ALEXANDRA SHULMAN'S NOTEBOOK: Olivia proves fashion is for the over-50s - but be bold

I've been on the road promoting my new book and at every festival or bookshop at least one woman puts her hand up to ask why fashion doesn't address women of middle or later age.

Last week, I was able to direct them to the vision of Olivia Colman, 52, on the catwalk at Miu Miu in Paris. 

The actress appeared with barely-there make-up (though it probably took some time in the chair for the make-up team to apply) and her newly greying hair was in a messy bun.

She was wearing gorgeous flat loafers and an oversized leather jacket and skirt that would have been especially made for her, as no way would she fit into the minuscule sizes of most models.

She looked real and the clothes were accessible. Usually, when we see older women on the catwalk, they tend to be dressed to stand out from the crowd of younger models, generally in some unwearable, freaky number. 

Miu Miu's designer Miuccia Prada, 77, showed Colman simply as a very attractive version of herself in some great clothes. Not entirely dissimilar to Prada's own appearance.

The issue then, is not so much that there are no clothes but that as we age it gets harder to imagine how we will look in unfamiliar styles. 

Many women don't want to keep wearing the same old thing but lack the confidence to try something new.

Olivia Colman has been embracing her greys and natural curls in recent weeks after on Sunday she tied back her long  locks to walk the runway at Paris Fashion Week

The Oscar-winning actress said walking a Paris Fashion Week catwalk as a 'grey-haired woman of 52' was 'terrifying' (pictured on The Graham Norton show)

Even I – and I love new fashions – find that when the seasons change I have to make a conscious effort not to repeat buy what I already own but try something different to spice up my wardrobe. It's usually a success.

One of the many reasons we should support small, independent clothes shops is that these environments have staff who can and will suggest things a customer might not have thought would ever work. 

That's a big difference between scrolling through a mass of photoshopped images of young women – and yes, even M&S and Next are guilty of that – which don't help a woman scared of the mutton alert to branch out and experiment, which they might enjoy.

I love the trousers you seem to hate

Incidentally, I gather that the current trend for barrel-leg trousers is one that many readers loathe. I differ. 

I've just ordered a new pair from Albaray to add to my fairly substantial collection – on the basis that they're far more flattering than skinny-leg jeans and disguise chunky thighs.

Boots really needs a Selfridges glow-up

Boots is one of our best-known brands, but for years it's been languishing in that place in hell reserved for uncherished household names. 

It still features on most high streets but – other than in the big, flagship stores – offers only unattractive racks of products in uninspiring shops.

Now the Canadian branch of the Weston family has bought Boots, including its No7 cosmetic brand, for £7 billion, I'm hopeful this will change. 

The Westons have form in turning stores around. They transformed Selfridges from a moribund department store always playing catch-up to Harrods into the liveliest emporium in London.

The mastermind in charge of that reinvention was Vittorio Radice, who envisaged the store as a 'piazza', or town square, housing myriad experiences. 

I don't expect Boots will become quite that – but the stores are undoubtedly an opportunity to do something much more interesting, and lucrative.

Medics forget their bedside manners

When I was in hospital a few years ago, despite excellent medical treatment, I was struck by the seemingly uncaring attitude of many of the doctors who checked me out on their rounds. 

They would discuss me over my head, scarcely addressing me, the patient, at all, as if my thoughts were utterly irrelevant and information didn't need to be shared.

Poppy's Promise, launched last week by Katie and Neil Russell in memory of their baby daughter who died shortly after birth, is an initiative to encourage a more 'compassionate and people-focused approach' in hospitals and embed that in training. 

We all know that the NHS is overwhelmed and staff have little time for each patient, but a fraction of that time spent making them feel the practitioner cares about them as an individual would be time very well spent.

Say it with flowers... even if it's a barb

My mother used to say that all gifts can be interpreted as criticisms. I think she meant that things like soap indicated one wasn't taking enough baths.

It's true that gifts can alert one to shortcomings – as happened when a friend arrived with a beautiful bunch of dahlias. She said her garden was stuffed with them.

Despite having planted hundreds this year, my own garden has been bereft of anything other than the odd, sad drooping bloom for weeks. When I look at her beautiful offering, I feel my own failure.

ADHD shock – the H stands for horny!

Amid controversy over ADHD diagnoses among young people, my friend Gillian Johnson Shakespeare has co-written a new book, Women And ADHD, with Dr Sally Cubbin. 

For anyone who feels they might have this condition it's a very helpful guide, but, as one who doesn't, I was fascinated to read that along with hyperactivity, forgetfulness, inability to prioritise and a propensity to break things, including your own limbs, women with ADHD frequently have a higher sex drive.

Did Reese snap up my old Louboutins?

Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon were pictured the other day visiting the Westbourne Grove branch of Oxfam. 

That is where I take many of my clothes when I am clearing out, so I wonder whether either snapped up the old Ferragamo handbag, the slightly scuffed Christian Louboutin heels or the Dries van Noten tunic I deposited on my last trip?