Customer Reviews

The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and Shopping Smart

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The book can be summarized in 3 strategies:

1) Assess what you already have
2) Reminders on what you need
3) Suggestions on obtaining what you need.

Bottom line: you may not 'need' to buy everything you 'want'.

The ideas seem very familiar, but it was a nice fashion strategy refresher.
Ms. Garcia suggests that there are 'foundation' items. Basically, one needs to lay out all the clothes from her closet and see if they need to replenish the timeless foundation pieces and how to build from the foundation pieces.

Some people already may be familiar with the foundation pieces, among them: white shirt, LBD, denim, trousers, pumps, blazer, handbag. All the pieces should be well-made to last for years.

The fundamental argument of this book is to buy less, but buy good, well-made pieces because they are 'fashion investments'. While this is not an original idea, it is an important one, and I've become a more selective shopper since then.

Because the concepts are quite simple, I hoped that Ms. Garcia would provide more substance by elaborating her points. She explains her point clearly, but much of the book contained illustrations and fashion historical factoids. This is a book you can get through in a couple of hours.

I loved Nina Garcia's 'The One-Hundred' and 'Little Black Book of Style'. They are exactly the type of informative references that I will keep on hand and refer to season after season when refreshing my closet.

However, I didn't learn anything new from 'The Style Strategy'. Additionally, I expected Garcia to point readers in the direction of finding their own strategy, which didn't happen at all.

Finally, this book is a little too 2009. I don't see her references holding up for years to come, as other style books do.

This is not my usual type of book purchase, but it was mentioned in Worn Through-one of my favorite blogs, so I bought it. The watercolor illustrations are a fun addition to the text. The book has a ton of advice for the everyday woman. I love the little blurbs on pop culture and history. I'm keeping mine, but it would make a great gift too.

I have also read Nina's The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own and The Little Black Book of Style and I agree this is her weakest book.

The advice is quite simple. Tailoring, take care of your clothes... as another reviewer said, these are not new or profound thoughts on style. I read the book in one day in a couple hours.

She does have a sections focused on "What you have?" "What you need?" and "What you want?" Unfortunately, she doesn't go into a lot of detail on these topics. In summary, "What you have?" is just look in your closet and keep your favorites (old & new). "What you need?" is an abridged version of her book The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own... really, The One Hundred is a better book in this regard about basics. And then "What you want?" she doesn't really talk about at all. Just funky, unique accessories to spice up your basics wardrobe, but she leaves the real details up to the reader's preference.

There is a section in the back of the book where she lists her favorite fashion websites and also stores... there is a good mix there and it could be the best part of the book.

Overall, it's not a bad book at all....... but it's really nothing special either. I do love the illustrations and it is a basic primer of common sense really.

I was happy that in this book Nina was advocating faux fur as opposed to in The Little Black Book of Style where she was advocating real fur. I know the fashion world doesn't care much about animal cruelty, but it does repulse me to see someone advocate real fur. Good improvement!

I was not overly impressed. I read the entire book in 2 hours. I was prepared to take notes and wrote down a couple of quotes, that's it. This is not a hard core style book but more a collection of thoughts. "The Little Black Book of Style" introduced Nina's thoughts on fashion/style. It is the best of the three books.

This book is the same information but from a recession perspective. She talks about mixing high and low, shopping your closet, reinventing what you already have, tailoring, creating looks for less, buying timeless classics and fewer trends. These concepts are not new or profound.

After finishing the book, something bugged me and I could not put my finger on it. I believe it was authenticity. Nina has lived in the New York fashion bubble for a long time, so something did not seem quite right for her to tell me the mantra is "staying chic and shopping smart". Prada and Gucci and "recessionista" do not belong in the same book.

The audience for book seems more suited for women in the NY fashion bubble who could purchase (and dispose) the "must haves" each season without blinking, and constraint is a new concept. "Cheap Chic" or "Recycle and Reuse" is now en vogue.

I am not trying to be harsh: the information is useful, but the voice is light and fluffy.

If you've read her other two books, you've read everything she has to say! This new one is redundant, confusing and contradictory. Her charming sense of humor is completely absent - was there some deadline? Was it ghost-written? The illustrations are lovely, too bad the rest of the book is not.

If you have never read a fashion advice book nor looked at fashion magazines, this might be a good beginning. However, if you have any interest in the subject, you probably will already know everything Garcia has to say. You also likely will feel that it's better expressed in many other books and magazine columns. On the other hand, the illustrations are zany as well as entertaining and the suggested websites listed in the back are useful.

I would definitely recommend this book -- Nina makes a lot of good points and gives concrete tips, and at the end of the book she lists her favorite places to buy products online, ranked from high-end to super cheap. I found this book to be very helpful as a recent graduate student trying to build her first work wardrobe and drop all the comfortable, cheap college-student-y clothes that look terrible on me, but that I love so much!

I love Nina Garcia's books but I have to say that this is my least favorite one. I understand the message but I didn't find it sa engaging as the rest of her books.

While The Style Strategy contains no earth shattering advice for women on a budget (invest in classics, skimp on trends, work with what you already have, etc...), I can't describe how nice it is to hear Nina Garcia advocating questioning expensive impulse items and plugging Target. Though I have no doubt that Garcia may never had to economize the way some of us do, it is evident that she really thought out her advice to the rest of us. If you already own Garcia's other two books, is is definitely a retread of the same concepts, but the stylish illustrations by Ruben Toledo are always a treat.