[FASH 54A] Book Review: Style Yourself

Two weeks ago in class I lectured on fashion research and documenting your ideas with mood boards.  The main point of the lecture was getting you to recognize how important it is for you to be able to speak with a fashion vocabulary. Being a stylist comes with a lot of assumptions, the big one being, you know your stuff about fashion!!!  Most of us do, as we have been obsessing over fashion magazines since we first learned to read, for me it was getting my dad to get me a subscription to the magazine Young Miss (YM) when I was only nine years old!

I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to learn the names and meanings of the parts of a garment.  If your boss tells you to pull blouses with portrait necklines or look for shirts with french cuffs, do you know what she’s talking about?  If not, you need to learn.  Which is why I’m recommending the book Style Yourself.

This book is really not that new, it was published over a year ago, and I thought it was a how-to book for teenage girls on dressing.  The models and stories are all on fashion bloggers.  I didn’t pay this book any attention when it was first released.  A few weeks ago it ended up in my mailbox as a gift.  I finally sat down this weekend and read it.  I use the word “read” loosely, as their isn’t much reading because there are so many pictures.  Having lots of pictures isn’t a bad thing, it’s actually a plus for a book like this, especially since we fashion folk are very visual.

This book pleasantly surprised me.  It is, as I first thought, a how-to for the digital generation, BUT the break down of various parts of a garment make this book a great reference for those who don’t have a merchandising or fashion design background.  There are loads of pictures showing you the name and illustration of everything from tops to bottoms, to accessories.  The bloggers in the book provide inspiration for how they style these various items.

When I finally put this book down I knew I had to recommend it to my students in class who wish to be stylists or work in fashion, but have told me they don’t know much about it.  This is a good jump-start, as I’m sure you’ll realize you know more than you think once you start reading it.

 

 

 

(all images via Rachel Phipps)