Customer Reviews

Style A to Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty, & Everything Glamour

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Okay, so a lot of people dislike Rachel Zoe intensely. That has nothing to do with the merits of the book. I can't say that I'd want be pals with Rachel and since I think the 70s were a hideous era I would never be comfortable in her clothes but I have to give credit where it is due. This is an enjoyable book. Rachel Zoe lives a madcap life and she's not apologizing for it and her ideas on how to prepare for your big night out are excellent. I plan to take up her suggestion of buying an instant camera to check out how a potential outfit really looks.

Her section on packing was very good and I even liked the section on entertaining. If you can only afford to get one book on style get Tim Gunn's but if you can splurge and you just want to be amused try Style from A to Zoe.

I was hoping for a great book on fashion and style. This is not that book. It's much more of a "me, my glamorous life and friends" with a dash of usuable information. Not worth the time unless you like that sort of thing.

Don't bother spending the money on this book; use it on a subscription to InStyle instead, or buy a nice bottle of wine and think stylish thoughts while sipping. If you must purchase it what you can expect is photo after photo of Zoe mugging for the camera with all of her glamourous designer and celebrity friends, complete with accounts of her jet setting life and travels to international destinations. It looks like a self-absorbed personal scrapbook that she decided to add some fashion advice to. Even then, the advice is not earth-shattering or ground breaking or even all that helpful. Most of it is stuff we probably already know just by getting out of bed in the morning. Her advice is also not really meant for us,(you know, those who don't hang out with Missoni and Lyndsey Lohan)it seems like its meant to make us realize how terribly unlucky we are not to be living her BEAUTIFUL life with her BEAUTIFUL friends and all her BEAUTIFUL stuff. An example "I would feel so NAKED without my huge, gold Cartier watch." Ummm..yah, me too Rachel, I know the feeling. Soooo tragic. What's tragic is that someone actually didn't have the guts to tell this woman to keep doing her great styling but to avoid annoying the rest of us in the process with this useless book.

I hesitated momentarily in my decision to purchase this book. I wish I had listened to my gut instinct. It is nothing more than a platform for Ms. Zoe to convince us (and herself?) how truly wonderful she is. Pathetic and transparent.

I really wanted to like this book, as I love shopping for clothes and am always looking for new info on fashion. (I also enjoy Rachel's reality show.) I read every word, and found very little information useful to the average American woman.
I now know how to dress for a party in the Hamptons, how to pack for my trips to Paris and Milan, and what to wear for the Red Carpet. Unfortunately, none of that applies to my life. I also felt the book was a capitalized opportunity to say "Look who I know" and "Look how many houses I have."
Also, it bothered me that a stylist like Rachel Zoe would not know that a pin that you wear on your lapel is a brooch, not a broach.
I would have to say the most useful book I've read on fashion so far is The Budget Fashionista. I like Andy Paige's website centsofstyle.org and understand she has a book coming out soon. I thought the Little Black Book of Style was also a good read. I'd skip this one if I were you.

I bought this book along with Nina Garcia's Little Black Book of Style. While the other book was great, this one was a total waste of money.

I completely agree with past reviewers who said this book is basically a compilation of Rachel Zoe saying, "Look at me and my fabulousness and all of my celebrity friends!" It's a whole lot of name dropping and the narrative format of the book prevents it from conveying any truly useful tips on building your own style.

And yes, the other reviews do look suspicious.

Rachel Zoe must have got her friends to leave good reviews to get 4 stars. Because this book is a waste of time and money.

I bought this book because I liked the tv show and wanted some fashion advice. This book was a let down. It was mostly about the people who she thought were style icons and her life and love of fashion. Sprinkled in are some tips on how to dress for different occassions, advice on how to find you style, and live life to the fullest. Also nice the advice is no better than what you could get from a good friend or your mother.

This book is great if you like celebrity pictures and want a glemse of celebrity life, but you can get that from any magazine.

The book is mostly common sense when it comes to fashion advice, although there are a few interesting tidbits. I enjoyed the book mainly for the "aspirational" value; it allows you to live vicariously through the lovely Ms. Zoe, and come on, who wouldn't want her life?

I'm probably going to use the book as a decorative coffee table piece for my guests to enjoy. It's the worth the buy if you like to look at pictures of famous and beautiful people, and get a little advice along the way.

Too many people like to attack Rachel, but I'm a fan. I approve her taste, save for the skinny/anorexic thing, but that's another story.

This said, I enjoyed the book TREMENDOUSLY. As a fashionista, I find it was very generous of her to share her access (and advice!) to the top fashion industry people (Diane von Furstenberg, Jimmy Choo's Tamara Mellon, Azzaro's Vanessa Seward, Donatella Versace, Margherita Missoni, Decades's Cameron Silver, etc). There's plenty of priceless advice, from choosing the right kind of jeans for your figure to organizing your closet, how to choose vintage clothing right, etc.

I personnally loved the chapter on accessories organizing- where her sister Pamela shares her method.

Despite accusations of "narcissism", I found the tone of her book very gracious, together and smart. She is good at what she does, is a very successful woman and she is, yes, nice.

I recommend it to any fan of glamour and high fashion.