Confidence Product Review -
How What You Wear Can Change Your Life

Type: book, title is "What You Wear Can Change Your Life"
Cost: $20.00 approx. for new book, lots of used ones available for much less
Purpose: To teach you what to wear for your body type so you can look your best and increase your confidence
Authors: Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine
Length: 335 pages

How I found it:
Flipping through the TV channels one day, I saw these two ladies changing women’s lives simply by showing them more flattering clothing styles for their body type. The change for the women they helped was amazing. These women were suddenly full of confidence and ready to take on the world. And the amazing thing was, the only thing they'd changed was their clothes.

I can understand how clothes can make you feel more confident. We’ve all had bad wardrobe days when you know you don’t look good and you end up having a bad day due to this. So, I thought I’d check out their book and see if it could help me. I thought it would be great if I could finally figure out why some clothes look better on me than others. I was ready to go through my whole wardrobe and change my life.

What You Get: a book

What I Liked:
They try to make it very simple as to what will look good on your shape and also why it makes a difference. Even if the styles change, you’re supposed to be able to know what clothes will look best on your body type.

What I Didn’t Like:
There weren’t enough pictures to really illustrate what they meant. From what they did show, I couldn't get a really good idea in my mind of what sort of clothes would really flatter me and what I should look for in the stores. Also, related to the pictures, I didn’t like the way they purposefully didn’t smile and slouched in the pictures that they weren’t supposed to look good in. I would rather they have remained neutral. It would have been a fairer comparison. Also, it would be nice if I could buy a book on just my needs. As it is, there’s a lot of chapters I’d quite happily rip out and throw away.

I’m still confused as to what “colors” suit me. Also, sometimes, I felt I didn’t fit into one of their categories so I’m not sure what I should be looking for. It also seemed like some of the info was contradictory. This wouldn’t look good on you if you have “big arms” but then if you had a “short neck” it would. So, what happens if you have big arms and a short neck? Is it a good choice to wear or not?

Even some of the pictures were confusing to me. For example, the page on belts. The two examples they use look very similar to me. I’m not sure which belt I should be looking for now.

The end result is that I haven’t been able to throw out a single piece of my wardrobe nor do I know what I should be looking for when I go shopping.

Recommended:

I’m not sure. It's definitely a good idea as fashion can be very confusing. It could be a valuable resource to those who have a better understanding of these things. Sigh. I guess what I really need is for Susannah and Trinny to come over to my house and go through my closet with me. And then I need them to take me shopping. Really show me what I need to do. Anyone have their phone number?

Other Possible Alternatives:

Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That's Right for Your Body
I think I found more useful ideas in this book by Stacy London and Clinton Kelly. They had some definite tips that I could use for my body type, were easy to remember, and the info will always be in fashion. For example, if you're bigger on top then wearing a lighter color on the bottom will visually make you look more balanced. The opposite is true if you're bigger on the bottom. See, what a great tip that is and you can use that no matter what's going on in the look of fashion. So, I think this one might be a better option for some people.

Also, has a section for men.

Still, it'd be nice if you could buy a book just for your body type and then have lots of ideas and tips and pictures to look at what's best for your own body type. When all the types are together then the information is at a much higher, more generalized level. Don't think anyone has come out with a book like that yet though so it will simply have to remain on my wish list for now.

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