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If you need major help!

Customer Rating:
This book is an excellent primer for those such as myself who may be slightly clueless on the fashion front. For me, it's a bargain alternative to a personal shopper (I wish!).

The book has loads of pictures that offer plenty of ideas for new outfits and spark your creativity. I like this book as it is not pretentious or condescending. The authors offer advice for styles that will bridge seasons and outlast fads.

I found the "build your wardrobe" and "in the fitting room" sections useful as well. This book does not go into vivid detail about body types nor is it the be all/end all. You could combine Lucky Shopping Manual with Pocket Stylist or The Science of Sexy and be completely educated.

Worth the money

Customer Rating:
The Lucky manual is a helpful tool for pairing shapes of every piece you can buy for your wardrobe and does not limit you to the time when the book was written. I would have liked to see a section on coordinating fabrics like: What in the world goes with a linen skirt besides cotton? And maybe a little more guidance for getting color and pattern combinations right.

I really liked this book

Customer Rating:
It took me awhile to get around to buying it, but once I did, I wasn' sorry. It really gave me a lot of ideas about how to put pieces together. The advice (for the most part) is pretty applicable across a wide variety of body types, ages, etc. It really isn't about looking young so much as it's about looking modern. Once I read this, I realized that some of the clothes I had been hanging on to were older silhouettes that weren't right for my body, or weren't updated. Reading this gave me the courage to clean out my closet and pitch things that weren't right. The sections on jackets, suits, sweaters and pants, in particular, gave me a lot of good ideas about how to dress for work. I had fallen into a rut of wearing plain black pants + whatever top and now I have some inspiration to try different things. And, the section about how to pack for a 3-day trip was GREAT for me, because I am a chronic overpacker. Now that airlines are charging people who check ANY bags, I need to learn how to pack for short trips in just a carry-on, and the Lucky Manual's tips were VERY helpful.

I do have a couple issues with the book. One is the swimwear section. There's not really a lot of helpful advice for what to do to solve particular body problems. It's more a focus on how to pick out two cute pieces and make a swimsuit, and there seems to be an assumption that everyone has a cute little figure that will look great in anything. Since pretty much everyone I know over age 25 has some issue they're trying to solve when they shop for swimwear (my thinnest friend, who looks great, is now fretting about "aging cleavage" if you can believe that) - I think this section could have been a LOT more helpful. Although most advice in the book is very commonsense, there were a few little things here and there that seemed to indicate a bias towards the young and skinny - but honestly, it wasn't a huge part of the book and I was able to get past it. The other issue I have is that some of the suggestions (wearing a huge, poofy fur trapper's hat with a conservative streamlined coat?) are just too funky for me, or really for much of anyone. In big metropolitan like New York or L.A., maybe some of these looks would look chic but in my town, they're what crazy bag ladies wear, and people would not be doing double-takes because they thought you looked hot. That being said, there were only a few of the "huh?" looks in here. Most looks were very attractive and really inspired me to branch out of the rut I was in.

One more tiny thing - I am not sure who did the photographing for Andrea Linett's profile in the book, but she really did not look very good. The pictures of her were not flattering and made her look strange, in my opinion. I have seen other pictures of her where she looked better, but maybe those were older pictures? In any case, she may have great style in real life but the profile of her in the book was anything but convincing of that, for me.

Anyway - bottom line, I think this book is a winner. Lots of great ideas in here for women of all sizes and ages.

Every Woman Should Own This Book!

Customer Rating:
I absolutely loved this book! It's a great how-to guide for updating your look to avoid becoming a fashion don't! I went shopping this weekend and used several tips from this book and therefore avoided purchases that are not flattering to my shape. I am excited to clean out my closet and gradually rebuild my wardrobe!

Not recommended for petite women.

Customer Rating:
This is a fun book to look at because it has a lot of pictures of outfits and ways to combine things, but I do not recommend it for petite women. Many of the clothes featured would not be flattering to a petite frame or available in petite sizes.