Once the weather gets warmer, women start to break out the various-length pants. Which means that instead of jeans or full-length pants — which are fairly easy for most women to pull off — there's a wider margin of error between the bermudas, capris and crops.

So let me make pant lengths simple, by sharing the golden rule of fashion:  Never wear anything that hits you at your widest point.

Garments that "end" at your widest body part cause that body part to visually widen. In short: you look fatter. And we don't want that.

Remember how easy it used to be to get dressed? We didn't need to worry about whether or not we were flashing a wrinkled body part or wearing a style that added 10 years to our age.

Now that we're firmly in middle age, the style process may be more challenging but the rewards can be great (who doesn't want to look better?)

Here are some of the most popular questions that middle-aged women ask about fashion and style:

I like to think of us as the self-help generation. From business books like "In Search of Excellence" to Dr. Spock's parenting books – with plenty of Oprah thrown in-between – we've had great self-help resources to turn to when it comes to most of life's questions.

And like it or not, fashion after 40 is full of questions.

So, here, for those of you who want to have an easy guide to how to wear key pieces without looking foolish, is a guide on How to Wear It:

Dear Cher,

You have no idea how much it pains me to write this. After all, I consider you one of my style mentors.

But I'm wondering if maybe, just maybe, it might be time to start thinking about wearing a few more clothes. You know, if you want to, and all.

It's not that you don't still have the body for baring it. You absolutely do. And it's not like you are old (64 is totally the new 40.)