Style Forever: The Grown-Up Guide to Looking Fabulous

Although the author and most of her spotlight personalities are unrecognized by me, this is a book that can surely appeal to both men and women of a certain age or to those who recognize that age is only a number and not a descriptor of one’s style, fashion sense, or appeal. Part of my ignorance involves the fact that many of her subjects are from abroad, as is the author, but no matter as it is much more what they have to say rather than who they are.

Style Forever might be considered more of a helpful hints kind book or an easy way to examine how the fashion-conscious age and perceive themselves as well as how they wish to be perceived. Fashion is an age and youth obsessed business, but as of late there has been a surge of more seasoned models and in some cases even senior citizens. To me, one of the most lasting impressions of the entire book is the use of Ms. Walsh’s phrase: “fifty and beyond.”

The petite volume is broken down into a series of interviews with women of style who live lives that do not necessarily revolve around fashion but they remain very conscious of how they wish the world to view them in terms of what they wear and why. Personally, my favorite question that is posed to all subjects is this: “On what you’d say to your 15-year old self.” This is a question that prods each of the women to truly reveal something about themselves and what they have learned now that they have reached a certain age. 

Another very interesting aspect comes when Ms. Walsh examines the experience of going gray. We all expect it to happen, and yet we all have a different reaction or solution to this inevitable rite of passage. It is the small things like this that make the book more intriguing than a “how to” or a primer on how to age gracefully.

Again, many of these aspects of aging are experienced by men as well as women albeit maybe not exactly with the same reaction/solutions. Please don’t think that there aren’t these helpful hints on how to glide into our golden years, but the text is much more conversation than preaching and for that alone, the book is an easy read.

There is much to be learned here given the author’s approach to the subject matter and yet, it is difficult to say who exactly this book would appeal to  or why anyone needs to rush out and purchase the book other than for the pure pleasure of reading about fashion that is not centered around 90-pound, 18-year-old fashion models, but people who look like you and me.