I’ll be 45 this upcoming holiday season or I’ll die trying. (ha ha)
Did anyone else notice that particular age in our Trinny and Susannah caricature book conversation? (The other age that was mentioned was 67. Believe me, we are coming back to that one!) The authors brought it up, and now The Makeover Guy, Christopher Hopkins, is talking about 45 too, in his book Staging Your Comeback: A Complete Beauty Revival for Women Over 45
IMO, this guy does the best job of all the “what to wear” celebrities of preserving the uniqueness of the person’s style idiom.
(Surprisingly enough, he’s even using shoulder pads on one of the models. It’s refreshing that he’s not simply trying to make everyone over to be “in style”.)
This lady pictured, for example, looks so much better that I’m thinking:
- must get an appointment for a haircut.
- need to see a professional for a lipstick prescription.
- what on earth would keep someone from at least trying to do something, if they could look this much better?
That was very interesting Rebecca. And for that gal, shoulder pads worked with the rest of the changes he made to the silhouette. I do like his emphasis on balance, haircut and makeup.
Her after was really cute! I never would have even noticed the shoulder pads if they hadn’t mentioned them. And I loved how he used the shape of the hair for balance. I wish I knew more about how that worked.
Some time recently I observed a young lady with a rather pronounced rounded A-frame body type wearing tapered pants. I found myself wanting to see her in a little fuller hair style, rather than the rather tight ponytail she was wearing. Would it have helped the balance?
Haha. A little offtopic…but the pictures you posted…..she has GORGEOUS eyes! 🙂 🙂
That was really interesting. Thanks for sharing it!
I’ve got several top heavy and full bodied girlfriends with “no” legs or butt. They all wear oversized shirts. I really need to suggest they wear fuller pants! The change for that one gal was remarkable.
I so loved realizing a month or so ago that I need my straps and sleeveless blouses to end at the edge of my shoulder to balance out the width of my bottom. Proportion makes ALL the difference. I feel freeeeeeee! 🙂
Katie – I agree. And last night I ran out and got the book and started reading it. The lady pictured here? She’s 61 and her husband is my age!
Janel – Do they ask you? 😉
The other thing about that one particular makeover (the full upper body), which is also featured in the book, is the use of diagonal line through the mid-section. It really is astonishing how much slimmer and more youthful she ends up looking!
Actually my top heavy girlfriends rave about how “great” I look all the time. I haven’t had any real suggestions since we’re build so opposite. But I do have plenty of opportunities to bring it up – tactfully of course!
One of them was over today. We took her measurements and started a skirt for her. I mentioned the big leg pants to her. She told me the sewing guru she took a pattern fitting class from a couple years ago tried to talk her into snugger blouses and wide legged pants. She wasn’t so sure them. Then we talked about proportion, balance, etc. and she’s almost sold now. 🙂 It was the whole second witness thing. 😉 lol
That’s awesome!
I’ve been thinking about how this principle fits with the idea that because I have thighs I shouldn’t be allowed to wear tapered (aka skinny) jeans, concluding that absolute size is a piece of the equation, not just relative size. For example: a twelve inch leg opening on a size 4 might create the same line as a wide leg on a size 14 with the same body shape. Make sense?
The other interesting thing I noticed as I read more of the book is how many of the ladies lost weight between their before and their after pictures.
I am more and more sold on this book. I think it is my favorite right behind The Triumph of Individual Style. 🙂
Yah the leg opening concept does make sense. I haven’t worn skinny legged jeans ever. I look wretched. My next sewing learning curve is to make a decent fitting and FLATTERING pair of pants for winter. It probably won’t happen until September, but it’s on my list…
Does the book say that those ladies really did lose weight or do they just look like it because of the proportion switch?? I can add or subtract 10 pounds either way simply by paying attention to the balance of what I’ve got on. I never, ever had a clue I was making myself look much heavier in 7th grade…
I confess I am more comfortable in tapered (aka skinny) jeans. I just feel alot more like myself. The ones I finally ended up with are not a real stiff fabric, with just 1% stretch, and they are dark. Flares are okay, I look a little bigger in them but there’s still fun. Bootcuts just make me look fat and shapeless.
Yes, the book did say the ladies lost weight. But now that I’m looking for the exact figure, the one we were talking about here (larger on top, with slim legs) may have just lost weight before the makeover. For sure on the first model she lost like 20 pounds.