Forever Chic

Forever Chic

One of my dearest childhood friends lived three houses up the street from my own, in a small white farmhouse with a screened-in porch across the front, a neat row of boxwoods lining the walk and a cellar with a real dirt floor. As soon as I got home from school every afternoon, I would head to her house as fast as I could, my dog at my heels.  She would always greet us both with a genuine smile, which I realize now must have been occasionally difficult.  You see, Dee Dee was in her eighties and surely she would have liked the odd afternoon to herself.  But she always seemed happy to see me and cheerfully allowed me to follow her around as she tended her garden, cooked up a batch of fresh blackberry jam, or repotted ferns in that fabulous cellar of hers.  Of course I made myself scarce when her family came to visit, but always made a point to watch from afar, often from the branches of a sweet gum tree, whenever her grand-daughter Bonnie came calling.  Having no sister of my own, I was fascinated by every single thing about Bonnie.  With her dark hair in the most divine sixties updo, her tiny pink skirts and black cashmere sweaters, she looked like the perfect girlfriend for one of the Beatles.  She even drove a bright yellow Mustang convertible, for goodness sakes.  

Whenever I saw that car parked in front of Dee Dee’s house, I made sure to keep a covert eye out for beautiful Bonnie, memorizing every move I saw her make to later try them out for myself in my bedroom mirror.  I imagined talking with her for hours, listening intently to all the wise advice she would give me; advice no doubt vital in ensuring the success of my upcoming teenage years.  Bonnie looked like the sort of girl who would innately know all the things I didn’t; all those secret tidbits and tips necessary to make my life easier, and so much more fun.   Sadly, I never mustered the nerve to climb down from my tree and actually have a conversation with Bonnie.  But years later, whilst browsing the blog world one afternoon, I found Tish, and just as I imagined Bonnie to be, Tish proved to be that one essential fountain of information every girl desires.  

Tish Jett started the wonderful blog, A Femme d’un Certain Age, right around the time I started From the House of Edward and I feel fortunate to have followed her from the get go.  For over five years, her blog has been the one place I go each day for the most delicious advice on everything in the realm of style.  Skin care, fashion, make up, manners.  A Femme d’un Certain Age slowly replaced my need for fashion magazines as I soon discovered Tish provides infinitely more interesting and helpful fare.  From Tish, I learned to stock up on Eucerin Hyaluron-Filler whenever I am in London.  I learned to slather my winter-dry face in Avene Masque Apaisant Hydratant.  I learned the magical benefits of Cornflower water.  I learned, from experience, to trust her impeccable voice on all matters of style and beauty, just as I would have trusted a sister’s.

Of course it helps that Tish Jett is an American who moved to France over twenty-five years ago.  This gives her a unique perspective from which to communicate to today’s over forty woman. We all know French women have that certain something that makes aging beguiling rather than bleak.  We all recognize it.  No matter her age, one only has to give a French woman a pair of sleek black trousers, a slim cashmere sweater, and a simple square scarf and she will instantly transform into a creature of supremely insouciant style.  Well I am happy to say, in a brand new, beautiful book entitled Forever Chic, Tish Jett has finally created the ultimate resource for any woman who has ever gazed at that French lady from afar and wondered... “How DOES she do it?”.  

Published by Rizzoli, Forever Chic is no mere meringue of a book, full of nothing but  bubbles and froth.  No, this is a 239 page compendium of style that succeeds wonderfully in translating the French mystique, making it charmingly accessible to us all.   Tish decodes the French woman’s closet, leads us by her well-manicured hand into the secret realms of French diet and exercise, (Why IS it that French women never get fat??).  She reveals their skin care regimens, explains their almost supernatural way with accessories.  And best of all, she makes it so much fun, like a long lunch with your best girlfriend at the chicest cafe in Paris.

 Despite my lack of a sister, I have gathered many sweet and stylish girlfriends through the years.

  All of them are getting this book for Christmas. 

 And if I could track down Bonnie, I’d get her one, too.

Come to think of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tish Jett drives a yellow convertible herself.

Get your copy, and several for your girlfriends and sisters, HERE.