The tracksuit has been overhauled by catwalk powerhouses Chloe, Gucci and Bottega Veneta and is now very chic, and crucially appropriate. The new, luxury tracksuit trousers can be worn by evening with a sequined polo neck, or by day with an off-shoulder knit, or crisp shirt to the office, on a long-haul flight, or a date. This isn't a fad - sportswear is now a fully integrated high fashion proposition (we'll swerve mentioning the high street's investment in workout gear, because you know about that already, and you've probably already browsed Beyoncé's debut sportswear line, Ivy Park, while considering what to wear for that after-work pilates session).

Let's get real - what we wear at the office has evolved a long way from the rigid dress code of cinched-in skirt suiting, and so have our female figureheads. Even the last bastions of the polite skirt and blazer co-ords, news presenters, have followed suit. So, what was all the fuss about last week when Newsnight's Kirsty Wark was mocked for wearing a tailored pair of tracksuit trousers by boutique label Me +Em on air? Has the BBC let standards slip? No, because well-cut upscale tracksuit trousers are a friend to women at any age. While the catwalks inspire twenty and thirty-something, fashion-forward women to wear theirs with hoop earrings (or Céline's chunky gold choker) and a cropped leather bomber jacket, they're also an easy, flattering option for women in their fifties, and beyond, who value versatile convenience.

The idea of dressing up a pair of track pants isn't anything new in fashion circles - there's been a increasing number of editors wearing their Adidas or Vetements trousers with heels, chunky cashmere knits and the occasional sharp blazer over the past few seasons - but crucially the age-limits are now falling away, and the ever-increasing high fashion offerings are a firm endorsement of the look.