Beauty Tips for Ministers
Because you're in the public eye, and God knows you need to look good.
Not Looking Old
January 6, 2008 on 6:27 am | In Fighting Frump, PeaceBang Halo Of Praise |Remember a few posts ago when Gidget asked how to look young and hip without being delusional about it?
Lookee here! Seems Charla Krupp is a big expert on that very thing, and I would take her really seriously except for the fact that she looks kind of desperate and delusional in her own author photo. She has a great bod, but that top is way too tight and “LOOKA ME, I’M OVER 40 AND STILL HOT!” kind of way. I’d love to see her tone it down with maybe just a scoop-neck sweater with a slim belt around the waist, would accomplish the same thing but without the sense of screaming insistence for attention. Charla, you?’re so pritty! Relax on the skin-tighties, okay? Let’s give the teenagers someone to look up to! Right now it looks like you’re trying to compete with them, and that’s bad for Womankind.
Her advice about lightening the hair is a good one — but with some PeaceBang caveats. By all means cover the gray (if it’s not a beautiful, flattering gray) and avoid dark monochromatic helmet hair. But not all women over 40 should go blonde or anywhere near blonde. Caramel and chestnut brunettes, classy auburns and deep glossy blacks (think Angelica Huston) can all work beautifully. The challenge for hair after 40 is that it have a distinctive style, that it flatter the skin tone, and that it have body, shape and shine (all signs of youthful vitality), not that it necessarily be just lighter. There are some GODawful blondified senior gals out there, suffering from Mousse Abuse and looking like those dead dandelion heads, dried-out and dead. Lighter is not necessarily the answer.
I am definitely scared of the models showing off those garish sculpting undergarments (that which PeaceBang personally refers to as Severely Constricting Undergarments, and recommends to every woman over 30 who isn’t super fit). Their make-up is like something out of a community theatre production of “Cabaret.” Are they just moments from breaking into a verse from “Mein Herr?” I feel I must leave the room for my own safety before the Bob Fosse stomping and throwing of chairs begins.
Charla’s advice on jeans is RIGHT ON, so she gets a PeaceBang Halo of Praise for that! Likewise, she is dead on about not being matchy-matchy (I am so sorry when I see clergywomen in those hideous skirt-and-jacket suits in pastels or bright colors like magenta or green or sapphire blue, you know the ones, with the little scalloped lace detail on the collar? It’s obvious that so much care has been taken to look so “put together,” but the effect is total Mother of the Groom — repressed, grandmatronly, the opposite of vital and creative). She’s right that bangs are very in right now and could work for a lot of you (but not bowl-cut bangs and not too short).
So overall, a good article. Worth a skim through the photos. If anyone gets the book, let me know if it was worth the money.
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Charla Krupp was on the last hour of the Today Show on Friday and all I could do was say to myself “Why would any woman listen to her?” She looked awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwful (at least to me).
And, as usual, no attention was paid to the fact that there are women of color around. So the advise doesn’t really fit. And as much as we women of color spend on beauty and hair products, I always expect more when I see these people on TV or read their stuff. [Kim, I thought the same thing about the light hair. I was like, “So all our women of color are supposed to rock blonde hair after 40? Uh, NOT. - PB]
Comment by Kim Hampton — January 6, 2008 #
Did she really suggest that women over 40 could wear fishnet stockings?! (See pg. 7 of the online article) I’m just not so sure that’s sound advice. I just feel like there’s a rather trashy stigma associated with them that even the ‘tres chic’ might have a hard time overcoming. [OHMAGOD, I know. I mean, I’ll wear fishnets if it’s onstage for a trashy character, and I love fishnets with trousers and a chic pointed toe pump, but we’re talking a GLIMPSE of ankle, not a whole leg’s worth. I so live in fear that I’m going to start seeing middle-aged women out there wearing fishnets with corduroy skirts. I mean, maybe, like SHARON STONE can get away with this sort of super-hot mama thing. Not 99% of us. We’ll just look like we charge by the hour. - PB]
Comment by rivkah — January 6, 2008 #
Thanks, PB for revisiting this. I was hoping that more of my over-40 colleagues would comment on the quest to, as Ms. Krupp says, “take years off”. I don’t think she looks awful - and why can’t we just take the ideas that make sense and throw out the sillllly ones. Fishnet stockings - if I had been drinking soda, it would have come out my nose for sure.
It’s totally weird to me to suddenly look in the mirror and see this old person. I’ve always looked younger than my age. I was always the one that got us busted when we tried to get into the bar in high school and college. When I was in my 20s, I still had salesmen come to the door and ask if my parents were home. I’m also experiencing that middle-aged thing metabolism shift where it’s harder and harder to keep my weight down. I’ve always been a fairly low-key dresser, and so I’m in no immanent danger of looking too “prom night”. But I do find I need some encouragement to take more risks and be more deliberate in minimizing age. And we could all probably use a little support in accepting ourselves, and believing that we can still look pretty without having to look 25.
Thanks all - and keep your ideas coming…
Comment by Rev. Gidget — January 6, 2008 #
PLEASE, dear people, be careful with the fishnets. Even on fit youngish people, worn with knee length skirts and boots, they are demanding to pull off. On the rest of us, they are very edgy.
I was at a holiday party and someone was wearing them well, and they still really stood out. I live in a conservative area, but I’d think two or three times about attempting this look.
Comment by madgebaby — January 6, 2008 #
Maybe that fishnet thing was a misprint. I mean, wearing them at 30 is kind of iffy - but at 40? Maybe if you’re 70 years old and just don’t give an eff anymore what people think, and nobody will mistake you for a “lady of the night” …. Maybe.
Comment by h sofia — January 6, 2008 #
p.s. Have you seen that magazine, More? Patricia Clarkson was on the cover of a recent issue, and I almost bought it, but I still have 9 years to go ….
[Oh, don’t rub it in! LOL! I love P. Clarkson and am “meh” on More. It’s VERY geared toward marrieds-with-children. - PB]
Comment by h sofia — January 6, 2008 #
I did buy some trendy rectangular glasses this fall. Big difference! Love them!
The only woman I have seen look decent in opaque or textured hose lately is my 17 year old niece. She looks adorable. I would look ridiculous.
Comment by revtoots — January 7, 2008 #
Could I do a quick product endorsement, based on your aside about “constricting undergarments,” PB? I keep riding that misses’ petite/woman petite divide, and I’m on the misses’ side right now. Just had an interview and tried a Hanes No Hose shaper product, because the shell of the three-piece outfit was a fairly snug thing and I wanted the trousers to look smooth. Perfection! The style I used was one of those top-of-the-bra to mid-thigh ones. It is the ONLY thing I’ve tried that stayed put on the top.
I suspect Spanx has something similar, but not for the $7 Steinmart price tag. Best money I’ve spent in a long time. This over-40 looked GOOD today.
Comment by Psalmist — January 7, 2008 #
I think a more accurate article reflecting the tone of the book would be the excerpt of her book that appeared in the most recent edition of “O” (Oprah’s) magazine. Great photo spreads accompanying that article, too.
I actually liked this book. It reminds me of the advice a dear friend gave me — this friend is an artist in her sixties, and always looks fabulous. She said it’s silly to try to dress ‘young’ at her age, but she always tries to look ‘fresh.’ I think that is what Krupp is aiming for: advice on how to look fresh and in the current of things, though she does use the word ‘young’ instead of ‘fresh.’
Krupp’s book is definitely aimed toward the 40+ crowd, and has very specific advice for this niche (much as PeaceBang has very specific advice tailored toward her niche). If you are already knowledgeable and current about clothing and makeup trends, this book may be too basic for you. For me, it was helpful, because I spent fifteen years out of the loop for various reasons, and on reading this book I realized that some of my ideas were stuck in the ’80s and passe, rather than being Eternal Beauty Verities. (”Whaaaaaaaat? You mean, there’s more than one way to put on eyeshadow?”)
The advice in the book is more nuanced that in the article referenced above — for instance, re bangs, she says women with curly or wavy hair or prone to cowlicks should not get bangs (because of course that won’t work on our hair), but instead should look for a cut that frames our faces. This curly-top was pleased with her hair counsel . . . also, re going blonde, she says it depends on your coloring whether blonde is flattering to you or not, and also gives advice about staying gray.
In the book she also does have advice tailored specifically toward African Americans, and one of the three models featured in the book is an African American woman, who IMHO looks — as the other two models do — fabulously fresh and current.
I liked this book.
Comment by A.K. — January 10, 2008 #