What’s on My Bookshelf: Fashion Edition series part 5
Dress Like a Million (On Considerably Less): A Trend-Proof Guide to Real Fashion
Leah Feldon, 1993
To know me is to know that I love the aesthetic and fashion of the 90s. I write about it all the time on this blog. I own several books where fashion experts are giving advice on how to dress. I love this one because it was written in the nineties, and it’s all about how to dress for that decade.
Here are five of my favorite concepts and quotes from the book:
- “Essentially every garment is made up of four major design components: proportion, line, color, and texture.” Another one of my favorites from this section: “If you weren’t in the loop, fashion formulas could be as precise as rocket science.”
- There is a technical way to knowing how to dress, and it is indeed a skill.
- “True personal style goes way beyond fashion to incorporate such ineffable intangibles as wit, energy, humor, grace of movement, mannerisms, cadence of speech, values, intelligence, heart, and inner sparkle.”
- This perfectly puts into words how personal style isn’t only about the literal clothes you wear.
- “Classics are clothes and accessories that let you mold them, not vice versa.”
- Classic pieces always seem to be the better choice over niche items that instruct you how to wear them and are limited to one way of being styled.
- Your footwear not only reflects your personality but effects it too.”
- On this page, she also describes shoes as an omnipresent influence, which I never really thought about before. Consider how you feel in a pair of shoes and the emotional lift they can give you. I love this advice.
- “Find your style uniform. The more consistent you are with your basic style, the fewer shoes, bags, and miscellaneous accessories you’ll need.”
- I’m always on a slow but steady race towards a more minimalist closet with good basic pieces. Creating a stronger sense of uniform dressing is always a goal I have for myself.
Kempress Closet 