What you wear can change your life

If you are like me--you had lots of black in your closet. I was getting pretty bored with wearing black suits with different color shirts every day. The authors of this book offer some great color photos with bright colors that mix well. I've tried some of the combos and it really does make you feel more cheerful during the day. They recomend saving black for elegant occasions--which really does make black more special. There is a lot of info about selecting undergarments. Proper foundation garments really enhance the mature figure and it's something I need to review more often. Only very young girls can get away with minimal or no undergarments.
There is a big section on dressing well for pregnancy. I wish there had been a book like this when I was pregnant. I will hold on to this book just in case my daughter gets married and pregnant during the next couple years. This book would make a great gift to the newly pregnant. :)

Trinny and Susannah are back with another book and I loved it. This one goes beyond the first and shows in plain language and pictures what works and what doesn't on a particular body shape. The chapter on cleaning out your closet was especially good. You'll be inspired to ruthlessly get rid of those turtlenecks if you have a short neck. You'll feel free to dump those plunging V sweaters if you are flat chested and have a goose neck. This book will help you finally face facts and do something about the pleated, tapered pants that make your backside look like a ocean liner.

Trinny and Susannah don't strike me as the sweetest of English roses but that's okay. Sometimes you just need to hear or in this case, read the truth and this book delivers.

This book is terrific! It really did change my life. I bought the British version of the book while waiting for a plane in Heathrow. I was hesitant to buy it, because I live in America. But it is incredibly useful despite that. Now when I go into a store I feel I know how to buy something that will make me look and feel terrific. I now understand color, the "big bone, small bone" thing, choosing shoes, finding jewelry, and all the things that I never understood despite years of reading fashion magazines. If you are looking for really useful tips and advice, it is all here.

What You Wear Can Change Your Life is the third book by British style gurus Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine. Like their previous two books, there is page after page of full-colour photos, and though there's a minimum amount of text, it is packed with information. Though I highly recommend the first two books, one need not read them in order to benefit from this one. Overall the scope is very different from (not to mention broader than) the earlier books and it complements them well. T & S cover "defining your shape" in a nutshell at the outset, but the focus here is on the more detailed areas involved in "bringing it all together"--areas that often get overlooked but which can really make or break an outfit. The book deals with things like choosing the right underwear so that one's clothing will look its best, choosing accessories that suit one's body type, and choosing colours that complement one's own colouring as well as providing guidance on combining colours. (One thing I noticed is that the use of bold or unusual colour combos is most successful when the combos in question already appear together in one of the items one is wearing (be it a blouse, scarf, necklace, etc.)).

T & S also offer a wealth of tips on storage--after all, if you can't find what you want when you need it, or worse still, if it's a rumpled mess, what's the point! There is a chapter on beauty, wherein T & S recommend a number of tricks, products or procedures to provide short-, medium-, and long-term solutions to problem areas such as spots, cellulite, hair removal, a small bust, wrinkles, thin or lined lips, circles or bags under the eyes, teeth whitening, and saggy necks. There is a chapter on hair, wherein improvements to style and colouring are illustrated with before and after photos of eight women. There is a chapter on make-up wherein T & S list their favourite products and techniques for everything from preparing one's skin, to foundation and concealers, to the proper care of lips and nails, and so on. They also highlight a number of "classic mistakes" which so many of us have made--things like clumpy mascara; incorrectly applied blusher, lip liner, and foundation; and overly pencilled eyebrows. There is a chapter on travel, which shows one how to minimize toiletries and pack a suitcase or carry-on. Especially fun are the dos and don'ts for looking good in your holiday photos. It's amazing how one's pose can make such a difference when it comes to minimizing (or emphasizing!) flaws--things like no neck, flabby tummies, saddlebags, no waist, big arms, short legs, no bust, and large bust.

One thing the book points out is that women have different concerns at different times of life--our bodies change (as do our figures), wrinkles appear, hair turns grey, and so on. The book deals with concerns many women have at different phases in their lives. One such phase which was granted an entire chapter is pregnancy. T & S (both recently having been pregnant) demonstrate the dos and don'ts of casual-, work-, evening-, and party-wear for both winter and summer. Some of the outfits really look quite stylish, but I ought to point out that these ladies abhor maternity wear, so whether or not one cares for the styles recommended will really depend on whether or not one likes form-fitting clothing that emphasizes the bump.

In conclusion, if you are a woman seeking guidance on how to look your best and thereby feel more confident, this fun and informative book is a great place to start, and I highly recommend it. I also strongly recommend Trinny and Susannah's first book, What Not To Wear, which provides guidance on the best (and worst) clothing styles for maximizing one's assets while minimizing one's flaws. Their second book, What Not To Wear Part 2, is good for women who've read this book and the first (and who have learned how to dress for their body-types) but want a little guidance on dressing for specific occasions.

First a Confession: I'm not crazy about the show What Not to Wear. There..I said it. Don't like the format, don't like the criticisms, don't like watching poor souls squirm in embarassment as their fashion faux pas are brought to light.

But I bought this book anyway and here is why: I watched an Oprah Show where the authors were promo-ing this book. They brought out REAL women, including one very obese woman, and showed them in their usual clothes, as awful as you can imagine, and then... showed them in outfits that truly worked for their particular bodies. The transformations were truly amazing and even the obese woman looked gorgeous and sexy. My jaw dropped. I was sold, just like that.
Happily, the book has lived up to my expectations. As I'd hoped, it is aimed at those of us who have problem areas like large hips or flabby thighs. The authors know their stuff and their advice is dead on, proving the there is hope for the fashion challenged and those who've just given up on ever looking presentable for even an hour, let alone a whole day.
They still won't win any votes from me for the format and tone of their tv show but when it comes to writing a solid book with plenty of good, practical and very useful info, they win hands down! Or should I say thumbs up?