Some of our questions will be ripped from celebrity headlines, because we do wonder what the hell is going on behind Brad Pitt’s kooky new wardrobe at 59, or why Shania Twain gets heckled for showing skin at 57. Often looking at issues through a celebrity lens can help us understand ourselves and our actions better, from a safe distance. Other questions will address super practical subjects, like how the hell to get rid of chin hair or blend your greys to transition elegantly or what to expect on a first date after years of monogamy. We want your voice, and your concerns here. Let’s make this a dialogue about how to age in style, with attitude.

Here is my own story in brief, because I’d like to explain how my own views on beauty and fashion and that whole world have changed with my own experiences. I’m 55, and began in journalism 34 years ago, in the food department at Toronto Life magazine. I was hired as the fashion reporter for the Globe and Mail in the mid-’90s, the era when supermodels were on the rise, and models gradually got thinner from there (heroin chic, et al). By the time I took over Fashion magazine as editor-in-chief at the turn of the millennium, celebrities had taken over magazine covers and the idealized beauty standards in fashion somehow became even more unattainable. Hindsight brings clarity, but I can’t believe I wasn’t more appalled about how narrow and exclusionary the ideals we were espousing were. I was complicit, but things have started to change and I’m grateful to be instigating some of these conversations now.

For the past nearly 15 years, I’ve been writing features for Zoomer as well as columns for the Toronto Star and The Kit, and in that time I’ve been thrilled that the conversation — and the content and the people in the spotlight — has shifted to start to include that broader definition of beauty. I loved writing a column about sex for Zoomer in the mid-2010s: I learned a great deal about how much sex matters throughout our lives and the intricacies of human interaction from reader questions. Most especially, I learned how often we get in the way of our own happiness and fulfillment. We aren’t there yet on all these lifestyle fronts, and ageism is a huge mountain that needs to be climbed.

In my own life, I’m getting better at sitting with the unavoidable effects of time and gravity. I don’t look like I did at 35, and I can’t be bothered any longer to mourn that. That doesn’t mean I’m at a state of full acceptance, but I do believe that we can all get there if we talk about it more. We have a lot to learn from the generations that come after us: millennials and gen-Zers are far ahead of us on body acceptance and individuality in self-expression. We have a duty to follow their lead here. They (the youth) genuinely want to see us age with more confidence and style, because they want to look forward to living differently when they are our age. They have so many concerns we didn’t have at their age — climate change clouding their futures, an impenetrable housing market and a jobs market without room to grow. The least we can do is show them aging has its upsides.

None of this means we can’t fight back against the effects of time with any and all tools at our disposal — plastic surgery and cosmetic enhancements are a viable option, and we will bring you news from that frontier as well. I believe no one should judge whether you do or don’t get things fixed. Aging naturally is just as valid — and exciting — a viewpoint. You do you is the best motto. We’re just here to provide a little context, a little expertise and some food for thought.

Always asking questions,

—Leanne Delap