Unzipped

An Incredible Account of Overcoming Adversity and Trauma to Find Love, Success, and Fulfillment

Darlene Parris Young's fascinating, exciting, nearly 50-year career as a NYC fashion fit model, working with such luminaries as Diane von Furstenberg, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Gloria Vanderbilt and others, is counterbalanced by personal trauma at the hands of men: abuse, lies, theft and eventually a brutal attack; dismissed by the institutions supposed to provide support - the police and The Church - Darlene is left to find recovery, peace and a renewed life.

Unzipped: Chronicles of a Fashion Fit Model, the author shares the world of the well-paid fashion fit model who stands still for hours as clothes are pinned and tucked to fit her curves.  Blossoming from shy country girl to New York's "Coat Hanger with the Mouth," she learns the Dior pivot, the one-two-three smile and how to turn a "go see" into paid work. Yet, at the end of the day, the Author takes us home, where the men she loved were not always the best fit, taking away the confidence she was gaining in her career.

Unzipped is written for all women who have faced abuse and trauma; women who have encountered harassment in the workplace; women who have felt the resulting despair and loneliness of long, solitary nights and who have worried whether the future holds any hope for happiness and love.

Speaking for all women who have been told what to wear, what to say and what to believe, Unzipped will have you laughing and crying; dropping your jaw with disbelief on each new page; leaving you with a determination to put the past behind and the resulting knowledge that you are not alone.