Three Black Skirts: All You Need to Survive

by Anna Johnson

Book Overview

It's the real thing. It's about getting your life together. It's about looking damn fine. It's about man handling. It's about the casa question. About solitude. About stain removal. Whether you're a young woman just out of school and starting a career or a successful thirty-something, if you're still wasting time looking for stockings that match or struggling to keep on top of credit card bills, you need help. And not a glossy monthly's unattainable...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761119396
• ISBN13: 9780761119395
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Workman Publishing
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Love it! A must have for any woman

This is a great book with great illustrations done by the author. I really enjoyed reading it, it gives a woman a lot of different advice with out being too preachy. I have always really enjoyed Anna Johnson's writing. It is not serious, nor is it uppity or snobby. The book offers realistic, doable advice for women of all ages. It covers topics such as fashion, food, entertaining, and beauty. She has some great advice especially when it comes to dressing chicly, decorating your home on a budget. It also has some nice sections on being spiritual and giving back to your community, which I think is rare in books like this. It also encourages women to be modern women. It's not a book that expects you know know to to cook, or even to look good all of the time, just to have fun and take life with a grain of salt.

Fab Style Book

More than a self-help book or guide to better self-esteem, Anna Johnson's "Three Black Skirts" is a hip style book for all ages. About the only topics missing from this "survival guide" are marriage and weddings. Besides the clever and cute line-drawn illustrations, my favorite part of this hot pink-covered book is the section on "chic." Johnson gleans the best of that Vogue-ish "je ne sais quoi" and presents "the maxims of chic." One of my favorites is: "You don't have to be a WASP to be chic, you just have to iron like one." Far from being preachy in tone, "Three Black Skirts" combines practical advice, often in the form of maxims and handy tables, with matter-of-fact girlfriend-to-girlfriend tips and anecdotes. Not much seems to be taboo. After I read Ms. Johnson's confession that even she doesn't have three black skirts, I knew I would like this book.

Realistic advice for improving your life.

This is a book designed for those of us who don't usually read self-help books. Anna Johnson has compiled lots of good, sound advice for getting your life in shape. Among other things, she covers finances, makeup, clothes, home decor, love life, physical health in this one engaging book. For me, the best part of the book was her introduction. Her philosophy is a good one - you're never going to have it all together in all parts of your life so don't feel like a failure every time your house isn't cleaned, you have a junkfood attack or run your hose. Try to do a little better where you can, but don't think you can do it all. This isn't anything new, but Johnson gives it to us with a fresh and modern perspective. Johnson has relied upon experts for many of the specific topics with generally good results. Each topic is pared down to its bare essentials. Sometimes it's easy to forget that these are just tips, not a must-do list. Don't consider all of her advice to be dogma; many of them are just a reflection of her personal taste and lifestyle. For example, she pooh-poohs waterproof mascara, but for those of us who were contacts and put in a lot of eyedrops, it's essential. Similarly, ignore the rules on clothes and decor if they don't work for you. Everyone has a different figure and no one style of dressing or article of clothing works for everyone. Nevertheless, Johnson's taste is simple and classic, and you can generally feel safe following Johnson's advice to the letter.

A guide to life and more...

I purchased this book when I read a review about it in the Australian Who Weekly. It originally came out in Australia in 1998. I am glad it is finally available to the rest of the world. It is basically a guide to organising your life efficiently. I have read it and re-read it and each time I continue to learn something new. I want all my friends to read this book as I feel it will help them organise their lives too. It sure has helped me organise mine. Anna Johnson talks about everything from organising your wardrobe to contraception to time management. I particularly enjoy her excerpt on cleaning. It is fuss free and simple and an invaluable source for every female out there and males would definitely enjoy it too.This book is the epitome of the perfect "Life Guide".

The fourth "black skirt"

I was given "Three Black Skirts" as a Christmas prez at the end of 1998 - I'm amazed that it's taking this long to get to the American public as, from what I've read of this print, it is the same book. I loved it. Fantastic and realistic, I read this book three times in a row across several less-than-fab evenings when my other mid-week single person options were either the ironing or ( ) telly. I then didn't sight it for the next 4 or so months as it made it's way steadily through a bunch of similarly impressed friends. This book didn't patronise me, it made me laugh. It also gave me my favourite bruschetta recipe as well as practical info about money, relaxing, clothes, compliments and sex. It made my 21-year old self feel good about my body and have a little more of an idea about reasonably scary adult stuff like money management. I know exactly where it is in my bookcase. A great buy.