Kerre Woodham: Fashion dresses to impress the older woman

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman. And it's not the giving all your love to just one man that makes it difficult. It's the phenomenon of the incredible vanishing woman that's so hard to come to terms with.

One minute, I was out there, walking down the street, occasionally attracting the glance of a passing man - you know the one I mean. The look. The appreciative, warm, approving look that prompts a smile between strangers.

It's over in an instant, and nothing happens, and it's all very innocent, but there's a connection and it's nice. And now it's gone. Mothers of teenage daughters will know what I mean. You're walking down the street with your girl and you might as well be invisible. You are simply not seen by male passers-by.

All the attention is directed the way of your young, beautiful offspring. It's the same with teenagers. They don't see you either, unless you're their mum. Random kids between the ages of 14 and 25 grant middle-aged women the same level of recognition as they would a rubbish bin or a street light.

You're an object or a mass they must move to get around, but they don't really see you. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining - well, not much anyway. That's exactly the way it should be. Everything has its season, and the fact that my teenager is spring while I am autumn is just the way it is.

But it's why Fashion Week is so much fun and garners so much warm press from media mavens of a certain age. For a week, 40-something women can play dress-ups and can be appreciated and enthused over and pampered.

What they wear is noticed and commented upon, and the effort they've made to look good is acknowledged by their contemporaries. Older women are the market and target audience because we have the money. Even the belligerently beautiful young models aren't intimidating, because they're there, shaking their bony cabooses, for the viewing pleasure of the old girls.

I'm sure that's why Trelise Cooper has been so phenomenally successful. Her clothes are made for women over 30, for women with boobs and bums and stomachs, and they're clothes that make a statement.

They're not beige numbers that ensure women fade obediently into the background. They're unapologetically look-at-me clothes, all sequins and lace and sparkles. And wearing our Trelise, we will not go gently into the good night. We will burn and rave and rage in a riot of colour and light. And if half the world doesn't see us, at least we see each other.