Prime Time

Tired of hearing what is ‘age-appropriate’ and what isn’t? Meet Cat Coluccio, the life coach helping women ditch the rules and start living the life they want 

- Maria Hoyle

Just recently, TVNZ’s Breakfast featured a guest by the name of Cat Coluccio. Cat had been invited on to talk about her Rock Your Jeans campaign – which she launched after reading a study which said most people surveyed thought women shouldn’t wear jeans after age 53. Cat – life coach, personal trainer, motivational speaker and educator – found this doubly insulting. First off, she turns 53 this year so it was “a little close to home”. Second, she’s more than a little tired of hearing what women in midlife should and shouldn’t do. So she invited female denim aficionados worldwide – via her Facebook page Rocking Midlife – to post pictures of themselves in their jeans. The response was overwhelming. Women the world over, from age 40 upwards (the oldest 86) flooded her inbox and social media with pictures of themselves in their go-to wardrobe item.

“They were all so militant. One even said ‘I’ll be buried in my jeans!’” said Cat. Sitting there in the TV studio, in her own fashionably ripped-at-the-knee denims – warm, smilingly outraged and articulate – Cat Coluccio cut a confident and likeable figure.

But the interesting part about that TV appearance is something I only discover when I rock up – yes, in my jeans – to meet Cat at an Auckland café. She is delighted, by the way, that we’ve “synchronised our outfits” – both of us in black leather jackets and denim. She’s also thrilled that I am, clearly, a midlifer myself. More of that in a moment.