Every time you dress, you assert your identity. With style, you tell the world your story. In that way, style affords you opportunities to think about your appearance as a quality of your creative character. The Little Black Book of Style helps you to explore your own fashion voice—the piece of you that joyously revels in the glamorous experience of creating your best self. From cultivating good taste to guarding against definite fashion faux pas, Nina Garcia offers readers the ultimate guide to follow when it comes to dressing their best. Including tips on how and when to wear an outfit, occasion-appropriate wear, advice on how to combine colors and textures, and inspiration on how to achieve your own signature look, you learn how to experiment, storyboard, archive, and play. Timeless and universal, this book seeks to remind women that eternal style is internal style, and that everyone has what it takes to discover themselves through the colorful palette that is fashion.
Nice, Informative Style Book (Rating 4 of 5)
» M. Waters
I was very excited to read The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia, former editor-at-large at Elle Magazine and judge on Bravo's popular tv show "Project Runway." Nina provides her own point of view on style and fashion as well as provides useful tips from many of her famous designer friends. I really liked her account of her upbringing in Columbia and how her mother and father, as well as the other residents in her town, shaped her sense of style.
While this book does not offer mind-blowing advice, it was a nice read and may reinforce what you already know. Since I'm a big fan of Project Runway, I could almost hear Nina talking to me while reading her book. She is very knowledgable in her field, so I will pretty much listen to anything she has to say. The illustrations within the book are very colorful and fun and bring the book to life.
If you want to learn more about style and fashion, or just supplement what you already know, read this book!
Just good (Rating 3 of 5)
» Mrs. Lexi
I bought this along with Nina's other book, the one hundred, and while this one is good, I would recommend the one hundred way over this one. It's a nice read, and again filled with gorgeous illustrations, but I find that the other book is more useful for advice and a solid fashion foundation. The other one is also much longer
unhelpful but enjoyable (Rating 3 of 5)
» Georgia C.
This book is by no means greatly useful or innovative. It's really just long on charm, and short on substance. It's a tiny book that tells you there are staples and classics in (western) fashion - gosh, did you know that a trench coat is apparently timeless? There's also a lot of quotes from designers and well-dressed folk of ages past, but these seem like obvious ploys to fill in the pages. That said, there is a lot of pure joy expressed for clothes here, and I did like the tongue-in-cheek overview of some awesome clothes in cinema. One thing that this book does do is not take it all too seriously.
The book, to be fair, is hardly distasteful - it's just not very useful if you are looking to revamp your look, or to get an idea of what looks might suit certain body types, skin tones, etc. It's pretty much for playing dress up. I think it would be a fun gift for someone you don't know very well but are friendly with.
The greatest thing in this book are the illustrations by the splendid Ruben Toledo. Such fun and glamor in those drawings, you might want to tear them out to give yourself some inspiration when you're getting dressed
Doesnt help you learn about how to style (Rating 1 of 5)
» J. Meyers
There is nothing in this book that will help you dress or style better. I dont understand why is so difficult to write tips that can help women learn and understand how to dress according to their body type.
I mean, the reason why Im buying this book is to learn how to style. Instead, she talks about designer picks, like how this designer says you should like cashmere, or the top 5 celebrities she think are stylish.. etc. Nothing really helpful.
Everything here you could've read it in any Cosmo magazine
If you're looking for some "inspiration" (Rating 2 of 5)
» Lucy Chen
This book does NOT give advice on:
1) what to wear for your particular body shape (e.g. double or single breasted coat; above, at or below knee length hem; straight leg or flared pants); or
2) how to work the reveal and conceal tricks (e.g. emphasis your small waist; make your legs appear longer, your breasts smaller or bigger etc...); or
3) what colour suits you best, i.e. cool or warm tone; or
4) what are the fundamental pieces in every woman's wardrobe.
The book does give some ideas on:
1) how to dress for different occasions (e.g. weddings, cocktail party, interviews etc...), only very briefly;
2) where to look for style inspirations. It gives you lists of movies to watch (e.g. Pulp Fiction for the white shirt; Breakfast at Tiffany's for the LBD), what musicians/singers to research (e.g. Modonna).
Personally, I do not find the lists very inspiring, and since this is very much what the book is all about, I find it almost useless.
I will recommmend The Science of Sexy by Bradley Bayou if you want advice on how to dress for your particular body shape (this book is absolutely the best on this subject), and Nina Garcia's other book The One Hundred for wardrobe inspirations. The Pocket Stylist by Kendall Farr is also pretty good.
Lucy Chen
(Rating 4 of 5)
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