The book for every body type
This book will show you how to dress and accessorise any body type. This book is sectioned off by body part and problem (big boobs, small boobs, no hips, short legs ect) and shows you with lots of pictures what to wear and what not to wear. These prictures really show you how bad some items can make you look and how much better simple changes make you look. It is easy to incorporate the advice and they even tell you stores to shop at.
Valuable ideas but caveat, fashionista
This is a very good book if you're looking for answers to questions like "why is it that turtlenecks look great on her, but not on me?" or "why do I look like a sack of potatoes in this dress?". The great strength of this book is the emphasis on dressing for one's body type. Other "what to/not to wear" titles and shows often neglect to talk about *why* certain garments look bad on certain shapes. Trinny and Suze both explain and show you why. This information is especially useful for plus sized women as it often flies in the face of the shape/style of garments you will find on the racks at stores and in the collections of even exclusively plus-sized lines, thereby saving you from a purchase that "never looks right" when you wear it. I especially found the section on "short necks" to be helpful and surprisingly perceptive. Who would have thought a badly clad neck could be so problematic? And yet it makes a huge difference.
That said, I think, in general, the smaller one is, the more of Trinny and Suze's "rules" one can break without looking terrible, whereas the bigger one is, the more one benefits by following them.
Beyond the question of size and effectiveness of their advice, the downside of the book is that some of the outfits are just plain awful, which distracts and detracts from the lesson of shape appropriate dressing. Also, some of the posing, which features frowning and grimacing, unfairly skews the readers interpretation of the aesthetics of the fit and shape of a garment.
For the well-schooled fashionista, this book may not add much to her knowledge. It is not about building a wardrobe, judging quality of garments, or even how to put an outfit together, really. Check it out first before purchase.
Good Information......
The information is this book is really good. However, it is pretty funny that in the pictures of what you shouldn't wear the authors went to the trouble of posing in the worst possible posture (see page 80). I don't care what you have on, if you are standing as the author is on page 80, it will look bad. The pictures are pretty fun... not even a smile while posing for what you shouldn't wear. Overall, the book has good information and I recommend it.
wow this was terrible
my mother bought this for me as a gift, and she completely wasted her money. this book is AWFUL. the pictures are bad, the posing is terrible-- if you slouch and frown, you''ll look bad no matter what you're wearing! They should have used models who actually HAD saddlebags or flat chests or flabby tummies... maybe they just wanted to see their faces in print.
I cannot even express how awful this book was. I agree with one other reviewer-- I get MUCH more out of a copy of Vogue than I ever would from this book. And at a fraction of the cost...
Confidence is the Key
The thing I like about this book, and all of Trinny and Susannah's books, is that they are written to help everywoman look her best. I like too that much of the material is geared toward the grown woman who wants to look grown, rather than like a teenager. They are real champions of a mature and classy look - almost harking back to the days when young women were looking forward to being adults, with sophistication of dress. The advice about shapes and colors is very helpful. I too give it four rather than 5 stars because I agree with some other reviews here that there may be some conflicting advice for conflicting "problem" areas - but they give us a start on pulling ourselves together.
(113 reviews)
