Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That's Right for Your Body

I love Stacy and Clinton's witty banter and usually sane fashion advice on their show, so when this book came out, I was thrilled. It was (and still is) unavailable at my public library, but after two or three read-throughs, I will probably be donating them my copy. The basic concept of the show is repeated here: Three workable looks for a variety of challenging body types are modelled on 26 actual people who are a stunning array of ages and sizes. It was truly amazing to see these 'plain' Janes and Joes transformed by clothing and a little grooming. However, as others have pointed out, 26 bodies doesn't begin to cover the gamut of potential figure problems out there. Clinton & Stacy are unfailingly kind and encouraging, which is refreshing, coming from their backgrounds in the snarky, body-conscious fashion world. But their biases as lifelong New York fashionistas show through in some of their selections--do most women in America need 3-inch metallic heels for day? Is your average American guy really going to wear a Godfather-style topcoat out on the town? Also, I like many readers have more than one major figure problem; what is a girl to do if she is top-heavy, with more than a little in the middle AND has short legs? My pet peeve with this book would have to be Stacy and Clinton each posing in it as a catagory. At 5'7" and a size 4, Stacy is representing the 'Average Curvy' body type. I submit that there isn't much either "Average" or "Curvy" about Stacy, who has scant need of the tips on 'creating a slimming line' in her spread. Please! What does the woman weigh, 115 pounds? Clinton is the men's "Tall" feature. At 6'4" the boy is indeed a tall drink of water, but his looks are essentially Clinton (= sartorial choices for a NYC fashion maven who is a gay man). This is a perfect glossy read for an afternoon, and has some valuable advice but is too bulky to take shopping, and too limited in scope to refer to very often. Borrow this, or share a copy with several friends.

I really liked this book but I wouldn't recommend buying it. I would try and find it at a local book store and look through it, making notes. The sections pertaining to each body type are very short. The most useful information for my type consisted of three whole pages, the rest of the book being useless for me. Once you read "your section" or body type you don't really need the book any more. Just my opinion.

Though the 26 body types are by far not enough (well, I guess there were limitations to the size of a book), it was very instructive to read. The photographs are much more illustrative than the usual drawings in books of this type. I laughed a lot and I learned a lot. I had problems with the american sizes, they seemed to be downsized a bit, measurements (bust, waist, ...) would have been helpful. Plus, I never wear high heels, due to a knee damage, and a lot of other women I know wear flats all the time, too. For me, the style in this book relied a lot on high heels, and some alternatives would have been helpful.

I liked the style, classic, simple and beautiful, and the way how Clinton and Stacy really found the beauty in all their models. It takes a loving eye to do, the loving eye one should have for oneself, and this is maybe the most important lesson in this book.

I was very dissapointed by this book. I was hoping that it would contain tips and tricks to dressing your best and shopping, but it was sectioned off into areas for each body type and the information provided was minimal. Not worth the money. The InStyle and Lucky guides are much better.

I really wanted to LOVE this book since I am fan of the show, but I must be honest and say that once you find your own body type, the book is pretty useless. There is limited information on style itself (beyond body type) and limited information on where to shop, etc. You'd honestly come out cheaper going to a local bookstore (i.e. BORDERS), grabbing this book, looking up your body type, taking a mental snapshot of the info and putting the book back on the shelf because that's all you'll be able to do with it once you get it home.

I will keep and use as a reference guide for friends and family with OTHER body types, but as a guide to consistently refer to over time, it is very limited. This is more of a BASIC BEGINNER's guide. Don't expect this one to be full of dog-eared pages from consistent use. The Lucky Style manual has MUCH more depth. If you're like me, and you rely on product reviews to help make purchasing decisions, take solace in the fact that I wouldn't steer you wrong.