DRESS FOR SUCCESS

I am a mother-of-one with a healthy interest in fashion. However, I cannot compete with the level of styling evident in many women’s school-run outfits. Floor-length, faux-fur coats, 6in heels, perfectly coiffed hair and rock-star sunglasses are not unusual. I live only two minutes from the school, but unless I get up at some unholy hour, I do not have sufficient time to invest in my appearance. What do you advise? Should I focus on hair, make-up, outfit or accessories? Or should I begin a sort of bag-lady micro-trend?

CT, Kingswinford

A combination of the right outfit and essential accessories can hide a multitude of sins, while also suggesting you are a dynamic yet caring person. I find a heavyweight tartan dressing gown, robust wellies, bicycle helmet and tinted skiing goggles are the perfect kit for sending the school fashion police into meltdown.

AMERICAN LOVER

For a few years, I have been having an on-off, long-distance relationship with a married American man. He and his wife live several states apart, yet it appears they haven’t divorced. He is remarkably unforthcoming about his marital status, so, having become friends with his sister, I’m attempting to find out from her whether or not he is, indeed, still married. Is there any sort of etiquette for probing the relatives of one’s acquaintances for information? I’ve tried casually asking after his wife, but that got no response. I could just drop the entire thing — including him — but I’m too curious to find out what is actually going on.

KG, by e-mail

It is perfectly obvious he is not married any more, but he doesn’t want you to know in case you start putting pressure on him to be more committed to you. If he really were still married, he would be complaining about it all the time. As things stand, he can jump into bed with you whenever he feels like it, yet have the perfect excuse for disappearing should you get too demanding. You may be perfectly happy with this arrangement, just as long as he keeps on finding the back of the net.

PARTY FEARS

My problem is that I am having a party soon, and it is the first time I have ever given one. What are your top five party tips?

ZW, by e-mail

1 Never have a party in your own home, or when your parents are in, if you live with them. 2 You can never have too many Twiglets. 3 No pets. 4 Facebook is an excellent way of alerting all your friends that there is a party on. 5 A few strategically placed buckets will save a lot of work the next day.

LOVELY MOVER

In what can only be called my father’s dotage, he has taken to putting wheels on all sorts of usually non-mobile domestic fittings so he and my mother can keep dust and cobwebs at bay. Items so mobilised to date include his workbenches in the garage, flowerpots, bedside cabinets and the dining table. Now that my mother is becoming increasingly frail, I fear she will be next on the list. I worry that my father’s penchant for dubious DIY and a sudden interest in surgery will lead to disaster. Can you advise the best way to prevent a much-loved but traumatised grandma from rolling off into the sunset?

CLG, Cirencester

You are imagining the worst, but I very much doubt he will go as far as surgery, when all he needs to do is pop her into a pair of roller skates, or perhaps fix her slippers to a skateboard. So stop worrying — he sounds eminently sensible and very practically minded.

Send problems to: Mrs Mills, The Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST, or mrs.mills@sunday-times.co.uk. No correspondence can be entered into

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