Mutton Dressed As Lamb is Chucked Out of the Window!

So we thought we’d talk a bit more about some of the topics we cover in the book because as well as being a book that sheds light on the situation regarding how women of a certain age are treated in media and society in general, it’s a How-to book with lots of tips and inspiration and guided visualisations. The two chapters from the book we thought we start with were Fashion and Image, and Make-up.

Fashion and make-up are often seen as a bit frivolous and not representing something deep and meaningful as well, and often only for the young. Challenging these assumptions is essential as we grow older to make sure we’re putting out what we want to project to the world.

Do you feel stuck in a proverbial rut with what you wear and how you put your make-up on? Is it because you feel society tells you when you’ve hit a certain age to look a certain way?

We had a laugh doing the video ‘Mutton dressed as Lamb’ that’s on the website, but actually it’s scary how you get indoctrinated into being, looking and responding as women of a certain age, and some of the time you don’t even realise you are doing it. In that video, Livvy got caught by the ‘Mutton Dressed as Lamb’ conditioning and wondered whether the pointy bit at the end of her eyeliner was unacceptable. At which point Chrissie had a good look at hers and realised she had a pointy bit too! So of course, the whole expression of Mutton Dressed as Lamb was chucked right out of the window and well and truly banned.

And that is why in the book we devote a couple of chapters to image and make-up, because it’s a serious business… it’s how you want the world to see you and respond to you. This means it’s important to go inside yourself and ask yourself how you wish to be seen, and what roadblocks or obstacles interfere with you presenting yourself just how you would like to, and what judgements you might be limiting yourself by.

To help you get clear on this we have added exercises at the end of all the chapters that you can listen to with a QR code, so you can have the time to really connect with these thoughts and find out what might interrupt you from being your true fabulous, individual self.

We wonder… is it hard just to talk about this with friends and colleagues? Maybe it is a hidden secret, something we feel might expose us, and make us feel vulnerable, but the more we talk and share the more room there is to experiment and change. To get braver. Our book is about taking a leap of faith, experimenting, trying new things, and not allowing old pre-conditioned ideas guide us but to really Go for Gold and Shine!