So what should a woman my age wear this summer?

At 58, actress Felicity Dean finds there’s a fine line between flaunting too much or too little

ONCE upon a time, shopping for a dress meant an afternoon of bliss. Shops glittered with tantalising promise; the colours, the layout, the music, aisles of endless goodies . . .

These days, however, it’s a rather different story. As I scour the High Street searching for an outfit for a family wedding, I feel the heady draw of the shops in the same way I did as a teenager. But now I am a 58-year-old mother of one, so much of what I find inside is utterly inappropriate.

Sure, I can still fit into fashionable dresses from favourites such as Topshop, Zara, River Island and H&M — for which I can thank good genes, a sensible diet and regular sessions of Pilates and yoga. But should I be fitting into them? And what would people think of me if I did?

As an actress, I have spent a career changing in and out of outfits of all kinds and I’ve always been comfortable under the spotlight.

Yet now, as I’m standing under the harsh lights of a High Street dressing room with no role to play beyond that of a 50-something shopper, I feel strangely uneasy.

At times like this I can still hear my mother’s voice in my head, urging me to ‘see yourself as others see you, Felicity’ — her favourite refrain when I was a teenager and flouncing out of the house in a black PVC miniskirt and heels.

The High Street doesn’t seem to have realised that while women of my age don’t want to dress like grannies, we don’t want to dress like teenagers either. Still, I’m convinced there are stylish bargains to be had, even for those of us the other side of 50. You just have to look harder.

So what can a woman of my age wear this summer? I put seven High Street shops to the test, trying two outfits from each — one that looks strictly sensible and one that’s more fashion-forward. Even I was surprised by my verdicts . . .