30 chic days: day 27: do-it-yourself-make-over

                                 Image result for vintage french dressing up  drawings
                                             (circa 1975)

When 'Make-Overs" First Began

Leslie Field, vintage chic author, had been a Fashion Editor for Glamour magazine when she was younger. Glamour was the first magazine to do make-overs, way back when. So it is no wonder that Leslie used this phrase, and, she had been lucky enough to have been one of the people who had a make-over with Glamour.

What Is A Make-Over?

A make-over is about giving yourself a new look. A new figure, a new face, and new self confidence. 
Leslie said that the fabulous thing about the human body is that every effort you make shows up for the world to see: 

  • dieting can make a difference in a week or two
  • exercise can start to change your shape at the end of the first month
  • giving up drink, drugs & cigarettes will start showing in 7 days
  • a new hair-do or make-up scheme is evident in hours. 
She said that if you really want a new you: what are you waiting for? Start now, and three months from now, your best friend will have trouble recognising you.

Make-over At Different Periods In Your Life

She also felt that different ages are time for re-assessment: when children go to school, or leave the nest; when you reach thirty, forty, etc, and that the most important thing is to be yourself, not start a wild search for lost youth. To always remember that the fastest way to grow stale is to stand still, and that clothes that are too young paradoxically make their wearer look older. 

There may be a time when fashion is exactly suited to your face and figure, the rest of the time you have to find out what can be adapted to you.

How Not To Date Yourself

One of the things about fashion, is that fashion reveals only one section of our body at a time. Over fifteen years ago, bare abs were IT, (thanks, Britney Spears), but a few years on, young people were screaming "gross" at older women still showing their middle. In the 1960s, it was legs, in the late 1970s, long flowery, mid calf dresses were the rage. In the 1980s, women wore those awful shoulder pads. Followed by massively billowing clothes (no comment!!) 

Showing the wrong body part, and even emphasising the wrong part, is an instant ager. Honestly.

And Leslie said that fashions in make-up change a great deal more than fashions in clothes, so it pays to update your make-up too. A few years ago, for example, we were all bronzing our faces, now if we do, it is very subtle. Decades ago, women wore powder, now it would be a very light mineral powder, brushed on. Instead of foundation, we moved onto tinted moisturiser, now it's BB or CC creams. Twelve years ago, women were wearing lip gloss. Now a pile of gloss on your lips looks old fashioned.

Make A Flexible Plan For Your Daily Habits

Although Leslie followed a diet plan, she often "cheated" and allowed for that, sometimes skipped her exercise class, and similarly in her beauty plan, she felt that she cheated nearly as often as she kept to her plan. 

She advised not to expect perfection, and not to waste time punishing yourself. She advised that it was never too late to start good beauty habits. Daydream about what you want to look like more than anything in the world, and keep that picture in the back of your mind. Because you'll never get anywhere if you don't know where it is that you want to go.

Keep records

Leslie recommended recording things, especially a daily weight, and your measurements of height; bust; waist; stomach, about 2 centimetres below your waist; hips across your navel; each thigh & calf at their widest part. Remeasure yourself each 4 weeks. Probably for weight loss, it would also pay to record food, drink and exercise. And digestive problems: this would show up if you not only record what you eat and drink, but also how you felt in the hours after.

Be objective

For your face, hair and body, be objective: work out the best parts and emphasise them. The "bad" points: some you can change by diet, exercise, make-up or hairdo skills. Then there are the others that you can't change. Leslie recommends to camouflage them and then forget them. I thought that it was funny how we both listed: shiny hair, small hands, small feet, high arches, in our pluses, with baby fine hair, left ear sticks out, splotchy complexion (mine are from sun damage), nails that break easily, protuberant tum, in our minuses. Strangely, it all made me feel a bit chic!

I hope that you enjoyed vintage chic, a la Leslie Field, from 1978. I always have, and I have so enjoyed blogging about it. I hope that you enjoyed the read, and that you found some advice, or an impetus, to do your own make-over, which may be trial and error, or not. There is youtube now, with tons of make-up advice, according to your age. For example: teens, early twenties, and the rest of us. Have fun, enjoy your journey.






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