Style me for a school reunion!

[StyleFreeZoneandPanicking]

I've namechanged for this because I'm rather embarrassed that I care.

I have to go to a school reunion at the beginning of September. Said yes because a good friend who I've stayed in touch with is going.

I really, really want to look good for this: I haven't seen most of these women for twenty years, and some of them (not by any means all - if it were all I wouldn't go!) were very bitchy about looks when we were teenagers. I've done well professionally, and I'm happily married with a DD, but somehow that won't feel as though it counts if I turn up looking a scruff.

I'm 5'2", a size 8 hourglass with short legs and a long body. I never wear skirts, and this is not the moment to start as I need to feel comfortable on the day, so I need jeans or trousers and a top half. I suit jewel colours - clear but not too bright - and I look beyond dreadful in brown but fine in black. Dark hair, olive skin, dark brown eyes. I wear heels all the time.

I'm perfectly happy to spend a couple of hundred quid on an outfit that will make me feel good about myself and therefore confident enough to face these people. It's in a pub so what I'm looking for is casual-but-elegant. O wise Mumsnetters, what should I buy?

Yes, def better to try jeans on before ordering on line - was just giving you an idea of style. If you get slightly cropped/ankle skimming black skinnies they'll make your legs look longer when worn with heels

This is the sort of length I'm on about.

Hmm, wonder if I can get any that are that length on me? Ah well, the local dry cleaner does alterations (stumpy legged voice of experience here too - because my proportions are weird I can wear normal people's jackets, but I sometimes have to take up even petite trousers).

Saw this top this morning and it might be suitable Here

Hmm, nice colour but not a great shape, and I suspect would stop at just the wrong point on my hips.

I need to go shopping, don't I! Maybe I'll take up Twinklestein's suggestion and go for a personal shopper: I tend to feel overwhelmed by choice these days when I go shopping. When I were a lass there were only about three clothes shops in striking distance of where I lived, so excess of choice wasn't really a problem.

When I say 'heels' I mean 'shoes that give me extra height' - could be wedges or heeled sandals, or boots, not necessarily Manolos or similar! I always wear them because I'm so pathetically short, and the heels bring me up to something approaching normal height so I can look most other women in the eye. I have a nice pair of rope-soled wedges that I bought last summer from Russell and Bromley and have barely worn, for instance, that might be a possibility for the reunion.

I agree I don't want to look as though I've tried too hard. On the other hand necklaces aren't really me - earrings are the only jewellery I normally wear, apart from my watch and wedding ring.