As influencers go, Wirral great grandmother Jackie Innes is about as cool as they get.
At 86, she’s seen fashions change with the times, but her favourite style era is now.
‘I wore hot pants and miniskirts the first time around, and I loved them, they were such a change, but the last 15 years, I think, is my favourite,’ says Jackie, from West Kirby. ‘There’s such a good variety, you can be whoever you want.
‘I suppose, too, when I was at work, we really needed to be fairly formal. Nothing too outrageous, if you know what I mean. But after I retired at 65 I could I could branch out, couldn't I? And then I, I discovered Kate Crisp at Follies of Tarporley, not long before I retired. So she's been my saviour.’
‘Kate and her assistants, the Follies ladies, are friendly, and helpful, and, crucially, really honest. That's what you need, isn't it? Because I'm not beyond making a mistake.’
Although to look at Jackie’s style choices, it appears she makes consistently excellent purchases.
‘I like to wear something different, but age appropriate,’ she says. ‘Nothing too short, or too tight, something I feel comfortable in, but that has style and looks unique.
‘I look for something that fits my body shape, so is as flattering as it can be, but is modern. I'm a black and white with a flash of colour person. There's a lot of black. And I've always been that way.
‘I think the first evening dress I had was black and strapless, when I was about 16, in the '50s.
‘Now I like the Scandinavian styles, which are quite easy to come by these days. Whereas, you know, years ago, when I was young, there wasn't that variety of fashion.’
Jackie worked as a social worker and since retiring, she has been in demand as a model for stylish, modern designs, at both Follies, and Morgan in Chester.
‘ Morgan had an evening for their regular customers recently and I was asked to model,’ she says. ‘We walked around the shop and the guests asked us to describe what we were wearing and find out the price. There was a champagne and chocolate. It was very nice. And then everybody tried everything on. It was very relaxed, very friendly.'
Kate Crisp, owner of Follies, said: 'Jackie is an inspirational lady with an incredible lust for fashion. She shows that style and fashion can be ageless. She knows her look and is open-minded and will try anything. We have a great rapport and she is a pleasure to serve.'
One of Jackie's biggest clothes challenges has been finding the right lingerie, following a mastectomy.
‘Three years ago, I had breast cancer and had a mastectomy, and what surprised me was, how difficult it is to find a bra that fits and a prosthesis that fits. It took me a good 18 months. The team at the breast clinic at Clatterbridge Hospital were wonderful. Their expertise was second to none, even down to the dressing nurse. But it's not their job to provide lingerie.’
So Jackie went to her usual shops in search of help and inspiration.
‘When I looked in Marks and Spencer, which is the place that has a lot of lingerie, there's every colour, every style. I thought it would be no problem.
‘When you come to the post-op section there's three: grey, black and white. And none of them were for me.
‘Now we're the same women as before we had the diagnosis, you know, we haven't changed, apart from perhaps needing surgery or treatment. We are the same people with the same taste. And I just wonder why it is that there's such a dearth of help and places where you can go for a fitting. You can buy things online but buying a bra that to fit is difficult when you can try it on and online shopping adds an extra layer of expense and to-ing and fro-ing. And having found the right one for me, which was amazingly enough in ASDA, it's always out of stock.’
Jackie is keen to encourage shops to be a bit more thoughtful when it comes to their post-op ranges.
‘I'd like to put in a plea for lingerie manufacturers to give us a fair crack of the whip,’ she says. ‘When you've been through a bit of a trauma, like breast cancer, you want to feel normal again and look as normal as possible, not lopsided. It’s important to feel valued and normal.’
