I have a confession to make—I, Naja, am a fashion book addict. Yes, it’s true. I own a whole collection of them from those written by style experts such as Tim Gunn and Clinton Kelly to style manuals put together by editors of In Style and Vogue and even biographies about fashion icons like Coco Chanel and the Gucci family (Lawd do they have some DRAH-MUH in that family…it’s like reading a murder mystery).
Now that my secret is out, I can share with you my newest find. Are you ready for this? It is a book written BY a curvy girl specifically FOR curvy girls!!! The Curvy Girl’s Guide to Style: Volume One – A Crash Course In Having Fabulous Style At Any Size by Chastity Garner is not a long read by any means—I read it on my Kindle in about three hours—but it offers volumes of information in it’s 114 pages. Chastity, a stylist and blogger has walked miles in our shoes and in her book, she has offered many tips on how to make that stroll more a lot more stylish.
Chastity and I share a common disdain for frumpiness. In the first chapter, she writes about the advantages and disadvantages of the most common shapes and how to dress to play up the strengths of each body type. Her advice from page one is to “get naked…stark naked.” This allows the reader to really examine her body. Let’s face it., most of us spend so much time thinking about our wide hips or stomach pouch that we don’t realize that we have a ridiculously small waist, toned legs or even long and elegant neckline that we could be accentuating to draw the eye away from our problem areas—something that wearing a frumpy mumu will not do.
The Curvy Girl’s Guide to Style also provides a variation of the list of wardrobe essentials found in nearly every style guide ever written. Some variations include a well tailored black skirt—not the usual pencil skirt—in a style suited to your shape, a pair of black leggings—which has become a wardrobe staple despite much protest from the fashion police early on, a sweater dress and also a “touch of leopard print” which Chastity writes “can be fabulous” but warns that “less is always more with this print.”
You might be asking at this point, ‘aren’t the other books written by non-plus sized style experts chock full of valuable tips for women of every size’ Yes there are plenty of them (I happen to love Nina Garcia’s three books), but do they dedicate a chapter to girdles or bras made specifically to hide back fat?—I don’t think so! My personal favorite chapter Foundations, Girdles, and Brassieres, Oh My! touches on that very subject. That chapter stresses the importance of wearing the proper shapewear no matter what your size is. Chastity brings her point home by telling a little anecdote about a (non plus sized) celebrity she spotted at a soiree wearing a killer outfit ruined by an unforgiving silhouette of cellulite from behind. Ladies, how many times have we seen that…by a show of hands? Aweful right? I myself have been wearing a girdle every single day since I was a teen, but sadly many women don’t, due to the discomfort. To those women, Chastity writes, “if you are looking for comfort, fashion may not be your forte.” And I totally agree. Did you also know that between approximately 75% of women in general wear the wrong bra size. I’m sure that percentage is much higher in plus-sized women alone. To get you ready for what she calls “a fashion war”—Chastity gives advice on getting measured for a bra, choosing the right bras for different occasions, gives some suggestions on where to purchase said bras and shapewear and even tips on taking care of your undergarments.
The Curvy Girl’s Guide to Style: Volume One – A Crash Course In Having Fabulous Style At Any Size does not really offer much new advice, in terms of basic style, but what it does give is an in-depth look at plus size fashion needs that designers should take heed to. Also it provides plus sized women with a sense of solidarity. How many times have your parents offered you a few words of wisdom only for you to yell back, “You don’t understand, you’ve never been there or done that?” Well, Miss Garner DOES in fact understand our bodies and struggles and her book is written in a sisterly tone as a heart to heart to all the curvy girls who need a nudge towards style. She gets it…and that is what gives her an edge over all the other style experts whose books I have read over the years.
For more information about Chastity Garner and to pick up your very own copy of The Curvy Girl’s Guide to Style: Volume One – A Crash Course In Having Fabulous Style At Any Size check out her website HERE.
Tags: book, Chastity Garner, review, style guide
