Kim France

If you're like me and don't want to leaf through fashion magazines every month but you want to look like you know what you're doing, fashionwise, then check this one out. It tells you exactly what you need to build a wardrobe, what details to consider when shopping (e.g., when trying on pants, sit down and look at them that way; where on your body a t-shirt ends; what accessories will make an an otherwise chic outfit too prissy or too slutty), what underwear to wear with what pieces, and has show more lots and lots of pictures. The clothes and styles featured are not so trendy that this book won't be useful for the next five years. I used to hate to shop. I still do, but at least now I know what I'm doing and can avoid feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. show less

Provides many pictures and guidance for developing a blend-into-the-fashionable-background closet. There are some useful tips here; for instance, I'd have never thought to shop for camisoles in the lingerie department (and perhaps that is why I haven't been successful finding any in recent years). However, many of the tips are ones I'd already intuited. That's not to say the advice is bad -- it's just limited by the reality of how many clothing suggestions legitimately exist. As an idea book show more for outfits, though, this book delivers, and given that it was developed by a fashion magazine, that shouldn't be surprising.

This book will eventually become quite dated, though probably in a charming way. It's feeling slightly dated already, so if you're interested, I'd say it may be worth borrowing from a library -- but it won't be worth buying again until 2003 becomes vintage. show less

At first I was quite enthuastic about this book, and it does have some very good points about creating a useful wardrobe, and the authors do point out in their introduction that you should take what they say with a pinch of salt and use your own discression, but it lost me with the shoes. All the shoes are quite fancy and really nothing I'd wear on a regular basis. While they did suggest snuggly coats they didn't mention that a pair of waterproof hiking/walking boots are an essential for show more winter.

It's the kind of book that I'd hand to a friend who was thinking about a wardrobe clean out or a young woman starting out but the styles and ideas are American biased, which doesn't always work as well in Ireland or England, where the office culture is subitly different.

Useful as a start but not quite enough as a comprehensive guide. show less

I wanted to enjoy this book when I read it in 2006, but I didn't. It seemed at times very bent on impressing you with a conformity as to what was acceptably fashionable, rather than with what was office-appropriate or flattering.