Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn moreThis time last year I received a very surprising present from my husband: a pair of sawn-off denim shorts. Actually, very surprising doesn’t begin to cover it.My husband gave up buying me clothes a long time ago because of the well-known rule that women who love fashion are extremely picky and the older they get, the pickier they become.A well-meaning partner can take note of your size and the colours you wear – they can even give you a version of something you already own – but they’ll never get it quite right. By now all partners of picky 50-plusers know this, and if they were to succumb to an impulse buy, the very last thing you would have thought they’d choose is a pair of denim shorts.Shorts have always been the hardest item of summer clothing to get right, and denim shorts have been on my banned list since before lockdown. I wore them for years and then one year I listened to my HOTS (Hand On To Stepdaughter) radar and concluded that denim shorts were now in the same category as dungarees – too wannabe youth.However, that leaves a big gap in your wardrobe, as I discovered. What are you wearing at the weekend for knocking about? What are you wearing in the garden, on holiday, at the beach… on all those occasions when you’re not in the mood for an air circulating A-Line dress or the weather requires something more halfway-house – tanned legs out, but sweater on top?A skirt is too fussy in these situations. A pair of tailored shorts too smart. I’d taken to borrowing an old pair of my husband’s shorts, turning over the waistband and going for the ‘borrowed from the boyfriend’ look, which is what drove him to search for some shorts I might wear that he could bear to look at.Hats off to him, because the ones he chose are now my best off-duty friends – Levi’s 501 mid-thigh lightweight shorts (£60, levi.com) and by some miracle they’re spot on.Search for Levi’s denim shorts online and you get a lot of options ranging from teeny with turn ups to wide and knee-grazing – all of which have the power to make you look older, bigger or tryhard.Red flag words when you’re searching are ‘baggy’ ‘dad’ and ‘jorts’ in the same sentence, as well as ‘bermudas’ (that pipe shape never did anyone any favours) and ‘mom’ (frumpy on mums of young adults).Details to look out for include a mid-rise waistline (more flattering); lightweight fabric (cooler, less bulky); mid-wash (summery); and a straight or slightly A-Line leg.Those of you who have seen the BBC drama Two Weeks In August will know that Jessica Raine’s character spends most of her time in a pair of slightly flared denim shorts that are as charming as they are all-ages friendly. For something similar try Calvin Klein’s flared shorts (£60, calvinklein.co.uk).These, like mine, are mid-thigh length: an inch either way and your legs look stumpy, or you’re over exposed and look like you’re heading to a pool party circa 1976.I now realise that rather than banning denim shorts, I just needed to adjust the hemline and, crucially, wear them on my waist, not hips. (Note: the boardshort, as in the knee-length swimming trunks previously worn by boys only, is back in fashion, but this look is strictly for the kids.)As for the hems, you can go raw or not, but if you’re going for the sawn-off look, avoid straggly threads or rips.Last but not least, you want to wear your denim shorts in a preppy way: not too fitted (you should be able to fit a flat hand inside your waistband – no more, no less), with a smart, half-tucked-in shirt, a twinset, or a cardigan over a T-shirt, and flat sandals or an elevated leather flip-flop (no trainers – too blokey). This time round we’re wearing them in a more polished, could-be-on-the-streets-of-New-York sort of way.The magic of denim is it makes shorts accessible for longer – the same shorts in stripes or canary yellow cotton would be a mistake.Then again, denim at our age may give you the shivers.Now that I’ve got the shorts bug back, I can confirm there are plenty of other casual shorts out there that are just as 50-plus friendly.Marks & Spencer’s linen-rich navy high-waisted shorts (£20) are more fluid and wider in the leg but have just the right sporty vibe.Hush’s cotton rich shorts, also from M&S (£65), work well, too.