A helpful starting place for women seeking positive advice on how to define their signature style.
This slim, to-the-point style manual helps readers become their own best image consultants.
Many style guides are prescriptive, insisting, for example, that every woman have a crisp white shirt and a tailored suit in her closet. But what if a woman doesn’t look good in white or a busy stay-at-home mom has no use for a suit? Rather than telling readers how they’re supposed to look, Beatty’s debut (written with White) takes a more individualized approach to developing personal style. “The depth of our beauty lies in our diversity,” she says. However, she doesn’t dismiss the importance of clothes: “Style is all about communicating who you are through the language of clothing.” Beatty focuses on helping readers express who they are through a signature style; in the process, they’ll improve their sense of confidence and self-empowerment. The book is aimed primarily at middle-aged women—the chapter on skin care focuses on the aging face, for instance—yet younger women just starting to discover their unique style can also benefit from Beatty’s clear, informative advice. The slim book can be read in one sitting, so readers can get to work putting the advice into practice right away. Simple work sheets, guidelines, and rules show readers how to craft a personal style statement, build a wardrobe, and become savvier shoppers, while inspirational quotes and anecdotes maintain reader interest. The helpful skin care chart guides readers through the dizzying array of available beauty products and helps them save money in the process. Yet some sections, such as the skimpy chapter on color, could use more explanation, and the body shapes chapter veers into the technical, requiring readers to take a lot of measurements to put the advice to work. Positivity dominates this style guide, urging women to enjoy dressing the body they have now rather than comparing themselves with celebrities or models.
A helpful starting place for women seeking positive advice on how to define their signature style.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1627871297
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Wheatmark
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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