DIY Style

Finding your way in fashion

As fun as they are, clothing trends can be fickle and hard to track. What was white hot one season is usually stone cold the next. That’s why lots of fashion aficionados encourage women to think about their own unique style instead. From sewing it yourself to sage advice from some of the design world’s most-loved icons, here’s some inspiration to help keep your closet on point.

Make It Work!

If you’ve ever seen Project Runway, you know who Tim Gunn is—and most likely adore him like I do. Together with author Kate Moloney, he shares his essentials for crafting your own timeless look in the book Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style.
From how to dress for different occasions to finding the perfect fit to maintaining your clothes, Gunn’s the perfect go-to resource for all things fashion. Especially when he says stuff like this: “You can be too rich and too thin, but you can never be too well read or too curious about the world.”

Sew Your Own

Timeless yet modern, Japanese style is undeniable. In Basic Black: 26 Edgy Essentials for the Modern Wardrobe, Japanese author Sato Watanabe shares DIY patterns for 26 professional-quality pieces you can inexpensively make at home. Already a sewing celeb in her own country, Watanabe translates her favorite basics for the Western audience, including detailed diagrams and instructions. The best part? Watanabe’s patterns are easily customizable, so you can create truly unique designs to express your one-of-a-kind style.

Inside and Out

An eternal fashion icon, Audrey Hepburn’s personal style still inspires today. Actress, mother, humanitarian, and animal lover—Hepburn perceived fashion and beauty as much more than skin deep. In her multi-faceted portrait, How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life, author Melissa Hellstern sifted through years of interviews to highlight Hepburn’s most personal insights on living genuinely with glamor and grace. An inspiring read for anyone starting to think about the real meaning of style.

Style on a Budget

Editor Kim France and Lucky magazine introduced tons of us to the fun idea of hi-lo fashion. Hi-lo involves choosing which pieces to splurge on and where to skimp and then mixing it all up to create your own signature look. In The Lucky Shopping Manual: Building and Improving Your Wardrobe Piece by Piece, written with Andrea Linett, France delves deeper into the idea of optimizing your closet. Packed with tips for dressing better for less, you’ll come away with great ideas for what to wear, how to buy, and where and when to spend.

Haute Coco

Perhaps the best-known name (and logo) in fashion, Coco Chanel’s imprint on women’s wardrobes is deep and lasting. From impoverished beginnings to the pinnacle of chic, Chanel’s trip to the top was as much about living life on her own terms as it was about creating an entirely new category of clothing (women’s sportswear). In The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World’s Most Elegant Woman, author Karen Karbo takes an offbeat look at Chanel’s singular creativity, celebrity, and self-invention. From the Little Black Dress and cropped boxy jackets to the interlocking CCs, explore the philosophy and style of fashion’s first diva.

What are your thoughts on fashion? Do you have a personal style icon? We’d love to hear about it—and so would your fellow ThriftBooks readers!

Read more by KA Scott