I have a whole bookshelf full of style guides that I feel I wasted my money on because they were no help at all. I tend to hate books that have lots of text and no pictures... I even have books that ONLY have text and NO pictures. How infuriating! I don't want to READ about an author's clothing woes -- I just want help with my own! AND I want to see pictures of what will work on me, I just get confused by descriptions! That's why I love this book. It's low on text and high on practical advice and pictures. It doesn't just TELL you a turtleneck looks bad on most women -- it SHOWS you how different turtlenecks look on women, and even shows you which turtleneck to pick if you simply HAVE to have one. That's another thing that makes this book great for me - it admits that even though there are a few rules about dressing to flatter your particular body shape -- some rules can be bent, if not broken.
The only way this book could have been improved is if it had the details listed in the back of the book for the clothing featured in the photos. They're wonderful clothes, and while it should be easy finding similar items, I would have definitely bought whole outfits featured in the book if there was a website I could have ordered from.
This is definitely a keeper! I'm going to buy it for my sister for Christmas.

I own nursery schools and gave the book to the staff to read - they saw themselves in the book and made wonderful changes that affected their appearance and their self esteem. In turn it was a great thing for our staff and for the school.

On one hand, this book was a complete breath of fresh air--10 real women, some plus-size, some too skinny, some boyish, some too bosomy, were the models throughout the book. Hooray! Real women in a fashion book. I loved it already. But then as I continued through, I realized that the author's attitude was turning me off completely. "I know your plight" she says, "you don't have a full length mirror anywhere in your house and that's the reason you don't care what your shoes look like with your outfit." ??? We have 2 full length mirrors. I don't know any girl who doesn't. "I know you hate your body parts....but I will show you how to create a silhouette that plays up what you want to show off." I do not 'hate' any of my body parts--I have big boobs, most shirts are not cut for that, but I do not hate them. I wanted a fresh perspective on pulling outfits together for someone with my particular body type, I don't normally wear tents or anything, which seems to be the author's perspective. Another thing was the small comments here and there, such as, after the complete omission of shorts, she says in the concluding chapter "I pray shorts are not in your closet at all." What about the summer months when it's 90 degrees and you're outside all day and skirts are not really going to work because you're chasing children around and would not want to give all the neighbors a show? Practicality has to come in somewhere. Also, some (several) of the "after" pictures that she showed still did not look very put-together to me. All in all, while her aim was admirable, her attempt to speak to "the average person" came off as somewhat condescending, and her fashion "help" was not very helpful. I much preferred "The Lucky Shopping Manual."