Book review June 27, 2010
So, I was at the library yesterday picking up a book I had on hold, and decided to browse a bit . . . I’m in a bit of a mood lately to reorganize/revamp/renew either my house or my self or my something, so I ended up in what seems to be the “general improvement” section, and a book caught my eye. Or rather, the title caught my eye: “The Grown-Up Girl’s Guide to Style”. (I’m not going to link to it).
The cover photo is of a “girl” of a certain age (older than me but youngish) with a smart haircut and a crisp classic outfit on. And after checking out the inside flap, I discover that it’s targeted toward women over 40, which I am (gulp). Okay, I’ll bite. Especially as my “style” could probably use some tweaking.
After skimming it over the course of an hour or so (Oh, who am I kidding? I read it cover to cover), and mulling it over for a while, I can’t say that I recommend it. At all.
The author is a “fashion expert”, and though she does have some good tips in the book for the grown-up girl (I love that term) with respect to not making fools of ourselves in the clothing department (“Don’t dress like you’re 20″, and “Buy a bra that fits”, “Don’t dress frumpy, it ages you”, etc), most of it is, in my opinion, a load of shite that actually would make most women just feel bad about themselves.
I’m going to paraphrase a bit, but the author maintains for example that women over 40 should under no circumstances wear a shirt that shows their upper arms, nor wear any skirt or pant type thing that shows their knees. What?? Yes, she does. She basically tells us that no matter how hot it is where we live, we should wear long sleeves year round, because our upper arms don’t look good unless we are Madonna or Sheryl Crow (two examples she actually cites as “okay to show their upper arms”), and nobody wants to see them. My gut reaction to this is, of course, “Who the HELL do you think you are telling me not to show my elbows or knees!? And what year is this?!”.
After that, I should not have been surprised to find that the author is a proponent of plastic surgery and botox for the over-40 set. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but she maintains that we all need a little cosmetic dermatology/plastic surgery after a certain age.
The author does cite many examples of women-over-40 who have great senses of personal style, and she does make some good points about not trying too hard to hang onto one’s youth because it ends up making one look stupid, but the underlying message seems to be one that is ultimately demeaning of women-of-a-certain age.
There are also sections about beauty and such, but it’s mainly common sense and frankly, I was so horrified by the “fashion” section that I kind of zoned out.
I think I expected a book that would be “empowering” (oh how I hate that term) to Grown-Up Girls, rather than beat us down and make us feel ugly and unattractive. One that would give some tips for developing a personal style consistent with our personalities rather than try and fit us all into a non-arm-and-leg-showing, botoxed mold. One that would celebrate the grown-up girl. Color me disappointed.
I’m just glad I borrowed this thing from the library instead of actually paying money for it.