Customer Reviews

The Triumph of Individual Style : A Guide to Dressing Your Body, Your Beauty, Your Self

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was privileged to take a workshop with Carla Mathis in Massachusetts as part of the Assoc. of Image Consultants International (AICI) and was absolutely blown away by the depth of her knowledge and her expertise.

She gave me wonderful information, and I couldn't wait to buy this book. I waited for the second printing and was not disappointed. The chapter on 'Body Particulars' answered a lot of questions for me both as a woman (whose body is changing and maturing) and as an Image Consultant who works with women of all shapes, sizes and forms.

Basic shape, length proportion, bone structure and the important concept of apparent body size are all essential knowledge for developing your Individual Style. I devoured the book in one sitting, and am now working through it in depth to refine both my image and those of my clients. I highly recommend that anyone considering the profession of Image Consulting get this book and the Instructor's guide, and then get yourself to one of Carla or Helen's live workshops.

The specific information on page 153 on finding a Color Consultant is invaluable, as are the color charts, worksheet pages for individual study and the examples of wardrobe adjustments that can be made based on facial feature size and scale.

All in all, a wonderful book that will serve you well for years to come. Definately one to keep on a shelf, and refer to often.

The Triumph of Individual Style is a triumph for women everywhere! Whether you are an image consultant (style or color), an art student, a clothesaholic, or just generally interested in what type of pants might look good on your body.....this is the book for you! When I first bought this book, I was a woman who just wanted to find a pair of pants that fit! I was so inspired by its content that I have become a serious student of style and color. I have had the fortune of taking a number of wonderful style and color classes from one of the authors, Carla Mathis, and have been trained with her new Body Beautiful Profile System. I can't recommend the book or her new system highly enough! Enjoy!

This is a book that overcomes the present restrictive steroetypes that tell us we must be young, thin and symmetrical to be beautiful. We can all find our shape and colouring lovingly recreated by a great artist. In a time when so many women have learned to hate their bodies this wonderful book is a gift to us all.

I found the Body's Design Paradigm, the foundation of the Triumph of Individual Style, to be a concept born from the mind of a genius. This concept definitely includes all women, all people in the realm of beauty. The book's design and the writing is also superb and so easy to read and understand. The color chapter is awesome, the proportion chapter so innovative and bringing in an individual's creativity so creative.This book makes other books look mediocre.

I've looked at more than a few books dealing with "body types" and so on, but none as good as this one. It is the most comprehensive and detailed volume of female beauty out there, and the most validating. "Figure flaw" is a foreign concept to these ladies. The use of fine artwork to illustrate the concepts seemed especially appropriate to me, after all, every body is a work of art. I hope to make fashion design my career, and this book is an incredible source of inspiration. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a creative approach to looking their best.

I found this book six years ago in the libarary. I took copious notes from it over the next few years I checked it out. I finally purchased it and with every reading get more tips for style. I wish I had purchased it sooner.
I sew and it has proven valuable for things like selecting prints, woking with fabric texture, and determining hemline, waistline and neckline lengths and widths. Other books tell me what to do to achieve an effect, but this one tells me why.
I am exploring style and trying to develop more creativity in my sewing. I think this is the best guide around for that purpose. It also would have been a good companion for my "Dress for Success" efforts a few decades ago.

The book uses works of art - drawings, paintings, sculpture - to illustrate how various characteristics of face and figure can be emphasized or minimized, and describes the techniques artists themselves used to express the beauty and character of their subjects. The discussions of proportion and all the colors that are really there in hair, skin and eyes would not be at all out of place in an art class. You'll never look at bodies quite the same way again. Including your own.

This is a lovely book (too bad it's out-of-stock) that allows for all forms of feminine beauty. It uses examples of fine art to demonstrate the artistic principles that govern the development of a person's unique visual presence. Most books want to form women's looks to a few current styles - this approach of taking a woman's individual body traits and playing them up or down with the elements of fine art will always result in a look that is timeless

Having been frustrated by all the books that ask you to slot yourself into one of 4 to 6 body types, I felt incredibly lucky to come across this work in my local public library. Creative in its presentation, with a literary content missing in many how-to books, and with inspiring illustrations, the book was constantly missing from my library. I now own three copies, just so I can lend two out to friends!

I am a fashion designer who was looking for some good resource books to help with figure-appropriate designs. I came across this book after a long search and thought I had found gold. Unfortunately, it was not what I expected. I was really disappointed with the line sketches used to explain clothing choices and found those designs to be VERY outdated- especially considering the second printing was in 2002. For example, I could not disagree more with the advice for rectangular-shaped women- that they should opt for sack dresses that ignore the waist, rather than trying to create one.
The chapters on jewlery choices and color charts were equally useless.
I would not recommend this book to any fashion designer looking for figure-flattering design elements. "Dress Your Best" by Stacy London and Clinton Kelly is by far a better choice- especially considering the price.