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    The Little Black Book of Style
    The Little Black Book of Style
    The Little Black Book of Style
    Ebook135 pages1 hour

    The Little Black Book of Style

    By Nina Garcia

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    From Nina Garcia—fashion judge on Bravo’s hit Project Runway and author of Style Strategy and The One Hundred—comes her wildly popular New York Times bestseller The Little Black Book of Style. Here, in one indispensible volume, are Nina’s ultimate rules of style to help you uncover your own signature look.

    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.

     

    Editor's Note

    Timeless style...

    Nina Garcia’s guide to style is true to its namesake: like the little black dress, it focuses on simplicity, timeless style, and the inherent sexiness of a woman who dresses with confidence.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061983597
    Author

    Nina Garcia

    Fashion director at Marie Claire magazine, Nina Garcia is best known for her appearance as the unerring, formidable fashion judge on the hit show Project Runway. An elite authority in the industry, she has worked in fashion houses and in fashion media, from Marc Jacobs to Elle and Marie Claire. Originally from Colombia, she now makes her home in New York City. Con su ojo experto para la moda, Nina García es conocida como la acertada y extraordinaria jueza de la moda en el exitoso programa Project Runway. Como una autoridad en la industria, ha trabajado en imperios y medios de la moda, con todos desde Marc Jacob hasta la revista Marie Claire. Nacida en Colombia, ahora vive en la ciudad de Nueva York.

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    Reviews for The Little Black Book of Style

    3.5/5

    144 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5

      &#9733 &#9733 1/2

      Meh! There are many things I agree with and many I do not.... Some of the designers she touts, pah over self-aggrandized posers..... Over the edge style is for women who have little else to do with their money & the designers are merely playing up to egos......

      The basics she talks about work, the fact that one needs to dress for their own personal sense of style is correct.

      Chapters:
      Be Your Own Muse
      The Basics
      Inspirations
      What to Wear When
      Insider Tips & tricks
      Fashion Cliff's Notes: Decade by Decade

      I suppose this book is good for those who are really interested in trying to "make it" with the In Crowd. For the rest of us, there is something here to be taken or left behind.
    • 5/5
      This is a handbook, to be returned to again and again.
    • 4/5
      Easy too read, great for developing a general culture in this domain...
    • 3/5
      loved it......... its really helpful for those who r not confident about abt themselves for their beauty
    • 5/5
      Authentic, pure, refreshing!

      Pleasantly surprised that belief in your own beauty, self-confidence, inner peace, not-trying-too hard, and good grooming are touted above expensive clothes!!!!

      My favorite pieces of clothes advice: 1.Editing (removing clothes you keep "just because" and don't suit you)
    • 3/5
      Informative enough to keep you going till the end. Though not all chapters are useful.
    • 3/5
      Great book for both professional fashionistas as well as the amateurs. Love the historical aspect of fashion as well as direct views from world renown designers.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book. I agree with the criticisms about her fur stance, but I think that a lot of the advice in there is pretty sound.
    • 5/5
      THANK YOU NINA GARCIA!!! All my life I felt like a fashion faux pas, like I just couldn't quite get it right. I picked this book up in the middle of an identity crisis looking for help getting it right. For something to help me feel like I was finally "put together." Imagine my surprise when page after page I was faced with descriptions of MYSELF, of the ways I already dressed. Talk about a revelation!If you've ever felt like I did, or just wish you could change things up a little this book is a fabulous guidepost.

    Book preview

    The Little Black Book of Style - Nina Garcia

    Chapter One

    BE YOUR OWN MUSE

    Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful.

    SOPHIA LOREN

    When a beautiful woman walks into a room, I may glance up for a moment, but I soon return to my entrée or my conversation or the dessert menu. Let’s be honest: beauty is not all that interesting (and certainly not more interesting than the dessert menu). But when a confident woman walks into a room, it is entrancing. I’ll watch as she moves with poise and selfpossession. She is not usually the one in the plain black dress. She is the one in the interesting shirt and the vintage skirt, and I immediately want to know where she got them. And she may not be the most stunningly gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen, but she has a way about her that can make her one of the most intriguing. Confidence is captivating, it is powerful, and it does not fade-and that is endlessly more interesting than beauty.

    The first and most important step to developing style is to project this kind of confidence. The kind of confidence that tells others that you respect yourself, love yourself, and dress up for yourself and nobody else. You are your own muse. Style comes from knowing who you are and who you want to be in the world; it does not come from wanting to be somebody else, or wanting to be thinner, shorter, taller, prettier. Many of the most stylish women in the world have not been great beauties, but they have all drawn from an enormous amount of self-confidence. They made us think they were beautiful simply by believing it themselves. They did not let anyone else define them; they defined themselves.

    I truly admire women who love themselves, even if they are not the standard beauty norm. I am fascinated by the imperfect icons, the girls who are by far not the most beautiful girls in the room, but they are confident and think they’re beautiful, so others think they are. I marvel at a six-foot-tall woman in stilettos, a big-bottomed woman in a curve-hugging skirt, a flat-chested woman in a tight, low cut T-shirt. When a woman embraces her imperfections, they can become her greatest strengths, definers of her character and spirit. When she plays up her weaknesses and draws you to her flaws, she makes them special, attractive, and even enviable.

    Confidence has nothing to do with aesthetics and everything to do with attitude. Nothing suits a woman better than this air of self-assurance, and when she truly owns that, she is unyielding and stunning. Confidence is the one thing that can instantly turn the volume up on a woman’s beauty. When it comes to style and confidence, you have to learn to move with it, which can be daunting. We all have our insecurities. But you just know when you are in the company of a confident woman. Even (or especially) in the face of imperfections, her air is striking. Her beauty is fueled from something inside her. It’s not that she doesn’t care about her looks; on the contrary, she is so comfortable with who she is that she even embraces her quirks and flaws.

    The confident woman loves herself entirely. Think Lauren Hutton and her gap-toothed smile. Think Frida Kahlo and her unibrow. Think the Duchess of Windsor, no great beauty. Think Barbra Streisand and her Grecian nose. Notice how their heads are always held up high and their flaws are always flaunted, never hidden or apologized for. Look to these women. Follow their lead. Hold your head up high and flaunt your flaws—the confidence should follow. And if all else fails, fake it. Confidence is the one thing that you can fake and you will actually end up believing it (oh, if that were true in other arenas!). You have to put yourself up on a pedestal before anyone is going to look up to you.

    You are the goddess, so start treating yourself accordingly. Get your nails and hair done, take long baths, wear great perfume. Do whatever it is that makes you feel amazing. You have to pamper yourself, because nobody else is going to do it for you. Start adoring yourself. Love yourself from the inside out, and slowly but surely you will become comfortable on that pedestal, and you will exude the kind of confidence that others admire. And what you wear up on that pedestal matters. Sweatsuits just won’t do. I promise you, a great dress or a stunning skirt will make you feel much more spotlight worthy, and others will see you that way too.

    What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language.

    MIUCCIA PRADA

    This instant language is much smarter than it gets credit for at times. They are just clothes, shoes, and bags, you could say. And people do say it, day after day. But I think they are more than just clothes, shoes, and bags. They are a large part of a woman’s character and tell us a bit of her story without saying a word.

    It was also Miuccia Prada who said, I thought fashion was stupid because I thought there were more intelligent and noble professions, like politics, medicine, or science. And I think every woman has this hesitation at one time or another. I did. I spent four years of college trying to find out what I wanted to do that did not involve the fashion industry. But I always came back to it. And not for the free samples (they are not as free as you might think). I came back to it because I was in love with style, and I finally recognized it as something important and influential.

    I have always found that the women with amazing personal style are powerful, intriguing, and yes, even intelligent. Very intelligent. They know who they are and what they want to project upon the world. These women understand that what they put on in the morning is the first thing that people notice about them. It tells the world a bit of their story. And, more important, their clothes affect how they feel about themselves throughout the day.

    Think about this when you stand in front of your closet in the morning contemplating those safe choices (ugh), those trendy choices (ugh), and those choices that tell the world who you are (yes). When you choose according to you inner muse, you will project an aura of confidence and self-assuredness that nobody else can touch.

    And once you’ve got confidence, the rest is gravy.

    I was not ugly. I might never be anything for men to lose their heads about, but I need never again be ugly. This knowledge was like a song within me. Suddenly it all came together. If you were healthy, fit, and well-dressed, you could be

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