.:ARS AROMATICA:.
"The most beautiful makeup for a woman is passion, but cosmetics are easier to buy."
                                                                                              —Yves Saint Laurent

Announcements
If you're new to this blog, then read our guides to the basics: Skin (Part I), Skin (Part II), The Supernatural, Color Theory I, Color Theory II, Eyes, and Brushes.

Also, check out the blogsale.


Contents
· Fashion Notes: Nina Garcia's The One Hundred

Favored
Art Tattler
the glamourai
The Non-Blonde
Perfume Shrine
Lisa Eldridge
Garance Doré
Smitten Kitchen
Into The Gloss
Grain de Musc
Lacquerized
Res Pulchrae
Drivel About Frivol
The Selfish Seamstress
Killer Colours
Bois de Jasmin
Glossed In Translation
Jak and Jil
Toto Kaelo
Worship at the House of Blues
I Smell Therefore I Am
Food Wishes
The Natural Haven
Messy Wands
1000 Fragrances
Moving Image Source
Wondegondigo
The Emperor's Old Clothes
M. Guerlain
Colin's Beauty Pages
Barney's jewelry department
Parfümrien
loodie loodie loodie
The Straight Dope
Sea of Shoes
London Makeup Girl
Sakecat's Scent Project
Asian Models
Ratzilla Cosme
Smart Skincare
Illustrated Obscurity
A.V. Club
Tom & Lorenzo: Mad Style
Eiderdown Press
Beauty and the Bullshit
La Garçonne
Flame Warriors
Everyday Beauty
Fashion Gone Rogue
Now Smell This
Dempeaux
Fashionista
The Cut
A Fevered Dictation
Nathan Branch
101 Cookbooks

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?


Fashion Notes: Nina Garcia's The One Hundred
by Dorothy

I love browsing books on style. I've read a lot of them, although I usually only borrow them from the library -- how often is one really worth keeping? In my experience, the advice in style books doesn't really vary that much: buy quality, buy classics, buy pencil skirts.



I wonder about giving voice to my irritation with this book: it's a charming, fluffy, frivolous thing, obviously gimmicky (exactly one hundred essentials!) with adorable illustrations. Subtitle aside, it's clearly not meant to be a style bible, even for people who adore Nina Garcia. Complaining about this is like saying that America's Next Top Model is unrealistic about the fashion industry. Duh. But since being churlish is what I'm good at, I'm going to complain anyway.

Garcia herself writes that this is not meant to be a definitive list of garments every woman must own; this is a starting point, a guide to her personal style ("reading this book is...like walking you into my closet.") However, it's written as advice, probably because that's what her publisher wanted. I imagine Garcia and her publishers planning this as a quick follow-up to The Little Black Book Of Style, which I haven't read yet. The initial concept: an alphabet of fabulous pieces for fashionable women to own! Great, right? Except that at some point, they changed their minds -- maybe they realized no fashion essential starts with X, maybe The One Hundred sounded classier than The Alphabet of Style, who even knows (or cares) -- and they ended up with this padded-to-hell mishmash.

In my opinion, there simply aren't a hundred pieces "every stylish woman" must own. Garcia throws in some obvious choices (ballet flats, little black dress, cashmere sweater, jeans, red lipstick, pencil skirt), some nice things I'd hardly consider essential (real or fake fur, leather pants, Missoni knits, cape), some things I can't imagine ever wanting (caftan, Wayfarers, Havaianas) and some things that aren't clothing or accessories at all (iPod, BlackBerry).

A few more thoughts:

- Does anyone really need ankle booties, knee-high boots, Frye harness boots and cowboy boots? If you really love boots, sure. Otherwise this seems like overkill, especially the last two.

- I don't think the A-line dress is the universal flatterer Garcia seems to think it is. Perhaps this is the case if it's very well cut and made from good fabric. However, I am a size-0, just-this-side-of-petite woman with a flat chest, a small waist and curvy hips, and the A-line dresses I've tried on obscured my best features and made me look like a little girl. A pear-shaped little girl.

- Actually, while I'm navel-gazing, a lot of the advice in here is just inapplicable to a woman my size. Maybe if I read "Man's White Shirt" as "Little Boy's White Shirt"?

- M is for Mad Money, Q is for Quality Champagne (heaven forbid you should drink prosecco!), and V is for Valid Passport. (You know, just in case some aspiring fashionistas are walking around flashing invalid passports.) Sometimes you just gotta say ferchrissakes.

-
On nail polish: "Go for either the vamp red or a light, light pink. Maybe black satin if you feel like being goth or punk rock. But do not dip into a middle-ground palette. Corals and fuchsias are just asking for trouble." What kind of trouble? I'm assuming she's thinking that "middle-ground" shades look unpleasantly old-lady, but I don't think this is universally true.

- On perfume: Garcia recommends the signature scent, which, fine, but she also suggests wearing "any man's cologne." Oh no no no. I love wearing masculines -- I just bought a full bottle of Chanel Pour Monsieur -- but you do not want to wear just any man's cologne. Sheesh.

- On choosing red lipstick: "For fair skin, go for a red that has blue undertones." Nina, this pale orange woman is frowning at you.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a definitive guide to style, which is so much about individual preferences and associations anyway. Certainly, I've yet to read one. This book is charming, but I wouldn't recommend it as anything more than eye candy.

Labels: , ,

2/10/2010 [2]




Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]. Or
follow on bloglovin'. If
you'd like to contact Dain,
feel free to email me.
I'm also on Pinterest.

Features
The Mnemonic Sense
Most Wanted
The Beauty Primer
Lookbook
Bestsellers
Consumer Diaries
Closet Confidential
On The Label
Beauty Notebook
The Hit List
Color Me In
The Makeup Artist
Wedding Bells
Globe Trotter
Desert Island

perfume notes
beauty notes
fashion notes
culture notes
minimalism

chypre arc
floral arc
fresh arc
masculines arc
gourmands
   & orientals arc


Archives
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
August 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
March 2011
August 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
December 2012
January 2013
February 2013
March 2013
June 2013
July 2013

Images
Photobucket