Monday, March 7, 2016

How to Get Dressed: A Costume Designer's Secrets for Making Your Clothes Look, Fit, and Feel Amazing by Alison Freer

I am really not a fan of shopping for clothes. It feels like work and not fun to me at all. So 2015 was big for me because it was the year I discovered Stitch Fix. If you haven't heard of it, it's a clothing service for women.

You fill out a "Style Profile" indicating your sizes and preferences, and a stylist picks out five articles of clothing for you (they also offer handbags, shoes, and jewelry, but I haven't requested any of those yet) which are then mailed to you. You can try everything on home, keep what you want, and send the rest back postage free within three days. It's $20 for the "styling fee" which is applied to whatever you purchase. When you check-out and pay for the items online, you can write notes about each piece of clothing and what you liked or didn't like about it.

I used to think that I didn't really have a style when it came to clothes. However, this past year, I've branched out some with the help of my stylist, but also focused more on what I do like (so the one time I shopped for clothes this year, I found it much easier to pick out tops that I liked and that looked good on me). Anyway, if you'd like to give Stitch Fix a try, here's my referral link: https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/4571232

Reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up prompted me to give away about 70% of my wardrobe. Thanks to Stitch Fix, I added some pieces I really like, and now my wardrobe is very small but I like everything in it.

Anyway, all of that to get to this book which was recommended to me by my older sister. It's fascinating on a number of levels. One, Alison Freer is a costume designer in Hollywood so she gives us an insider's look into what it's really like to dress actors on a set (this had me thinking about how I LOVE all of the suits that the Julianna Margulies wears on The Good Wife!). She also gives plenty of tips about how to find your style, how to care for your clothes and shoes, and how to do your laundry.

Super practical and well-written. It cleared up questions that I had like how to care for my boots and how to wash clothes by hand.

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