We’re always on the lookout for books that may strike a chord with our readers. In our New & Notable series you’ll find weekly picks that appeal to our editors and that we can’t help but share. Our selections this week (a) remind us that style sense gets better with age, (b) take us behind the scenes of Marilyn Monroe’s style evolution, (c) tickle our funny bones as a 50-year-old fights invisibility, and (d) honor trailblazing women of Wall Street.

Fashion | Design | The Art of Aging

Advanced Style is Ari Seth Cohen’s blog-based ode to the confidence, beauty, and sense of style that can be achieved only through the experience of a life lived glamorously. This is a collection of street fashion unlike any seen before—focused on the over-60 set in the world’s most stylish locales. The (mostly) ladies of Advanced Style are enjoying their later years with grace and panache, marching to the beat of their own drummer. These timeless images and words of wisdom provide fashion inspiration for all ages and prove that age is nothing but a state of mind. (Excerpted from powerHouse Books, Publisher.)

Reviews

“For all those who are sick and tired of seeing style and fashion presented solely as a young woman’s game, behold Advanced Style.” ~ Los Angeles Times

“..a beautiful catalog of women who aren’t over the hill, but . . . ahead of the curve.” ~ New York Post

Fashion | Style | Biography

Marilyn in Fashion, by Christopher Nickens and George Zeno, traces the evolution of Marilyn Monroe’s style, from wholesome sweetness early in her career to sex-kitten looks in the ’50s to elegant sophistication in the last years of her life. The text provides details on the designers of her ensembles, where she wore them, and their influence on fashion. Behind-the-scenes stories reveal how the star often worked closely with designers to create looks befitting the Marilyn Monroe image. Illustrated with hundreds of rare and never-before-published photos, Marilyn in Fashion fabulously traces the style evolution of the ultimate Hollywood icon. (Excerpted from Running Press, publisher.)

Reviews

“Showing how the star got to the top by dressing to thrill, it shines a new light on the shrewd intelligence working behind that pretty face.” ~ Total Film, UK

 

Fiction – Family Life | Humor | Contemporary Women

A mom in her early fifties, Clover knows she no longer turns heads the way she used to and that she’s only really missed when dinner isn’t on the table on time. Then Clover wakes up one morning to discover she’s invisible–truly invisible. She panics, but when her husband and son sit down to dinner, they see nothing amiss. Even though she’s been with her husband, Arthur, since college, her condition goes unnoticed. She is crushed by the realization that neither her husband nor her children ever truly look at her.  She was invisible even before she knew she was invisible. Smart and hilarious, with indomitable female characters, Calling Invisible Women, by Jeanne Ray, will appeal to anyone who has ever felt invisible. (Excerpted from Random House, Publisher)

Reviews

“Witty and thought-provoking, Invisible Women will call out to any female who’s ever been made to feel invisible by virtue of her age, her gender, or both.”  ~People

 

Finance | Gender | Women’s History

Wall Street Women, by Melissa S. Fisher, tells the story of the first generation of women to establish themselves as professionals on Wall Street. Since these women, who began their careers in the 1960s, faced blatant discrimination and barriers to advancement, they created formal and informal associations to bolster one another’s careers. Fisher charts the evolution of the women’s careers, the growth of their political and economic clout, changes in their perspectives and the cultural climate on Wall Street, and their experiences of the 2008 financial collapse. (Excerpted from Duke University Press, Publisher.)

 

Reviews

“As they dream of changing the hostile domain of finance, women find themselves drawing on traditional notions of gender equality and coaching each other in old-fashioned survival skills. Written in enticing prose, Wall Street Women offers us an illuminating peek into a wholly unexpected fusion of feminism with the market.” ~Alice Kessler-Harris, author of A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman