The Grown-Up Girl's Guide to Style: A Maintenance Bible for Fashion, Beauty, and More . . . [Hardcover]

Christine Schwab (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2006

Fabulous 50-something fashion consultant Christine Schwab talks grown-up style and candidly tackles dos and don'ts for women over 40. Women are more concerned than ever with looking beautiful. But time and time again, many of these women make the mistake of not dressing for their age, or dressing as if they have to lose the fun after thirty. Christine Schwab, style expert and frequent producer of fashion segments magazines, brings her straight shooting, no-nonsense approach to dressing your best in a world that usually aims its fashion advice at teenagers. She tackles the absolute no-nos (sleeveless tops, metallic fabrics, and more), and explains how the post-forty-and-still-fabulous woman can create stunning, classic looks and bring out her unique and fun personality. Full of revealing four colour photographs that show real women making great choices or gruesome mistakes, "The Grown-up Girl's Guide to Style" is sure to dramatically revitalize the already-stylish, the aspiring-to-be-stylish, and the simply style-challenged woman in her prime.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For years, Christine Schwab has been telling women how to dress on Live, and now she completes the package in every way to make every woman more beautiful than she ever imagined she could be."
--Regis Philbin

"Christine Schwab's The Grown-up Girl's Guide To Style shows you how to look your personal best."
--Kelly Ripa

Fashion changes by the nanosecond, but true style is all about confidence. Readers will be able to sort through the changing trends and put themselves together daily, knowing they look stylish--whatever their age.
--Deborah Norville, Inside Edition

Christine is the ultimate stylish messenger. Her book is insightful and makes being 40+ absolutely fun. This book will have all those 20 and 30 year-olds wanting to be 40 and fabulous--NOW. A true fashion score.
--Lawrence Zarian, The Fashion Guy

From the Inside Flap

Turning forty, fifty, or sixty is not about getting older, it's about becoming ageless... 

Renowned style expert and fashion consultant Christine Schwab sees aging as an opportunity to revitalize your style and enliven your attitude.  In her frank, opinionated and provocative style, she writes the book that defies many of the fashion and beauty industry philosophies. 

Now more than ever, women have the ability to look and feel fresh, chic, and fabulous at any age, simply by understanding age maintenance.  Schwab is adamant that with all this new ageless information and technology, it is imperative to be informed about what works and what does not.

In this honest and empowering book, she offers the first open-minded approach to style, beauty, health, and well-being that will help every forty-plus woman achieve a classic look while maintaining her edge and personality.

A personal stylist and support group within a book, The Grown-Up Girl's Guide to Style addresses every aspect of aging, from hair and makeup to sex and family life.  Straightforward and candid, Schwab even embraces once taboo subjects, offering the lowdown from leading doctors and surgeons on injectable skin treatments, cosmetic surgery and dentistry, and hormone replacement therapy.  Accompanying her eye-opening advice are dozens of fun, revealing photographs--including celebrity profiles, woman-on-the-street snapshots, stunning professional photography, and even personal photographs of Schwab herself--that demonstrate style disasters (sleeveless tops, head-to-toe denim, and more), and dazzling triumphs.

The Grown-Up Girl's Guide to Style holds the ultimate insider's secrets to a beautiful, sexy, and healthy life after forty.  An essential book for the modern "grown-up girl," it is sure to dramatically rejuvenate the already-stylish, the aspiring-to-be-stylish, and the simply style-challenged woman in her prime.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006078458X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060784584
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #749,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

CHRISTINE SCHWAB


Christine Schwab is known as one of the most successful television personalities and authors in fashion, beauty and lifestyle. She has been a recurring guest on the most popular network television shows including; Oprah!, NBC Nightly News, CBS-The Early Show, The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Rachael Ray, Inside Edition, CNBC News, Fox Network News, E! Entertainment and Weekend Today. Schwab started her career as a journalist on KABC-TV Eyewitness News in Los Angeles.

Her most recent book, "THE GROWN-UP GIRL'S GUIDE TO STYLE" was published in September, 2006 by Harper Collins. Christine's first book, "QUICKSTYLE" was published under her maiden name, Christine Kunzelman by Random House in September of 1994. Christine's third book, "TAKE ME HOME FROM THE OSCARS", a memoir will be published by Skyhorse May 1, 2011.

As the contributing style editor to Redbook magazine Christine wrote a highly rated monthly column that also appeared in the Australian magazine She. Schwab has also been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Ladies Home Journal, Women's World, The Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post and The Washington Post Book Magazine/Sunday.

Schwab has also been a spokesperson for many of the country's leading fashion and beauty companies. Estee Lauder, Revlon, Cotton Inc., Lenscrafters, Patek Phillipe and The Platinum Guilde are just a few of the companies Christine has worked with. Some of her private style consultation clients have included: ABC, Disney, Universal Studios, and WABC-TV.

Christine is a member of Aftra, Fashion Group, Writer's Market, and Pen USA. She is a spokesperson for the National Arthritis Foundation. More information and television clips are available on her website: www.christineschwab.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Guide To Feeling Bad About Yourself, May 10, 2007

By 

Shirley Braley "ravenous reader" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Grown-Up Girl's Guide to Style: A Maintenance Bible for Fashion, Beauty, and More . . . (Hardcover)

If you want to find lots of reasons why your body is inadequate, this is just the book for you. This book is NOT about maintenance! Maintenance would cover topics like skin care, exercise, hydration, sleeping well, etc. This book is about how disgusting you will look as you age; the author believes that women become frumpier, dumpier, and lumpier the older they get.

The advice on skin care is: don't get any sun. If you already have, too late honey! Facial expressions can lead to wrinkles over time, so get through every day as deadpan as possible. Sleeping? Lying on your side can leave "creases" from your pillow "even with silk sheets". If you must sleep, do it on your back. (She admits it is hard to sleep this way.)

The advice on just about everything else: cover it up. Under no circumstances should you wear anything that shows more than two inches of skin anywhere. This includes your neck; keep in covered with a scarf, even in summer. Shorts? Don't wear them, even in exercise, because you will have a visible panty line. Her advice for this is to wear thong underwear. Ouch! During a workout? Has she ever actually tried that?

In fact, if you must have parts of your body exposed, for instance during love-making, she recommends keeping the light turned off.

Fully half of the book is advice about what kinds of plastic surgery you will need, along with many other cosmetic dermatological procedures. For instance, to "plump up" your lips, you can have collagen injected into them, after which the surgeon sticks his fingers into your mouth to "move the silicon into the correct position - imagine silly putty!"

I kept waiting for her to mention the #1 most important factor in a gracefully-aged appearance: genetics. The word is not mentioned. The idea seems to be that if you are genetically prone to wrinkles, extra weight around the middle, or big ankles, either have surgery or hide all your "flaws". In fact the author is obsessed with how flawed women's bodies are in general.

If you are convinced that everyone in the world is looking at you and will actually care if you have veins in your feet, there is some good advice here.

For those of us who have more to do during the day than constantly touching up our makeup between dashes to the botox clinic, read just about anything except this.

My advice to the author would be to spend some of that surgery money on a good therapist who could help her find out why she thinks self-worth depends on how few wrinkles you have on your face.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Guide to hiding your "old" self, May 12, 2007

By 

C. L. Ferle (Midwest Reader and Writer) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Grown-Up Girl's Guide to Style: A Maintenance Bible for Fashion, Beauty, and More . . . (Hardcover)

I agree with the reviewers who were disappointed in this book. While it's beautifully presented and there were a few excellent fashion tips for "women of a certain age," there were so many "DON'Ts" that I ended up feeling worse about my aging body, even though I am not overweight and enjoy nice clothes. For starters, unless your feet and arms are model perfect, you are instructed not to wear open toed shoes, sandals, or sleeveless tops. If your neck is droopy, conceal it under a scarf. (Should I hide in the house all summer, or sweat it out in "cover-up" clothes and shoes...?)

Secondly, if the crisply tailored "working gal" look isn't your thing, then this book probably isn't for you. There is little room here for real personal style, unusual accessories, or free-spirited artistic expression. Yes, I also love white shirts, tailored pants and jackets, and other classics -- which are emphasized in this book. But is wearing a uniform what it's really all about? And yes, I know I don't look good in short skirts and shorts -- so I usually avoid them. Yet I don't think aging means I have to dress like everyone else. Where's the fun and freedom of personal style?

Apparently the Dove campaign for real beauty and pro-aging hasn't hit the fashion world yet, because this is not the only book or magazine that promotes such limited fashion options for the older woman. Most of us over 45 are still feeling as though we will never measure up to Madison Avenue perfection, and that we have a lot to cover up and be ashamed of. What a shame.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Maybe I'm scary!, October 8, 2006

By 

H.A.A. "Heather" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grown-Up Girl's Guide to Style: A Maintenance Bible for Fashion, Beauty, and More . . . (Hardcover)

I really looked forward to ordering this book after reading the blurb about it & couldn't wait to read it when it arrived. The author is absolutely gorgeous & looks fabulous in the pictures, but after reading it I felt as though it was intended for a much older person than myself (I'm in my 40"s). She essentially says not to wear a bathing suit unless you're actually going to swim, hide all skin as it's aged & crepey, cover up - you're not your daughter! In checking to see what part of the country she's from I discovered she lives in California like me,where a lot of the women are in very good shape without horrible skin & hopefully look very attractive showing a little skin somewhere. While

I agree that 40 plus women should not attempt to look 20, the book made me feel as if I had passed the chronological point of being able to step out of my home unless discreetly covered basically everywhere & I truly hope that isn't the case! I actually ran into the bathroom while reading this, stripped down & looked at my skin & muscle tone, then consulted my teenage daughter on whether my look was inappropriate! I think that for some women this book will be enabling, showing them how to look attractive without being tarty, but if you've done the maintenance, this book will make you feel as if you're 330!