Paris Street Style

The first part of the books consists of interviews with the designers, trendsetters, art directors and others, mixed in with paragraphs on each classic item, such as trench coat, white shirt, pea coat, tropeziennes, etc.
That was for the first 6 chapters. For me it has gotten interesting around chapter 7 - most trends are broken down how to use them and how not to use them: leggins, capri pants, skinny pants, bermuda shorts,animal prints, cowboy boots, long skirts.








Followed by another wonderful chapter on denim: goes into details on how should each jean style fit, talks about skinny jean, boy jean, flared, white jean and more. Chapter 9 is on handbags, chapter 10 - little black dress. Found nothing new there.

















This page below slightly puzzled me. Since it's a fashion book, I expected the editors to do a bit more censoring. Hint: let paragraph






Loved chapters 11 and 12 on what to wear and not to wear with clear explanations on why or why not, for example not wearing wide pants cut too short and quilted jackets, while pearl necklace or a navy blue blazer is always a go to. Chapter 12 talks about what can you borrow from grandmother's closet, nieces closet or work locker, safely, without damage you your style or reputation. For example borrowing a nice 60s coat from your grandma, a waistcoat from your boyfriend, denim skirt from your niece, from the professional's locker - riding, boots, tango dancer's pumps and my personal favorite - an army jacket.













Two last chapters, 13 and 14 talk about secondhand clothes and age appropriate trends.

Personally I'd buy the book for chapters 7,8, 11 and 12. Overall it was an interesting read.

Peter Rabbit Collection for Gap

I am absolutely charmed by new Peter Rabbit collection for Gap. Today I have been running all over the town visiting various Gap stores that carry the collection, to see if the clothes are as cute as they look on the internet. And they sure are!

Here is most of the collection for older kids:










My personal favorites are canvas sweater from the first screenshot (lower left corner), shawl-collar sweater from the second screenshot (upper right corner), and 2-in-1 parka from the last screenshot. I got those three plus an adorable pair of jeans. Cannot wait to pick up the little one from daycare so he could try them on!

The Wardrobe Wakeup

Pretty interesting book but, seems like it is oriented more towards older generations as some advice does not seem suitable for younger women. Don't get me wrong, it is not outdated, just the advice given would not be useful or age appropriate for all.



I think the book was meant for women of more advanced age who are transitioning from more youthful wardrobe to wardrobe that is more mature and age appropriate. Sometimes the transition is due to age, sometimes due to major life changes, one example would be a transition from being a working woman to becoming a housewife. Different lifestyle, different activities, different schedule requires updating or revamping your wardrobe.



So now on to more detailed review: author recommends to wear same color head-to-toe for a longer, slimmer look. While it will price the look promised, personally, I find it's a good look for a woman after 40, and most younger women would find it slightly boring. The part I liked about this recommendation was that the author does not mean wearing only one color, but to pick a basic color and wear it head-to-toe but not without additional colors. For instance take example straight from the book - a woman wearing gray pants, striped gray and navy sweater and navy scarf, while the main color is gray, it is not the only color used in the outfit.



Next, the author suggests to arrange all clothing in your closet by color, regardless of the type or the season, then, as the next step, put like items together, like all the jackets, all the pants etc.
Personally I find this advice iffy and believe more in arranging your clothing first by season, then by type: work, active, casual, formal, followed by type, and the color arrangement is last on my list. Nevertheless I had fun trying out the author's recommendation and did get some interesting outfit ideas out of it.


Then the book talks about "editing" your wardrobe, altering, layering, mixing prints, adding belts, and going over each item such as blouses, cardigans, dresses, pants, etc., offering some advice on each. The advice is kind of general, mostly geared towards average body type - not too tall, not too slim etc.


Then follows the advice on dressing for less, how and what to buy so that you spend less without looking cheap. For example buying black, brown and red, sticking to basics and clean shapes egoc.


A pretty good advice given, in my opinion, was buying seasonless items: cropped jeans, classic trench coat, long tanks, dark neutral pencil skirt, nude shoes, cashmere v-necks, 3/4 sleeve cardigans, white cotton shirts and more.


Then there is a list of "style types" that slightly differ from conventional style types found in each and every style book: the babe, the classic, the yo-yo dresser, the label lover, the comfort queen, and the trend-ista, with a list of advice for each type, followed by some examples.


At the end of the book there is a list of 8 designers most people buy from at any age throughout their whole life and a chapter on accessories.


Overall not a bad book at all, especially for those over 40.

You are what you wear

I'd say the book is more about psychology then about clothing. It talks a lot about different psychological issues people have and how it is reflected on their wardrobe. Personally that's what I expected but I expected it on much deeper level, much more complicated and much more enticing.

Intro chapter is a questionnaire to get you to think about who dressed you when you were little, who started your style, basically, and to analyze what is in your closet.

Intro is followed by nine chapters, each of which describes a particular type of a person with an issue and what type of clothes or what shopping style they tend to take on. One chapter is about someone who does not dress their age, another - someone who wear clothing that is too revealing, another just buys everything they see if it is on sale, whether they need it or not, then one more is about someone who wears baggy clothes to cover the body they hate and one who is obsessed with labels, etc.

The book does not really supply any real advice to anyone who does not fit those criteria or does not provide information on how to "read" people based on their clothing, beyond the common sense.

Personally, I would not recommend this book from either psychology or wardrobe perspective, but I guess every book has its audience.

What to Wear, Where: The How-to Handbook for Any Style Situation

Nice little book that offers not only an advice on appropriate attire for any occasion, but also beautiful photographs with two sample outfits for each. The occasions range from bowling with friends, or a night out with the girls, to black-tie events, meeting your beau's parents and going to an art gallery. I found it entertaining and useful at the same time. A lot of beautiful photos too.



I often thought the world needed a book like that, especially after going to an early afternoon summer wedding this past summer, and being astonished at the parade of rather formal dark navy dresses completely unsuitable for such an event, not to mention uncomfortable and impractical. So yes, the world needed a book like this to help people not to be either underdressed or overdressed for various events.

In addition to extensive list of events, in the back of the book there are two lists of wardrobe essentials for each of the two authors of the book - Katherine and Hillary and an index for every single article of clothing from the photos along with a designer name which a found very helpful since I liked a couple of things and wanted to know where I could purchase them.

Parisian Chic - A Style Guide by Ines de la Fressange

I greatly enjoyed the book, even though I find some examples unacceptable, like leather jacket with pearls or chiffon dress with biker boots. But even though I did not agree with everything in this book, I found it a delightful read and I did pick up some interesting. One outfit in particular struck my fancy - Nine wearing navy polka dot belted dress with olive cardigan and light brown kelly bag, just like the one I have.



I will definitely give similar outfit a shot as well as navy sweater and menswear blazer with pushed up sleeves.

I loved the list of basics that is different from list of basic you can find elsewhere:
menswear blazer, trench coat, navy sweater, tank top, little black dress, perfect fitting jeans. I never owned menswear blazer or sweater in navy and now I am inspired to give them a try.



This is not your typical style book, it is a guide to experiencing Paris and I will take it with me when we will go there with my family.

The whole book has an air of effortless chic and I will definitely read it again and again.

Frumpy to Fabulous

A pretty good book to give to someone who does not know herself. Consists of 9 chapters, one talking about finding the right colors for your skin tone, another about right type of clothes for your body type, another chapter talks about building "the backbone" of your wardrobe, the basics, etc. The last chapter talks a little about finding your "uniform". If you are not a novice and know what suits you, what styles look good on you and which colors help you to bring out the best in you, this book is not for you. But it will make a good present for someone who has trouble finding their style.
The book covers the basic well and contains a lot of useful information in a very compact format, but you will not find anything new if you already know how to pull yourself together

The ELLEments of Personal Style: 25 Modern Fashion Icons on How to Dress, Shop, and Live

To be honest, I was very disappointed. I expected to learn something new and interesting but instead I found another celebrity list: 25 famous women and their short style bios. The list contains Fergie, Diane Von Furstenberg, Angelica Huston, Candace Bushnell, Christina Hendricks, Milla Jovovich and 20 more (some of which I am not familiar with), all of whom are either models, actresses, novelists or stylists. There were a few pages dedicated to each, containing either short style bio or short interview, "inspirational board", and one article of clothing most important to them (for instance for Diane von Furstenberg it was a wrap dress and for Angelica Huston it was a pearl necklace). I admit, it was fun to read about one or two that I, personally, admire, like Diane Von Furstenberg, but other than that it was a bore. The photos were nice but that's about it. In my opinion the book was too subjective. if you want to learn from one of the women of style, get "I love your style" by Amanda Brooks.

Oh No She Didn't: The Top 100 Style Mistakes Women Make and How to Avoid Them

This book is the exact opposite of Lloyd Boston's "The Style Checklist". "The Style Checklist" contains the items that are a must have, while "Oh no she didn't" contains the list of faux pas. I had a good laugh looking throught the book and I should say, this book would make an excellent gift for some people I happen to know. Clinton Kelly takes all the things he finds appalling and disects them one by one brutally but not without humor. My personal favorite nightmares are counterfit items, cropped pants, stripper shoes, flip-flops, tattoes and evening wear and wearing all black. These are the things I absolutely cannot stand but see around nearly every day.

Don't get me wrong, I love black. But I do agree with Clinton Kelly, it gets to be too much when people just start abusing it, and sadly so many do.

In addition to some tendencies listed above, the book includes things like mustaches, hairy legs, camel toes, baggy jeans, exposing midriff covered with stretchmarks, wearing bubblegum pink tracksuits over the age of 15, boca shoes, flashy acrylic nails, wearing sweatsuit to places other than the gym, scruffy shoes, just to name a few.

This book will make a perfect gift, telling people things you can't :)

The Style Checklist: The Ultimate Wardrobe Essentials For You

If you enjoyed Nina Garcia's "The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own" and "Lucky Shopping Guide", you will definitely enjoy this one. While Nina Garcia's book is more of a list of her personal favorites, "Style Checklist" is a complete guide to all the basics every woman must own. In author's words, this book should be a prerequisite to his other books where he teaches women how to create outfits without realizing that there are a lot of women out there who does not own the aforementioned basics.




I loved the beautiful photos and good descriptions of every basic item, starting from black pumps and ending with a trench coat, paired up with some tips on what to wear it with. The book is divided on a number of sections: Work, Weekend, Saturday Night, Travel, Entertaining etc. and each section contains a list of basics pertaining to that section.



For example Work section contains black pumps, black suit, white shirt, navy blazer, twinset, black skirt, black turtleneck. Weekend section: easy jean, khakis, thong sandals, polo shirt, white jean, linen shirt etc. Travel section: Trench coat, nude heel, trouser jean, festive flats etc.

The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's MostElegant Woman

gospel_chanel
Originally uploaded by capoeirawardrobe

You will enjoy this one if you are a fan of Chanel and are interested to know more than just about fashion side of Chanel's life. I have purchased this book after watching the movie "Coco before Chanel" and found out many interesting facts about Chanel's biography. It was very enlightening to find out exactly how Chanel developed her style by simpy accomodating her needs. It was fascinating to find out that she came up with idea of belted cardigan simply by not wanting to put on a pullover lended to her by a boyfriend over her head. She had a hat on and she didn't want to go through the trouble of taking the hat off and messing up her hair, so she cut the pullover open, put it on and tied a belt around it.

I found out a lot interesting facts not only about Chanel's style, but also her personality and her social life. I would highly recommend this book.

P.S. This book somehow reminded me of "I love your style" by Amanda Brooks, which I absolutely LOVED. I prefer books on style that do not force things upon youor force you to choose a "category" for your personal style, but instead help you to discover your individual style by showing you how others have developed theirs

I love your style

At first glance the book might seem a bit subjective. Like one of the reviewers has said it's all about ME. I went to the book store after reading the reviews and got the same impression after flipping through the pages of the book for the first time but I ordered it anyway for entertainment purposes. I mean, if I am willing to read someone's memoirs or biography about their life or work accomplishments, why not read someone's fashion history. Especially someone as stylish as Amanda Brooks.

But I have to say, the book turned out to be much more than I expected and I did pick up plenty of insirations from there.



Especially i enjoyed the part where Amanda gives advice on how to find your style. Some find it irritating how often Amanda changed her look and style, but isn't it the best way to find who you really are? How can you ever truly know unless you've tried nearly everything outthere? For some style comes naturally, during the first couple of decades of life, but for others it takes a lot of soul searching and a lot of changes.

Amanda recommends go through books and magazines and make cut outs of what you found the most appealing. Out of those images one can create a fashion book where you could see how your style and taste evolves over time. Will you like the same thing a year from now, 5 years from now etc.

According to Amanda, there are 6 style types, 3 definable: Classic, Bohemian, and Minimal and 3 undefinable: High Fashion, Street, and Eclectic. She describes different periods of her life when she identified with each one of the above, illustrating it with photoes of herself, people she knew and various celebrities, whom, she believed, reflected particular style the best.

I wouldn't say it's a story of Amanda's life, more like a guide to finding your own style, illustrated by exaples from her life and her experiences.

Last part of the book talks about types of shopping: Basic, cheap Chic, Designer and Vintage. Unlike other books, this book tells us that our basics do not have to be classic, but more of a reflection of our particular style. If basic item is a t-shirt, it does not have to be classic black or white t-shirt, it could be ripped or torn etc., whatever suits one's particular style and personality.

I must say, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely keep it in my style library.

Harper's Bazaar Great Style

First chapter of the book is dedicated to talking about the wardrobe basics.

Key items as building blocks of your wardrobe:

1. Dark lean suit
2. Pencil skirt or a-line skirt if more suitable for your body type
3. Crisp white shirt
4. Great pair of jeans
5. Little black dress

In addition to basic building blocks, the book talks about classics that are worth having regardless of current trands, such as white t-shirts, cashmere cardigan, white jeans, trousers, shift dress, tuxedo, bouclé jacket, trench coat, and camel overcoat.



Then there is a list of items worth splurging on as well as the items one could save on.

Splurge list: Coat, chunky knits, such as cashmere sweaters, dressy blouses, furs, cocktail dresses and evening gowns.



Save list: jeans, pants, skirts, button-up shirts, lightweight knits, tank tops and t-shirts.



I totally agree with saving on t-shirts since in order to look good, they need to be replaced often and thus are not worth splurging on. Although personally, I prefer white t-shirts and tank tops from quality cotton even though I always avoid paying much for them, trying to catch them on big sales.

For the most part I found advice in the book reasonable and useful but a few things were not to my liking. Like, for instance, the calendar on when to shop for what. The calendar in the book recommends to shop for seasonal items BEFORE season starts when seasonal clothes are the most expensive. I believe that if one is not in search of the current trends but is stocking up on timeless classics, it's better to shop for seasonal item AFTER the season has began, or towards the end of the season. this was you will have exactly what you want for much less. For instance I shop for winter coats and cashmere not in october, as calendar in the book suggests, but staring in Mid-January, early February. I barely ever pay full price and my closet is full of cashmere and I always have a nice fur jacket or two that were a real bargain.

I agree that when you see an item that you absolutely love, you should grab it since later it might be gone, or when you want to get some trendy pieces. In that case yes, shopping before season begins is the only option, but when stocking up on basics I prefer end of season.

Next chapter talks about personal style and various style personalities:

The Classicists (Jackie O)
The Bombshells (Sophia Loren)
The Bohemians (Jane Birkin)
The Ladies (Grace Kelly)
The Mavericks(Kate Blanchett)
The Minimalists (Kate Winslet)
The Eclectics (Gwen Stefani)



Then another chapter is dedicated to what is most appropriate by age group (20s,30s,40s etc.), followed by a chapter on what's most flattering for various shapes. The fact that "pregnant" was added as one of the shapes, on top of regular "curvy" or "boyish" made me especially happy.





then the following chapters talk about

Office wear




Evening wear



Casual wear

Chapter on casual wear again has a number of different casual style types:


Preppy
Glam
Sporty
Urban
Country
Jet-Set
Boho
Romantic
Rocker












The last two chapters talk about accessories and lingerie.



Every chapter is generously illustrated with celebrity photos

Discovering Your Inner Style - 8 Steps to G.U.R.U.

Does not add anything to what any other book on personal style will tell you. As any other book on style, it describes number of styles and provides the reader with a quiz that you can take in order to determine your dominant style. The styles are not your regular "Classic", "Bohemian", "Bombshell", or "Eclectic". Instead, this book uses slightly different names "Natural", "Classic", "Polished", "Artistic".

Also it uses different names for color types: instead of Spring, SUmmer, Winter, Fall, it uses Bright, Subtle, Strong and Deep, but that's where the difference ends.

The book has a lot of contradictory information. For example, it tries to combine your inner personality traits with a closing style and body shapes. That's the part I find contradictory as author suggest that a particular personality trait suggest a clothing style which in turn suggests a body shape. Well, I took the quiz and based on the results, my body shape should be "apple", while in reality it is hourglass. Thus I was not able to user author's recommendations.

In real life I have not seen any connection between personality and body shape, and very little connection between dominant personality trait (i.e. communicator, mediator etc) and clothing style. For example if your personality train it a "Mediator" or "Communicator", does not necessarily mean that you would look good in clothing classified as "Natural" or "Artistic".

Disappointing...

Style Clinic

The book starts out talking about a distinction between the concept of style and the concept of fashion. Style is different from fashion in the way that fashion trends come and go and style is timeless. It helps knowing exactly what works for your body type and your style personality. What pieces worth splurging and what to buy cheap. What needs to be renewed often and what will last. The book also talks about classics - the pieces that will never go out of style. I especially enjoy that part since I prefer timeless pieces over new trends. Trends come and go and there is no need to follow each one, especially considering the fact that not all trends will work well for a particular body type. As the book mentions, if one looks great in boot-cut jeans, there is no need to get into unknown territory of skinny jeans just because they are trendy at a particular time. there is no need to deviate from what has worked well for you in the past. The basic moral is - Fashion makes you desire things you should not. Shop your style, not the hottest fashion trends.




Also the book lists some timeless classics, such as trench coat, LBD, tuxedo suit, good jeans, classic knits such as twinsets, turtleneck and v-neck sweater.



Personally I am a big fan of trench coats, cashmere, good jeans, twinsets, pearls and LBD.



Then the book goes into what should be kept in your closet and what should be discarded. The more you buy, the less it seems you have to wear. Buying a lot does not mean that everything you buy will work for you, most of us buy impulsively on a whim and then end up with disfunctional wardrobe. And that's where the Style Clinic comes in.
It helps you to decide what to purge from your wardrobe and what is worth keeping.

Next subject is wardrobe basics - white shirt, cardigan in your favorite color, suit jacket that goes with your skirt, 3 pairs of pant: jeans, tailored work pants, and smart day-to-evening pants, classic LBD, couple of casual t-shirts and tank tops, dressy round-neck top as a dressy alternative to a t-shirt, day skirt, 3 pairs of shoes: boots, ballet flats and a pair of high heels.



The list of basics is followed by details about each item, how to pick the right one and what to wear it with.


Also there is plenty of advice on how to find the perfect fit for your body, on using colors and prints in order to emphasize or camouflage, dressing appropriate for your age, and some successful shopper tips. Such as CBS: coat, bag, and shoes formula and other useful rules.

Second part of the book talks about each piece of clothing (jeans, skirt, dress etc.) more in depth, what to wear it with, what kind to choose for each body type, how to build a coat capsule, how to select a perfect pair of pants, a skirt, dress, accessories etc. Well illustrated with pictures of celebrities that fit a particular body type and/or wearing particular article of clothing.




I'd highly recommend this book since it has a good advice for any occasion