a visual treat, with a focus on quality clothes

books:

	• Work Clothes (Chic Simple): Casual Dress for Serious Work (Chic Simple Guides) Kim Johnson Gross, Jeff Stone Knopf, 1996 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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a visual treat, with a focus on quality clothes

This book boasts the catchy, elegant chic simple layout, with fully accessorized outfits laid out against a white background. The focus is on classic (and expensive), quality clothing (cashmere twin sets, Chanel flats, $300 Hermes scarves)-- but you could copy the ideas using less expensive basics. The idea is to pare down your wardrobe to the essentials, accessorizing the essentials to look polished & perfectly put together. The text is interesting, filled with quotes from movie stars and other famous people, with witty comments about the clothes, what one leans in business school, etc. However, you'll probably be drawn to the photographs and captions the first time through. Only about a third of the book is devoted to female attire, so if you're a woman, looking for advice about women's wardrobe concerns, you might be better served looking elsewhere.

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Better, but not great

Much better than the same authors' "Dress Smart Men" in the Chic Simple series. Presents a variety of clothing combinations, many actually useful. Would have been better if it had been seperated into one book for men and one for women -- half the book is useless.

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Fashion Advice for Beginners

This is the sort of book one gives to new grads, people re-entering the workforce, people starting a new job in a different company/region/field/etc. Lots of visuals, which is always a good thing in fashion advice books. Some of the printed info could have been better arranged. (The creators need to sit down with all three of Edward Tufte's books.) The type face of some pages was waaaaaay too small!

Another thing. This isn't really a book for women. The section containing advice for women is just thirty pages out of a total of 174. (hmm.)

Still, I'm glad I bought it a few years back. It has lots of good, basic info on clothing construction, fabric, color, classic style, etc., none of which has dated at all.

(Actually, I think I need to re-read it.)

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Decent book about fashion

This book is a very good primer into the area of formal dress.

As an earlier reviewer said, there are a lot of allusions to the 1940's, because the authors feel that the '40s are the last decade when the common man actually dressed well. I disagree, but let'sa move on.

As the title says, the book is about clothes one may wear to work. There are a lot of great combinations and a few that are horrendous. But, that is to be expected in a book about an area as subjective as fashion.

I would also say that the book should have specified that it is for both men and women. It is a bit disappointing to buy a book, only to see that half of it is entirely inapplicable to me.

This is a decent book for those who want to start learning about style and how to match clothes into combinations. I recommend it, but just barely.

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reviews: page 1, 2

The once useful formula of pinstripe suits, dress shirts, power ties, and leather wingtips no longer works. Chic Simple Work Clothes shows men and women how to dress in today's new world of work to commmand respect and ensure a professional bearing, and explains why the radically different new work style has developed. Full-color photos & illustations.