(song of the day: everybody wants to rule the world, tears for fears)

my current obsession? tim gunn's guide to quality, taste and style. it's always been my philosophy that you should invest more into having good style than being "fashionable" and tim gunn's book helps you do just that.

i've been meaning to read this for a long time, but with school and all i just didn't get the chance. but now that i've read it, i gotta say, i don't really want to give it back (to the library)

i learned so much about developing my personal style (whatever it is. haha) i didn't fully understand the importance of silhouette and fit. his closet clearing tips were a lot better than mine. and what he had to say about finding your perfect fit. he offered all these great tips on making your accesories work for you. but i was really paying attention to what he said about posture. i didn't realize how much it had to do with style, nor did i notice how much i let it slip sometimes. check out this passage. (am i allowed to do this? i'm doing it anyway =P) he was talking about the three foot and fashion faux pas to avoid. the flip-flop waddle.

"every summer, people all over celebrate the arrival of temperate weather by casting aside constricting winter shoes in favour of the flip-flop. although we have discussed the flip-flop's appropriateness in various situations, we have not mentioned the veyr real problem of flip-flop-induced waddling. now, some people are just prone to waddling-ie., the extremely pregnant-but we are convinced that the unstructured nature of the flip-flop causes many other completely unnecesary cases. it happens like this: the feet, enjoying their freedom, are slowly allowed to turn out until they are no longer parallel. this gait not only looks ungainly from the front, it does terrible, terrible things to the view from the back. the legs are turned out from the hip joints, causing a general spreading and widening of the bottom. take a look next time you are on the street. the most flat-bottomed among us tend to be those walking around with feet that are not aparallel. which came first, you may ask, the poorly placed feet or the pancake bottom? does it matter? why not be on the safe side and get those feet in line?"

i totally know what he's talking about. but i hope i've never done it! he also gives tips on how to dress for any occasion, how to shop and how to choose a fashion mentor. haha. i love the way he speaks. it's so crisp and witty. i've heard some of the things he said i've heard before, but it's only because their true! and the way tim gunn says them is refreshingly smart. it's an all around great read! do you ever read books about fashion/style? if you have, what's good?

anyhoodle, i'm off to throw an outfit for an 80s party i'm going to tonight. woohoo!

-xoxo.



i'm cool! i cite!
Gunn, Tim, and Kate Moloney. Tim Gunn A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style (Tim Gunn's Guide to Style). New York: Abrams Image, 2007.