Tuesday 31 March 2015

Book ~ "How to Get Dressed: A Costume Designer's Secrets for Making Your Clothes Look, Fit, and Feel Amazing" (2015) Alison Freer

From Goodreads ~ Costume designer Alison Freer’s styling kit is a magical bag of tricks, built to solve every single wardrobe malfunction on earth. TV and film productions wait for nothing, so her solutions have to work fast. In "How to Get Dressed", Alison distills her secrets into a fun, comprehensive style guide focused on rethinking your wardrobe like a fashion expert and making what’s in your closet work for you. She provides real-world advice about everything style-related, including:

  • Making every garment you own fit better
  • Mastering closet organization
  • The undergarments you actually need
  • The scoop on tailors and which alterations are worth it
  • Shopping thrift and vintage like a rockstar

Instead of repeating boring style “rules,” Alison breaks the rules and gets real about everything from bras to how to deal with inevitable fashion disasters. Including helpful information such as how to skip ironing and the dry cleaners, remove every stain under the sun, and help clueless men get their sartorial acts together, "How to Get Dressed" has hundreds of insider tips from Alison’s arsenal of tools and expertise. 

I am sooooooo not a fashionista but I thought this would be a interesting book to give me some tips ... and it did.

The chapters are:
  1. Movie magic:  or why movie stars look like movie stars - the insight on dressing stars
  2. Fit:  the true enemy of great style - the right pants, a better skirt, a brilliant blouse and more
  3. Alter your clothes, alter your life - alterations you need to know about, how to find a great tailor, basic tailoring terms and more
  4. Be your own costume designer - finding your style and searching the pieces that are you
  5. Dumb fashion rule that were made for breaking - horizontal versus vertical stripes, don't mix your patterns, redheads can't wear read and blonds shouldn't be wearing yellow, and more
  6. Wardrobe tools to keep your look together - safety pins, Topstick and moleskin, and more
  7. Dressing for success is dead - don't wear dirty clothes, wrinkled clothes, clothes with lint, scuffed shoes, and more
  8. Closet hacks, store your clothes like wardrobe girls do - how to hang clothes and more
  9. Underthings:  you really only need a few - it's okay to wear granny panties and why, how to find a bra that works for you and more
  10. Laundry:  you're doing it wrong - how to wash your clothes
  11. Shoe care:  for all your footware
  12. Old stuff:  a guide to shopping vintage and thrift
  13. Dudes:  this one's for you - what guys should know
  14. Stain glossary
  15. Fabric care glossary

I read it straight through and I think it would work better as a reference book ... if you're wondering about stuff, look it up.

I liked the writing style ... it was informative and funny.  The author, who is a costume designer, obviously knows what she's doing and enjoys it.

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