Fabulous Chicago based forum member and writer Laura recently interviewed Veteran Beauty Editor Charla Krupp about her new book. I asked Laura if she’d like to share some of her interview insights with us, so over to her for the scoop.

Okay, I’ll admit it: I bought Charla Krupp’s 2008 bestseller, How Not to Look Old. Having crossed the line into my 40s, suddenly the topic seemed not only relevant but urgent. Now, Charla is back, and better than ever, with a book that will appeal to any woman who’s ever asked: Does this make me look fat?

Since I write for a magazine, Make it Better, that’s based in Charla’s hometown, I had the good fortune to interview Charla about her new book, How to Never Look Fat Again. Charla, who’s been on the Today show over 100 times as a fashion and beauty expert, was just as fabulous and full of helpful ideas as I’d hoped. When we spoke by phone from the Manhattan apartment she shares with her husband, Time Magazine editor Richard Zoglin, it felt like I was talking to a girlfriend – we had a blast!

Charla  thinks that women care more about not looking fat than they do about anything else — looking trendy, or looking good, for example — and that women get messed up by trying to follow the trends and wind up buying things they think are cute but are actually “fattening.” Throughout the book, Charla talks about “no-fat” and “high-fat” clothing, a concept based on what she found in her kitchen pantry. While Charla’s husband is blessed with the ability to eat a sleeve of cookies every night and not gain an ounce, Charla is not. She realized they had the full-fat and no-fat versions of all sorts of foods in their house – milk, peanut butter, ice cream. And the idea occurred that this could be a metaphor for clothing. For example: clingy orange lycra minidress, high fat. Sleek black sheath dress with skinny belt, no fat.

The photos are key to the success of her book and they work marvelously to illustrate the concept. (Charla hired plus-size models to represent real women in sizes 8 and 10!). From swimming suits to workout gear to denim and dresses, Charla shows what clothing makes us look thinner. Some of Charla’s recommendations will be familiar to YLFers – start with a bra fitting. Charla told me that women will go through seven bra sizes in their life! I had no idea! Other recommendations, like an emphasis on the daily wearing of shapewear – well, Angie doesn’t promote that, I don’t find it comfortable either, so we can agree to disagree with Charla while happily adopting some of her other ideas.

Charla is launching a nationwide book tour, and in Chicago, where I live, she’ll be at Bloomingdale’s on Michigan Avenue on April 1, and at Bloomingdale’s at Old Orchard Mall in Skokie on April 3. She’s also going to be in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York. Check out her website for more dates nationwide.