Does This Book Make Me Look Chic?

There’s a link – right over there to your right – see it? It’s to a Wall Street Journal article that came out this week.

It talks about fashion books for women over 40. Some comments are funny. Some, a little close to home.

Highlights:

• These days, though, age 40 is the magical benchmark that separates young from wannabe-young. Many fashion designers actually prefer to create looks for women younger than 35.
• Mentions a book that recommends: wear jeans with 2% Lycra to hide “butt dimples”
• “How Not To Look Old,” despite its faintly panicked tone, actually has solid advice, from making sure your eyebrows match your hair color to choosing a bra that fits.
• …ease the pain of our Manolo Blahnik stilettos by injecting poly-L-lactic acid — a substance used to fill in crows’ feet and other facial lines — into the balls of our feet.

After I read the article the other day, I was kind of bummed. I felt like it was saying that the best we women over 40 could do was the best we could. Seriously, that was my takeaway.

I’ve stewed about the tone of the article for a couple days and decided to write about it. And you know what? When I re-read it today, it seems fine. Not a dig, not bad at all.

Sure, it mentions some books with radical ideas. But so what?

I totally overreacted. Must have been in a mood that day.

Whatever.