Mariella Frostrup: ‘As you age, you miss the odd builder’s whistle’

Jessica BurrellWed, August 12, 2026 at 10:01 AM UTC

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Mariella Frostrup wore a chic gold Alice Temperley dress to the 2026 V&A summer party - John Phillips/Getty

When Mariella Frostrup moved from Ireland to London at 16 years old, she says she brought four carrier bags containing her “most proud and favourite outfits”. This included a “Kermit-green” brushed velvet leotard and a PVC batwing jacket, which she wore non-stop on a King’s Road awash with punks at the turn of the 1980s.

Things shifted when she started working in music PR, promoting bands such as Dire Straits and Bananarama. “I used to look after Patsy Kensit’s PR and she always says that her vision of me in the 1980s is in skirt suits with stockings,” says Frostrup, speaking today from her home in Somerset.

It’s a little hard to imagine either iteration now that the broadcaster and journalist, 63, has honed an elegant dress sense befitting her enduring career. As a prolific campaigner leading the national conversation around the menopause (this week she has been co-hosting Cracking the Menopause at Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and the Government’s newly appointed women’s employment ambassador, Frostrup’s wardrobe these days needs to carry her from Parliament to a literary charity event with Queen Camilla to the V&A summer party with ease.

Mariella Frostrup cut a stylish figure at the V&A summer party - Dave Benett

She says that it was age, as well as having two children in her 40s, that changed her approach to fashion. “I suppose I’ve become less interested and more confident in equal measure,” she says. “Less interested in so far as I’m really not a slavish follower of fashion. I don’t think I ever really was, but I used to be much more insecure about my looks. Eventually, after the long trawl, you grasp that it has to come from inside, and that everything else is decoration.”

An end to the weight fluctuations that dominated her 20s and 30s also helped. “My weight used to go up and down depending on how happy or miserable I was emotionally, so I’d feel too fat and uncomfortable,” she says. “But my metabolism completely changed after I had my kids and I’ve remained relatively slim. Maybe my emotions just settled down.”

She also let go of the impulse to “grasp at what everybody else is wearing, whether or not it suits you”, as well as the “tyranny of high heels” – she now rarely goes higher than about an inch – and skin-tight dresses.

“I remember walking to a film premiere in Leicester Square wearing this dress that I couldn’t breathe in and really, really high, uncomfortable stilettos,” she says. “I just thought: ‘What am I doing? This is not fun.’ Now, I don’t feel confident unless I’m comfortable.”

Frostrup speaking with Queen Camilla at the 70th anniversary of Book Aid International at St James’s Palace in a shirt by Alex Eagle - Aaron Chown

It’s a thought that crossed her mind when she saw the negative responses from online commenters to the Victoria Beckham dress that Marie-France van Heel wore as her husband Andy Burnham entered No.10 as Prime Minister recently. Dressing for the public stage is tough, we agree.

“I don’t suppose she felt very comfortable in that dress because it was tight, but the criticism was really cruel and so unnecessary,” says Frostrup. “They don’t get a budget for their clothes and they’re criticised if they borrow them because it seems like taking advantage of the job, but then they’re judged mercilessly on what they do end up wearing.”

Away from that kind of spotlight, Frostrup has mastered her own brand of comfortable chic in pieces that have become signatures: flattering jumpsuits, sharply tailored suits, bias-cut dresses. She prioritises small, female-founded fashion labels such as Me+Em, Aspiga and Wyse, as well as infrequent, high-quality purchases, often in the form of Rise & Fall cashmere and Margaret Howell sweaters.

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The broadcaster opted for a white ME+EM jumpsuit for the Charles Finch & Chanel 2026 pre-BAFTA Party at 5 Hertford Street - Jeff Spicer/Getty

She’s kept some designer pieces from years gone by, building up an enviable archive that features Tom Ford-era Gucci suits and a Chanel skirt suit that she bought with her first television pay cheques. She regrets having the hemline of the latter taken up too high, but is glad to pass pieces on to her daughter, who’s in her early 20s.

Some other wardrobe stalwarts have been left in the past. “An interesting thing happens as you get older because the things that used to look fun and funky when you were younger can end up looking staid and middle-aged,” she says. “I’ve got wonderful flowery dresses but only some of them look good on me now. I tend to look better in block colours.” She’ll then add in a “funky” pair of shoes, like her favoured Tod’s leopard-print loafers, or try out a bolder colour, like the gold Alice Temperley dress she wore to the 2026 V&A summer party.

All this must help to stave off another element of ageing that feels all too familiar. “The whole thing about becoming invisible as you get older is definitely not a myth,” she says. “I can walk into a room and walk back out again, and people won’t notice I was in it. You do occasionally miss the odd builder’s whistle or random appreciation from strangers.”

You get the sense that she won’t be reprising the Kermit leotard any time soon, but from this writer at least, the admiration is still very much there.

Jumpsuits work anywhere...

“I’ve got jumpsuits in every colour. They’re really great for work because you’re dressed up but still casual. I love the cord ones from Aspiga.”

Frostrup wore a Chanel sequinned jumpsuit to the Charles Finch & Chanel Pre-BAFTA Party in 2025 - Mike Marsland…Except at a festival

“A jumpsuit is really not a great idea at a festival. Try jeans or a skirt, a green army surplus-style jacket, and Birkenstocks or trainers.”

Always wear black on flights

“I always wear black when travelling. I once wore cream cords and a cream cashmere jumper on the way to Venice and the first thing I did in the airport was spill coffee all over myself.”

Don’t overthink outfits

“I used to spend hours thinking about what I was going to wear but now I just think ‘that’ll probably work’ and be out the door in 20 minutes.”

Remember that fashion is cyclical

“There’s a picture of me at 14 in Dublin in a green jacket, white T-shirt and jeans. And if you saw me in Somerset on any given day, I’d probably be wearing the same thing.”

Jumpsuit, £158 (down from £395), Me + Em; Biarritz sandals, £149, Penelope Chilvers; Reading glasses, £19.99, London Mole; Rodaya jacket, £165, Sézane; Gold-plated bracelet, £25, Orelia

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”