodies because they do incredible things for us. And think about quick wins, so a quick win for me would be putting on a bit of instant tan, because smoothing out the skin so that it all looks uniform makes a massive difference to how we might feel about our upper arms.
“With regards to tummy, think about the fabrics that you wear - you don't want things that stick, or ribbed or slinky fabrics, or jersey, because then they tend to stick to our tummies and make things more obvious. Look to create a diagonal by tucking one side of your top high up and then leaving another side slightly low. That helps to cut through that shape. Think about semi-fitted tops and dresses so that they hint at a waist, but they're not drawing a line across it.”
How can fashion help someone to Get their Glow?
“It’s about accepting your body and understanding your body shape and proportion in order to say, okay, I know this looks good on me, I know I look good today.”
You look fabulous! How do you Get Your Glow?
“I think that a lot of where I get my energy from is my clients and having a rewarding job. Also using much more natural products, trying to drink lots of water. I exercise a lot - weight training, yoga, pilates. I walk my dog a lot and cuddle my dog. I think all of that feeds into it.”
What’s your approach to skincare and do you have a favourite Willowberry product?
“My approach to skincare is quite low-key. I tend to have very few products and just kind of stick with them. I think my favourite Willowberry product has got to be the Nutrient Boost Face Oil or the wonderful Cleansing Balm - I love both of those products and I use them a lot.”
What is your attitude towards age and how do you recommend others approach age?
“My attitude towards age has changed in the past few years. I lost a very good friend of mine six years ago now and I think that we worry way too much about ageing as a negative thing. It's not a negative thing. It should be seen as a gift, because not everyone gets to keep it and I think we need to think a lot more along those lines than any of the negative signs of ageing.
“I also think that we should approach age not only as a gift, but also as a learning experience - we get wiser and braver as we age and I try and hold on to those things rather than the negative media attention towards ageing.”
You can find out more about Anna at www.annaberkeley.com, find her Think Shape app at think-shape.com and follow her on Instagram @annaberkeleystyling
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As seen in Vogue, Independent, The Telegraph, This Morning and more.
