The best-kept secrets of Hollywood moms–revealed by the former editor of US Weekly and current Editorial Director of The Hollywood Reporter.
Current editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter, Janice Min was editor in chief of Us Weekly for six years where she documented one of the biggest cultural shifts of the last decade: the making and celebration of the Hollywood Mom. Think Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum and Halle Berry—stars who proudly displayed their pregnancies, shed baby weight overnight, and helped turn the once frumpy bump industry into big business. Being a mom had become a style statement: skinny jeans replaced ‘mom’ jeans, Bugaboos became status symbols, and Pilates became a post-natal workout staple. Motherhood became chic, leaving regular moms across America, including Min, feeling both excited and anxious (what, one more thing to worry about?). But in How to Look Hot in a Minivan, Min dispels the idea that looking great post-pregnancy is only for the rich, pampered and lucky. In a style both smart and funny, she brings together top Hollywood experts in diet, fitness, fashion and beauty to show the reader the simplest, most cost-effective strategies for looking younger and better (without the guilt!), proving being a mom needn’t be a style liability.
Current editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter, Janice Min was editor in chief of Us Weekly for six years where she documented one of the biggest cultural shifts of the last decade: the making and celebration of the Hollywood Mom. Think Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum and Halle Berry—stars who proudly displayed their pregnancies, shed baby weight overnight, and helped turn the once frumpy bump industry into big business. Being a mom had become a style statement: skinny jeans replaced ‘mom’ jeans, Bugaboos became status symbols, and Pilates became a post-natal workout staple. Motherhood became chic, leaving regular moms across America, including Min, feeling both excited and anxious (what, one more thing to worry about?). But in How to Look Hot in a Minivan, Min dispels the idea that looking great post-pregnancy is only for the rich, pampered and lucky. In a style both smart and funny, she brings together top Hollywood experts in diet, fitness, fashion and beauty to show the reader the simplest, most cost-effective strategies for looking younger and better (without the guilt!), proving being a mom needn’t be a style liability.
To start, in compliance with FTC guidelines, I must disclose that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I think I just killed the last few braincells I still have reading this book. It reflected everything I hate about the world of celebrity and the pressure that is put out there to be superwoman instead of just chilling and enjoying your life and baby.
The author is very contradictory. She writes that she does not buy into the world of celebrity and that we should not aspire to look like them or bounce back within weeks of giving birth, yet she then goes on to write a whole book about how you can get to look like the very same celebrities! While the sections on healthy eating and exercising were just common sense (for anyone not just Mums), the section on different types of Botox/plastic surgery type procedures just made my jaw drop.
The photos throughout of "celebrities" looking good and bad will, no doubt, interest some readers but I hate it when you see a photo of anyone and then everyone gets to comment on how good or bad they look. What does it matter if Gwyneth Paltrow looks better with a paler lipstick or if someone wears Crocs on their feet (I am sure they are very comfy for running after a toddler), we should just accept them for who they are and their decision to wear whatever they are wearing, who are we to criticise anyway.
I managed to take one positive piece of advice from this book and that is, a recommendation for a dry hair shampoo for those days when you don't have time or can't be bothered washing your dirty hair. I know I am grasping at straws but I am trying to say at least something positive about this book.
Although, I thought the author did have quite a good writing style and dry wit, I just wish she would put it to better use. 1 out of 5 stars for this alone.
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