Style Gurus Stacy London, Clinton Kelly Try On a New TV Show — and a New 50-Plus Attitude

Both of you are in your 50s. Are you doing anything differently in terms of fitness or diet?

Kelly: I’m more consistent. I do Peloton three days a week and I do weight training two days a week. I’m trying to stretch every day, but some days I forget.

London: I’m proud of you for that. 

Kelly: I want to be more flexible. I had a grandmother who lived to be 103. And she’s every day with stretching, every single day with a stretch. And I used to look at her as a kid and be like, Why are you doing that? Now I’m like, Oh, now I know why you’re doing it.

London: So you can live to be 103, obviously.

Kelly: Well, I don’t want to live that long. I’m going to make that very clear. I also know that I want to eat and drink in moderation everything that I want to eat and drink. And so the cost of that is that I have to work out five days a week.

London: I don't know how you do it. I could not do Peloton. I do strength training mostly, weighted-vest walking, things like that. One of the things that actually informed my style as I got older was my health, because my perspective changed so significantly around my body being strong as opposed to being like Kate Moss-skinny. Instead of going to the gym now because I had birthday cake last night and thinking, I’ve got to run on the treadmill for five hours until I burned off all those calories, it’s, How am I going to be strong when I'm 85? I don’t want to fall when I’m 85. What can I invest in now that is going to pay off dividends later? And it really did change the way I think.

London and Kelly consult with a participant on "Wear Whatever the F You Want." On their new show, the style mavens offer more positive fashion advice than they dispensed on their earlier hit series, "What Not to Wear." "One of the things that is so important here is that we’re not putting limitations on people," London says.

Courtesy Prime Video

What do you think about style now?

London: I’m not doing it to impress other people. I’m doing it to center myself and feel like I’m my most comfortable, authentic version. This is true for a lot of men and women when they hit their 50s, whether it’s andropause or menopause or just midlife. I say that it’s sort of a reckoning to a renaissance, because it is a very difficult transition to say goodbye to youth. And once you’re able to do that, you’re really able to think about who you want to be in the here and now.​

Is there something those over 50 shouldn’t be wearing anymore?

London: No, I think one of the biggest things was, going back 25 years when we were shooting What Not to Wear, there were rules. There were things that we were really trying to teach people. But one of the things that is so important here is that we’re not putting limitations on people.

Kelly: I want to be really clear when I say the advice that I used to give — don’t wear anything that’s too revealing in the chest; don’t wear anything that’s too short; don’t wear anything that reveals your midriff — is my old advice. My new advice is: If you feel amazing in your short shorts … then wear the short shorts. But if you are self-conscious about being older, then sure, cover up. ​​

What’s the oldest thing in your wardrobe, and where did you get it?

London: I have a lot of clothes from What Not to Wear. I have most of the shoes that I wore, which is pretty funny considering that I don’t wear them anymore. … We used to joke around: “You want to wear a heel because your shoulders go back, your boobs go out, it gives you better posture.” But that was before I had degenerative arthritis. Now I understand why everybody wants Skechers. 

Kelly: I have some [things from the show but] I’m not the same size that I was doing What Not to Wear, so I can’t fit into a lot of those things.

London: That’s because you’re so much more muscular.

Kelly: I am a little bit more muscular. I’m also a little thicker through the midsection. I have some shoes. I will never get rid of my Tom Ford tuxedo shoes or my YSL navy blue loafers, suede loafers. … The oldest thing I have is a 20-year-old T-shirt that I was wearing the day that I met my husband. And it’s disintegrating in my closet right now. 

Kelly and London give "Big Bang Theory" star Mayim Bialik's clothes a skeptical once-over during Season 7 of "What Not to Wear," which ran on TLC from 2003 to 2013.

Scott Gries/TLC/Courtesy Everett Collection

Do you have any regrets? Any “could’ve, should’ve, would’ves”?

Kelly: I have banished those phrases “could’ve, should’ve, would’ve” from my life. It’s living in the past, and I am dedicated to living in the present with an eye toward the future. Have I made mistakes? I made a ton of them, but I’m here right now. My life is amazing. So there’s really no point in getting caught up in anything that I could have done better or should have done better or would have done if I had given it more energy.

London: It all leads to where you’re winding up anyway, right? I have one regret, but I am making good on that regret this year: I never learned to drive. … So this year, Stacy London will have a driver’s license.