Introduction

Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother’s vintage jackets, purses… and pearls of wisdom

Estranged half-sisters Gabrielle Winslow and Lulu Quattro have only two things in common: mounds of debt and coils of unresolved enmity toward Bette Bradford, their controlling and imperious recently deceased mother.

Gabrielle, the firstborn, was raised in relative luxury on Manhattan’s rarefied Upper East Side. Now, at fifty-five, her life as a Broadway costume designer married to a heralded Broadway producer has exploded in divorce.

Lulu, who spent half her childhood under the tutelage of her working-class Brooklyn grandparents, is a grieving widow at forty-eight. With her two sons grown, her life feels reduced to her work at the Ditmas Park bakery owned by her late husband’s family.

The two sisters arrive for the reading of their mother’s will, expecting to divide a sizable inheritance, pay off their debts, and then again turn their backs on each other.

But to their shock, what they have been left is their mother’s secret walk-in closet jammed with high-end current and vintage designer clothes and accessories— most from Chanel.

Contemplating the scale of their mother’s self-indulgence, the sisters can’t help but wonder if Lauren Weisberger had it wrong: because it seems, in fact, that the devil wore Chanel. But as they being to explore their mother’s collection, meet and fall in love with her group of warm, wonderful friends, and magically find inspiring messages tucked away in her treasures — it seems as though their mother is advising Lulu and Gabrielle from the beyond — helping them rediscover themselves and restore their relationship with each other.

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Discussion Questions

1. What do you think impacted the sister's enmity the most: Having different fathers? Their mother's perceived favoritism of Gabrielle? treatment of them? Something else?

2. How did living in Brooklyn vs. Manhattan form the sister's outlooks?

3. How did worries about money formulate Lulu's decisions (for good and/or bad?) and how did this affect her grief from losing her husband?

4. What do you think the hardest part of divorce was for Gabrielle: shame, career impact, sense of self, or something else/

5.Who was the real Bette? The often cold mother Gabrielle and Lulu knew or the dynamic friend known by the women of the Style Endures Society? What formed Bette's character the most?

6. Do you know women (Friends? Yourself? Family?) who've reinvented themselves after forty-five and older?

7. How would you describe your style? More Lulu or more Gabrielle? Would you like to change your style, and if so, what steps would you take?

8. If you could own one piece of clothing, jewelry, or handbag from The Fashion Orphans, what would it be?

Weblinks

»	Author Randy Susan Meyer's website
»	Author M.J. Rose's website
»	Publisher's book info

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