I would have been perfectly happy this Christmas without any additional gifts this Christmas; my main gift was having G come home to me, and it was topped off with a visit from family including my adorable grandson. But of course, Santa did not forget Grandma.
Among those gifts were two wonderful style books, and since I have a fondness and weakness for style books, these were gifts that were particularly close to my heart.
First there was The Fine Art of Dressing by Margaux Tartarotti, which is a very interesting book and one which I like quite a bit. It is not a book that requires a lot of reading. The introductory chapters are brief and give a brief summary of color, pattern and line.
It is after this introductory setion tht you get into the fun part of this book. Rather than using the commonly used body types of pear, apple, rectangle etc, the author defines six body types naming them for the artists who tended to portray them in their work. Gimmick perhaps, but it works. First of all it avoids the stereotypical associations of "apple" or "pear" and makes each figure type seem desirable. After all, who wouldn't rather be a Modigliani than a pear, or a Gaugin rather than in inverted triangle? Since the author uses line drawings of the figures used by each artist, these figures are also somewhat easier to identifiy with than the illustrations in many style books. The descriptions of each figure are also simple, highlighting key points without going into complicated descriptions.
What I found most useful was the way the author gives a chart for each figure type defining the key shapes and why they work, including shoes and accessories. There are several illustrations of key looks with bullet-points describing key features and why they are important. Then each body type ends with a summary consisting of line drawings showing the key lines, including side and views, and the major silhouettes to avoid.
As you move from your body type to the end of the book there is another series of charts showing key garment lines and ranking them from worst to best for each body type. After the charts is a greater discussion of various figure issues and how to dress for them, including a discussion and illustration of the best swimsuit shapes for each type.
What I liked about this book is its simplicity. You don't have to read a lot. You don't really have to measure anything, the descriptions are good, and the charts are convenient too. I can see keeping a copy of the chart handy for those times when I am looking at patterns and can't decide if something will actually work for me or not. Of course no formula will account for everything, and styling matters too, but there is useful information in this book.
The second book, The Fashion File by Janie Bryant, was more exciting, visually appealing, and just fun to read, but ultimately less useful. The book is "dishy" and fun but it offers nothing really new. It looks at dressing with the eye of a costume designer, which is fine and not at all unexpected considering that Janie Bryant is a costume designer, and as I mentioned before the illustrations are fabulous. The sections where Ms. Bryant wrote about how she defines the character by clothing and cut and color was fascinating, and her take on vintage clothes and how to combine them to create a modern silhouette was also interesting. I am happy to have read the book but it is not a book to hold my interest after the initial thrill.
