Roe - Front Roe: How to Be the Leading Lady in Your Own Life

2015 by Louise Roe

Published by Running Press,

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

Printed in China

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014954975

E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-5672-7

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Edited by Cindy De La Hoz

Designed by Susan Van Horn

Illustrations by Tracy Turnbull

Typography: Filosofia, Gotham, Perla Regular, and Juri Handwriting

Photo Credits: Pages 10, 242 (top left): Lauren Devon

Page 28: Ana Ochoa

Pages 59, 100, 269: Alexandra Piotrowski

Pages 66, 122 (bottom right): Jonas Mohr

Page 292: Ryan Chua

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To Dad, the writer who gave me a bookmark when I was ten that read You can achieve anything for which you have unlimited enthusiasm, and who has championed and supported me whether I lived at home, or across the Atlantic.

And to Mum, my best friend, my inspiration, who always said, Give them roots and give them wings... even though the wings took me a bit too far away from England.

I love you both dearly.

CONTENTS

I am six. Sitting up poker-straight at the table, on my absolute best behavior. Its teatime, its Christmas Eve, and were at Grannys house. Dressed in my party frocksaved for special occasionsI look down and wiggle my little black patent shoes, admiring my big taffeta skirt that rustles when I move, and the dark red velvet ribbon fastened around my waist, which makes me feel like a princess. Its a memory clear as quartz, etched in my mind, because for the first time, my clothes are changing the way I feel inside.

Steam rises from the giant antique china teapot as its poured from what seems like a great height, into my very own china teacup and saucer. Two lumps of sugar follow, balanced precariously on a delicate silver spoon. Plop, plop. A dash of milk, from the tiniest china jug Ive ever set eyes on. Hand-painted with flowers on the outside, it looks as if it belongs in a dolls house. In the distance sits the Eiffel Tower of candy, my grannys cake stand. Laden-full with cucumber sandwiches (white bread, crusts cut off) and slices of homemade Victoria sponge, the jam and cream oozes from the cakes middle and smiles at me... with whipped cream teeth and strawberry jam gums.

My granny was never rich, not at all, but boy was she glamorous. Elegant, ladylike, impeccably mannered, and dressed to the nines at all times, my imagination took flight when she would recant stories of cocktail parties of the 1940s, ladies dripping in sequins, hands covered by lace gloves, with shiny black cigarette holders perched between their fingers. If you couldnt afford stockings back then, you dyed your legs with used tea bags and drew seams up the back of your calves with an eyebrow pencil.

Did you know, darling, started Granny, her immaculately painted red lips shaping each vowel, that during the war, Vogue magazine was one of the only publications not to be shut down? And red lipstickit was never, ever rationed. Keeping ladies stylish was deemed that important for the countrys morale.

Suffice to say, even when bombs were being dropped, women still felt the desire to rock out their inner Veronica Lakes, and the country understood the importance of that for boosting national spirit.

I was too little to even know what a catwalk was, but at that moment, on clicked my radar for all things glamorous. And it has stayed on ever since. Style isnt something that needs to cost a lot of money; its more about the effort and imagination you put into it that counts. That was, without a doubt, the first time style became important to me. It was an eye-opener to realize how fashion cannot only change the way you look, but also the way you feel inside and, consequently, the way others perceive you.

Now, after years of working as a journalist within the fashion industry, and as a TV presenter giving people makeovers, Im bursting with thoughts, tips, and tricks of the trade I want to pass alongsome old (like those long-forgotten but still vital beauty and fashion secrets my grandmother shared with me) and some new that Ive learned through my work in fashion. A lot of people think its only runway models, celebrities, the very rich, or the very slim that can have great style. Well, Im here to tell you otherwise.

Keeping up with the constant hamster wheel of new trends, whether beauty or fashion, is exhausting, not to mention financially ridiculous. So how about finding a style thats more consistent, more inspiring, more personal, more you?

Everybody, and I mean everybody, can develop a style of their own, and without breaking the bank. Style is about making clothes work for youyour body shape, your lifestyle, your tastes. Its a matter of remembering those flashes of inspiration when you see a photo or a movie that makes you green with envy. Its about savoring a memory, a chapter in a book, a page in a magazine, a chic fashionista on the street, a visit to a gallerythat made you want to recreate a certain look or feeling.

Its time to get your imagination in gear and create an image of what you want to portray to the rest of the world. Once weve got that idea sorted, Ill take you through the key practical elements of developing your own personal stylefashion, beauty, and lifestyleto help you find yours.

Take a cue from Coco Chanel and start thinking of style not as the new frock you can neither afford nor fit into, but as something you can sprinkle into your everyday life in a myriad of ways, large or small. She wisely once said, Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.

I feel very lucky to get up every morning and look forward to work. My job involves either writing about fashion and giving women tips, or doing the same thing on TV. I get to play dress-up and help girls improve their self-esteem, by showing them new ways to dress their body. Over the past seven years, I have given makeovers to hundreds of women, ranging in age from thirteen to sixty-five. No matter where theyre from or what their background is, they all share one misconception: fashion doesnt apply to