Advanced Style: Ari Seth Cohen, Maira Kalman, Dita Von Teese Hardcover – Illustrated, 22 May 2012

I'm a confirmed fan of Ari Seth Cohen's blog, a badly-needed antidote to contemporary fashion's obsession with extreme youth and a very limited definition of beauty. (It was not always this way - before the 1960s the great couturiers designed with the elegant older woman in mind and younger women aspired to look like her.) I have been waiting eagerly for this book and am not disappointed. Seth Cohen's subjects show that you don't have to become invisible once you hit fifty. Aged from sixty-five up to a hundred, these wonderful women (and one or two men) run the whole gamut of styles from over-the-top theatricality to elegant minimalism. What they all have in common is that they are dressing to please themselves and they look as if they enjoy every minute of it. There is not a cookie-cutter fashion-follower among them - each has honed her (or his) personal style to perfection and wears it with pride.The photographs are beautiful. I'd have liked a little more text, as I enjoy the wit and wisdom of the Advanced Style women, but maybe that would have meant fewer pictures.The blog mentioned recently that a film is in preparation. I can't wait.

I totally recommend this book. The photos of these lovely ladies that fill the pages of this book, are filled with vitality, power and joy. They are all super stylish and confident. This is proof that there's a life after 40 and 50 and 60. All women should own a copy!

Great photos

For the price of £20 the book was a lot smaller than I expected and as another reader already said there wasn't enough descriptive text with every photograph so you didn't know anything about most of the women in the pictures. Also obviously the women were wealthy from the style of their clothes and could maintain a certain life style that nobody else in this country could aspire to. Nevertheless it made amusing reading from the 'look at me' style of some of the more eccentric clothes that were worn - so the reader knew what to avoid if they didn't want to be laughed at in this country. What did amaze me though apart from their clothes was that women of this amazingly advanced age were still walking upright, were not in wheelchairs and looked twenty years younger.

I did not expect it to be so big, which was a nice surprise - it is quite a chunky volume, not much text but the little amount written is brilliant. Quality of the photographs is superb. That book really inspired me to experiment with my hair style and clothing on the very same evening it arrived. Highly recommended for the mature beauties like myself who love uniqueness and style.

This wonderful book celebrates the energy of life. Ari Seth Cohen photographs older women whose vitality is expressed through their stylish outfits. These women display Individuality, creativity and a soupcon of rebelliousness. It is a joy to experience them through their pithy comments and through Ari's gorgeous photographs .This is a book for anyone interested in seeing the human spirit made visible.

I was very interested to find out more about Advanced Style when I got wind of it. Am in my late forties - heading into my fifties, and already wondering how to tweak my look for my more senior years. The beige cardi/mac combo has been so done! I don't want to look mad, nor try to look young when I am a Grandma - I just want to look Good. I currently live in a provincial spa town, but think I might have to re-locate to New York so that I can push the style boundaries. The women in this book look great - some braver than others - but all so stylish.

I was excited to see this book after many snippets in the press and after enjoying the short films he's made.I hate to say it but it is just a bit disappointing. I expected it Love it. I can't even say why apart from maybe all the best pictures I'd already seen and I'm not sure he really captures these fabulous ladies' personality that much. The photos are just a bit uni dimensional. I felt they needed more text to back them up which a great picture doesn't really need. Think he should make films instead - his interviews I saw with some of his subjects were touching, interesting and left one wanting more.He certainly knows how to spot class I'll say that.Sorry to be negative.