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The Cheap Date Guide to Style
by Kira Jolliffe and Bay Garnett
Universe
ISBN 0-7893-1541-0
Published April 2008 - Hardcover - 128 pages - $24.95

I know I'm not the only one who can't stand the absurdity of "fashion".  It's so one-sided and impractical.  Not to mention prohibitively expensive.  So what's the point?  In my opinion, there is no point, except to perhaps elevate a few designers (there are a few whose work I do admire, if I'm being completely honest) and their pampered clientele to where they're put on pedestals.  For me, the idea is to wear the right color for you, something that fits without being ridiculously tight (comfortable in other words), and something preferably from this century.  The editors of the British magazine Cheap Date, Kira Jolliffe and Bay Garnett, say "Our advice in this book applies to shopping at department stores, yard sales, H&M, grandma's wardrobe, and Prada alike."  But then again, the Brits are known for their eccentricity, which I love about them.  Their book is rather like a scrapbook of photographs of people, some famous, some not, wearing all sorts of clothes, as well as a few words from the well-known here and there, such as Mischa Barton, Rachel Weisz, Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood, and Anita Pallenberg.  It's a book full of snippets about fashion, style, hints, opinions - fun.  I love Karl Lagerfeld's line: "I think that overpushed femininity is the most aging effect in life."  I can think of a few examples!  The bottomline of this book, from what I can gather, is that there are no rules when it comes to fashion and style.  If you've read my blog on bad style and on celebrities who can't dress themselves (they who have stylists for pete's sake), and you'll get it.  Everybody, please read the Les petits soins paragraph on page 24 - that's what style is all about.
Visit the Cheap Date website.
Conclusion - For the seriously stylish wannabes - it's funky and out there.
I'm making a point of mentioning print errors in so many books these days.  This book had this error - page 35 under the Patti Smith picture - The Dressmaker paragraph, or part thereof, is a repeat of the same paragraph on the previous page.  Where are the layout people???? Careless and unnecessarily distracting to the reader.  Do read my blog about these kinds of publishing errors.