I Love Your Style: How to Define and Refine Your Personal Style

I'm totally perplexed by the reviewers who are accusing Amanda Brooks of being self-absorbed because of the time she devotes to talking about her own style in this book. I loved Brooks' account of her own fashion journey; it made her advice and opinions much more relatable and understandable. Imagine if she just said "wear this, not that", it would feel condescending. Instead, she gives you some background as to why she feels the way she does about certain looks and pieces. I found her fashion history mesmerizing and I think all of her advice is really level-headed and practical.

Typically style books either focus on "investment pieces" or figuring out your unique body shape and then learning what accentuates the positive and hides the negative. Amanda Brooks actually writes about style. Of course its essence boils down to really understanding yourself (like any other fashion or style advice book), but she actually gives concrete tips on how to look DIFFERENT -- or at least how to start, which is by studying pictures of true bohemians and chameleons like Francois Hardy and Cher... Chloe Sevigny, even Georgia O'Keefe. I didn't think it was even possible to learn to be an offbeat self-stylist, but I think Brooks does an unusually good job. Nina Garcia's book, The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own, is the definitive book on classics, and this one is the definitive guide to actual style, not just looking like Nina Garcia. (Both women are in the fashion business and possibly 'socialites', but Brooks's upbringing seems to mostly have been suburban - though also privileged. She seems largely self made, and she certainly doesn't dress like the typical upper East Sider.)

As a colour and image consultant (I'm also a decorator) I own a lot of books on style, fashion, body shapes etc. I totally agree with A.K. that so much is repeated in most books, that it is rare to find anything of value in them. Most writers start out with the goal of inspiring women - but merely descend into lists of wear this/don't wear that. BUT this book is a CORKER! It fills in the gaps, joins the dots, makes that gigantic leap from theory to very do-able practical in a way I have never seen before. And it is INSPIRING!! I felt so excited when I started this book - it is unique and will speak to you no matter where you are in your style journey. It also covers unique styles of dress. As the book quotes, style doesn't just happen - you need to study it. This book is the perfect text - and a highly readable and up-to-the-minute one at that.

I have lots of style books - both Lucky manuals, the InStyle guide, Rachel Zoe's book, etc. - and Brooks's book is a good addition to the genre. She's doing something slightly different here: though she's divided the book into the standard styles (classic, bohemian, minimal, high fashion, street, and eclectic), she has lots of new things to say, and the text is more substantive than I expected. Brooks has an engaging and personal writing style; she talks about her life and includes lots of pictures of herself in different style phases. Though the book is clearly aimed at average women, Brooks is writing from the perspective of someone who works at Vogue (or is at least friends with lots of people who work at Vogue). She doesn't bother with the standard list of basics everyone should own (trench, white button-down, blah blah blah) and thankfully does not include a section on flattering different figures. She does include specific outfit ideas and advice about how to wear the items associated with particular styles. The best part of the book, though, is definitely the pictures. There are lots of fantastic photos of stylish women from the last hundred years that I had never seen before. As Brooks points out, they all still look great today. All in all, this one is worth buying, even if you have several style books already. The photos and advice are inspirational and Brooks has a likable voice.