We say "I've got nothing to wear" standing in front of a full wardrobe. Samantha Harman's argument is that the sentence has nothing to do with clothes — it's about not knowing who we're supposed to be.

In this episode I talk to best-selling author, stylist and former journalist Samantha Harman about her book Just Get Dressed: Why You Have Nothing to Wear and What to Do About It — a styling book with no pictures and no body-shape rules, built instead around the inner work most of us avoid. It's a conversation about generational trauma, the prehistoric brain, the martyrdom of the women in the squeezed middle, and why getting dressed in the morning is so flipping hard.

What we cover:

• Why "nothing to wear" is never about a lack of clothes... and what your wardrobe is actually a manifestation of (beliefs, identity, class, politics, generational trauma)
• The problem with the personal styling industry: more rules, more prescription, more exhaustion
• Epigenetics and the prehistoric brain — why being a visible woman registers as dangerous, and why the fabulous outfit stays on the hanger
• Clothing as a business tool — and why men have always been allowed to use it while women get judged for it
• The "bag of potatoes" meeting: how an ill-fitting supermarket shirt quietly costs you authority, presence and opportunity
• The compare-and-despair cycle and the social-media misery machine: and the reminder that all of it, even "authentic" personal brands, is marketing
• Enclothed cognition: why what you wear changes the actions you take (and how you handle Barry from accounts)
• Midlife as an opportunity, not a decline — finances, time, intelligence, and finding the rooms with brilliant women in them
• Two exercises from the book: meeting the 5-year-old who's really running your wardrobe, and the letter from your 90-year-old self
• Emotional spending, scarcity tactics and how retailers weaponise your feelings — plus the fast-fashion harm hiding behind "retail therapy"
• The wardrobe edit as a non-negotiable business activity — and the one thing to do first: get rid of what you hate

Find Samantha here:

• Just Get Dressed: Why You Have Nothing to Wear and What to Do About It - available on Amaz*n, or justgetdressed.com
• https://www.instagram.com/styleeditoruk/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-harman-style-editor/

Enjoyed this episode?

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Alex Perry is doing something unusual: he's a young man building a women's health-led underwear brand, and talking openly about menopause, mastectomy recovery and vulval health while he does it.

In this conversation, Emma and Alex explore:

• How his company, Alexander Clementine pivoted from a sustainable fashion focus into women's health after customer reviews and his own mum's breast cancer journey revealed an unmet need
• Why use seaweed (and specifically Icelandic seaweed harvested every four years) to make a fabric naturally antibacterial, anti-odour, temperature-regulating, moisture-wicking, hypoallergenic and rich in antioxidants
• The environmental case against synthetic underwear, and why fibres made from petrochemicals are particularly concerning in a menopause context (carcinogens, hormone disruptors, trapped heat and moisture)
• "Menopause-washing" — how to read the label and spot brands cashing in without using fabrics that actually help
• How the underwear helps with external-facing symptoms of menopause — hot flushes, heightened sensitivity, dry and itchy skin, vulval discomfort — and where it fits in breast cancer recovery (two-to-four weeks post-surgery, not as an immediate post-surgical compression bra)
• Why Alex believes men need to be part of the menopause conversation — and the response he's had from men his own age (spoiler: most know nothing about it)

• Alexander Clementine website: alexanderclementine.com
• Instagram: @alexanderclementine (search Alexander Clementine)
• Check out my earlier conversation with Jo and Rob, authors of Burning Up, Frozen Out — a book aimed at men with frameworks for having menopause conversations: https://www.thetripleshift.org/podcast/burning-up-frozen-out

Note: Alex kindly gifted me a sample crop bra to try ahead of recording — there's no paid sponsorship, and as regular listeners know, I rarely talk about products on the podcast unless I've used them myself.

To find out more about ways to work with me please check out www.thetripleshift.org/starthere

You'll find me on Substack too https://middlingalong.substack.com/

Retirement was introduced in the UK in 1948, when life expectancy was 66. It was designed to support people for about a year. So why are we still treating 65 as the cliff edge — and accepting a model that funnels women out of the workforce just as their crystallised intelligence peaks?

This week I'm joined by Lucy Standing, founder of Brave Starts, co-author of Age Against the Machine: New Rules for Working in an Ageist World, Telegraph careers columnist, and contributor to OECD policy on older workers. Lucy is sharp, evidence-led, and refreshingly impatient with the way the labour market wastes people in their 50s and 60s.

We talk about:

• Why retirement as we know it is a 1940s solution being applied to a problem that no longer exists

• The difference between fluid intelligence (peaks at 19) and crystallised intelligence (peaks in your late 40s and 50s) — and why most hiring still measures the wrong one

• The OECD-backed Generation study where 89% of older hires performed at or above expectations, against hiring managers' predictions

• Why "I want to do something more purposeful" is the dominant driver for workers over 50 — and money ranks sixth

• Why the jobs board model is broken if you're trying to pivot, and what to do instead (hint: stop hitting "easy apply")

• The would-be hotelier who almost spent his life savings on a Lake District boutique — and the two days that saved him

• Why we'll happily pay £30k for a degree but balk at paying for two days of practical experience in the field we're considering

• The 82-year-old woman whose letter changed how Lucy thinks about loneliness, work, and contribution

If you've ever felt invisible in the job market after 50, been told you're "overqualified," or watched a brilliant friend get screened out by an applicant tracking system, this one's for you.

Links:

• Age Against the Machine: New Rules for Working in an Ageist World — by Lucy Standing, Maggie Evans and Martin Hyde, out now in paperback [https://www.waterstones.com/book/age-against-the-machine/lucy-standing/martin-hyde/9783111706894]

• Brave Starts: bravestarts.com

• Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucystanding/

You can find me, and the full podcast archive over at www.thetripleshift.org/starthere

Don't forget to subscribe to my Substack too: https://middlingalong.substack.com/