How to look gorgeous over 40

Looking good and feeling gorgeous over 40? You know the stars who can do it. Oprah, Sheryl Crow, Diane Keaton, and Goldie Hawn are just a few who have made it look easy. But you can do it too. Christine Schwab, a style expert and fashion consultant, just wrote a new book to show you how. Schwab was invited on TODAY to discuss her new book, “The Grown-up Girl’s Guide to Style.” Read an excerpt:

Excerpt
Who is the grown-up girl?
She is a forty-plus woman in the most unique position of any generation before her. She is living in unexplored territory where there is no precedent. Being in your forties, fifties or sixties is no longer what it once was. Forty is now tagged “the new thirty.” The forty-plus woman no longer fits the former labels of “mature, middle-aged or older.”

• She is a grown-up girl.
• She is empowered.
• She wants to look her best.
• She wants to feel her best.
• She wants to project her best.
• She wants to live her best.
• She is a complex, distinctive individual, who is far from being on the downside of life. Turning forty, fifty or sixty is not about getting older, it’s about getting better.

I know. I am one of the vast numbers of women who are dealing with the various aspects of aging on a daily basis. But instead of looking at aging as a negative, I look at it as an opportunity. We have lived long enough to know who we are. We have experienced enough to know what we like. We are opinionated, smart and sassy. We are hardly the same at forty-plus that our mothers and grandmothers were. We want to approach aging with style and grace. We want to invest in our well being. We don’t need to look twenty.

The forty-plus woman no longer looks, acts or realizes she is older. She has the choice to be young at heart, in body and mind. Unlike the generations before her, she has the ability to control many of her aging issues.

• But she needs guidance.
• And to date there is none.

Pundits say if it makes you feel good that’s all that matters. How wrong they are!

Many women over forty are walking around revealing skin that begs to be covered, wearing clothing suited for their daughters, combing hair that cries for updating and applying lipstick beyond their lip line for that trendy “pouty” mouth. They blame hormonal changes for their extra weight and PMS for cynical attitudes.

In many cases, while trying to appear younger, they are actually making themselves look and act older, often foolish. And despite all the books, articles and television segments on the subject, no one is pointing to the obvious. No one is telling the truth.

The media is aiming their messages at the 18–39 year olds. The Grown-up Girl’s Guide To Style is the book every forty-plus woman needs because it is the first book that gives honest solutions to problems that pertain specifically to a new generation wanting answers.

The New Forty-Plus

• Oprah turned fifty and continues to change the lives of women daily.
• Diane Keaton won the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance in Something’s Gotta Give.
• Goldie Hawn became a “glam-ma” for the first time.
• Madonna opted for English proper over her leather and chains attire.
• Forty-plus is an age of opportunity.

In The Grown-up Girl’s Guide To Style I will take you on an incredible self-improvement journey. I will share my years of experience with you, as a professional and as a woman. I will teach you everything you need to know for you, the new over-forty woman. I will give you insight into all phases of style and fashion, balancing the very important line between current and appropriate. I will teach you about selective revelation, my most important fashion secret. I will guide you through the incredible new world of beauty, both cosmetically and medically. I will expose you to the advantages of a positive attitude. I will bring some of the leading experts right into your home. I will share lessons of life with you that will change the way you think about aging.

Together we will work on your mind, your body and your appearance. I will give you honest answers to all your questions. I am not only concerned with helping you find just the right outfit for any event; I am concerned with every aspect of your physical and emotional well-being. Once we turn forty, it’s not as simple as choosing what color lipstick to wear. It’s putting together the entire package to make us stylish, fit, sexy, healthy and happy.

I will challenge what fashion and beauty experts have been preaching for years. I might make some women angry, and others defensive, but those who listen will change the way they feel and look.

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