The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That's Right for Your Body

I love Stacy and Clinton's witty banter and usually sane fashion advice on their show, so when this book came out, I was thrilled. It was (and still is) unavailable at my public library, but after two or three read-throughs, I will probably be donating them my copy. The basic concept of the show is repeated here: Three workable looks for a variety of challenging body types are modelled on 26 actual people who are a stunning array of ages and sizes. It was truly amazing to see these 'plain' Janes and Joes transformed by clothing and a little grooming. However, as others have pointed out, 26 bodies doesn't begin to cover the gamut of potential figure problems out there. Clinton & Stacy are unfailingly kind and encouraging, which is refreshing, coming from their backgrounds in the snarky, body-conscious fashion world. But their biases as lifelong New York fashionistas show through in some of their selections--do most women in America need 3-inch metallic heels for day? Is your average American guy really going to wear a Godfather-style topcoat out on the town? Also, I like many readers have more than one major figure problem; what is a girl to do if she is top-heavy, with more than a little in the middle AND has short legs? My pet peeve with this book would have to be Stacy and Clinton each posing in it as a catagory. At 5'7" and a size 4, Stacy is representing the 'Average Curvy' body type. I submit that there isn't much either "Average" or "Curvy" about Stacy, who has scant need of the tips on 'creating a slimming line' in her spread. Please! What does the woman weigh, 115 pounds? Clinton is the men's "Tall" feature. At 6'4" the boy is indeed a tall drink of water, but his looks are essentially Clinton (= sartorial choices for a NYC fashion maven who is a gay man). This is a perfect glossy read for an afternoon, and has some valuable advice but is too bulky to take shopping, and too limited in scope to refer to very often. Borrow this, or share a copy with several friends.

Like many of the other reviewers, I love Stacy and Clinton's TV show, and it has helped me greatly in weeding out pieces in my wardrobe and buying new clothes to replace them. When I discovered that they had published a book, I rented it from the local library immediately. In a way, I am glad I rented it rather than purchasing it.

I liked how the book not only broke down different styles by body type, but also used REAL people to demonstrate those body types. It was really easy to flip through and find the different sections that applied to my body type. As always, the information they presented for each body type was great, and the styles are pretty much guaranteed to work well.

However, the book needed improvement in several areas. First of all, only six pages are dedicated to each body type, and while those six pages are informative, it would have been more helpful if they had given each type a few more styles and pointers. For example, in the "curvy" section, Stacy and Clinton recommend a skirt suit, which is great, but they didn't give any pointers for people who want to wear trousers occasionally. The book would have been greatly improved if they gave two or three different looks for work, weekend, and evening.

Secondly, their suggestions were kind of static, meaning they assumed everybody works at a place requiring suits and trousers, everybody goes out for the evening in a cocktail dress, etc. Essentially, they did not make any attempt to curtain their wardrobe selections to individual life-styles. When they list at the front the "essential" pieces for a wardrobe, I found that several of them were really rather obsolete for me. I never go places where I need "evening" attire, for example. THE LUCKY SHOPPING MANUAL succeeds better in this respect because they give you alternatives and allow you to choose more or less of certain pieces for your needs.

Lastly, Stacy and Clinton have a habit of emphasizing the "quality over quantity" line, which does not always work out. Sometimes, people need to build a wardrobe from scratch on a budget, and spending 150 dollars on a cashmere sweater does not factor in. Also, not everything you buy really needs to be high "quality," which is something else the LUCKY manual emphasizes.

Overall, I highly recommend picking up the book from your library, jotting down notes that apply to you, and then as a supplement picking up the LUCKY manual. Grade: B-/B.

Clinton Kelly and Stacy London's brand of upbeat, frank, and intelligent advice translates well into a full-color, glossy text on dressing any body type to look your best. The authors divide female body types into various categories such as "Bigger on Top, Overall," "A Little Extra In the Middle, Tall," "Curvy, Petite," "Not Curvy, Average Height," and so on. Men's categories include "Barrel-chested," "Tummy," "Tall," and "Small-framed." There is no "right" or "easy" body type, and all of the models appear both in undergarments and fully clothed in work, weekend, and evening outfits. The advice focuses on what to do, rather than "don'ts," and everyone in the book does look their best, no matter their body type.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is that both Clinton and Stacy stripped down and put their body type up for examination and advice, and they admitted that appearing in the near-nude was a challenge, even for them! The authors also remind readers to dress for how they look now, not for a goal body weight. Looking good in the present will help you reach body improvement goals.

The only negative about the book is that one, or at most two, of the chapters are going to be relevant to any one reader. This is a 250-page book, eight of which will address your particular body type, with an excellent introduction and glossary.

Hurrah! Stacy and Clinton have given us a way to take them with us whenever we go shopping! I was browsing in the bookstore not too long ago and lo and behold, there was Dress Your Best, right next to What Not to Wear, by Trinny and Susanna. I must confess I have to agree with the previous reviewer, Stacy and Clinton did a superior job, especially by using real women (and men!) as models for the different body types. When I need to get my wardrobe staples, Dress Your Best goes with me, to make sure I get the right style pants, shirts and dresses, as well as outerwear and underpinnings. The weekly show shows me what trends are workable on my body type and how to work them into my wardrobe as well, without spending a ton. My mother complains I'll never be on the show, because I'm always put together so well! Thank you, thank you Stacy and Clinton for putting together such a wonderful, helpful book and showing us that everybody can be sexy and sophisticated no matter what our size or body shape. I hope your show will be on for years to come, and I hope you'll write another book.

Stacy and Clinton have provided a useful guide to help both men and women max out their style quotients.

That being said, bear in mind that the authors wanted this book to be as helpful to as many people as possible. As a result: even though this book is over two hundred pages long, only a few pages (eight on average, my rough guess) could be devoted to any one unique physical type. So if you're slim and petite, eight pages of this book will be very useful to you. The rest won't. Tall and stocky? Again, eight pages of this book should be right down your alley, but that's all. Muscular and medium height? Eight pages, that's it. And so on...

Another quibble with this book is that it never really touches on the subject of matching the right color to your skin tone. We've all seen on the show where the authors will tell their makeover candidate, "Don't wear this color, it brings out the yellow in your skin more, it washes you out. THIS color, on the other hand, looks GREAT with your skin tone. Notice the difference, how it brings out the color in your cheeks and your eyes?"

You won't get that type of counseling here. So if you're wondering whether burgundy will go better with your complexion than red, or if shade X works better with your skin tone than shade Y, you're on your own. (Hopefully, future editions of this book will rectify this.)

Those criticisms aside, this book is an entertaining read and provides good, clear, easy-to-follow instructions on how to improve your wardrobe, regardless of what your body type is.

DRESS YOUR BEST includes a list of wardrobe necessities for women and men, and sections on body types for each (for women, there is a petite, average height, and tall subdivision for: "Bigger on Top", "Bigger on the Bottom", "A Little Extra in the Middle", "Curvy", "Not Curvy", and "Extra Curvy". For the guys, there are eight sections: "Short", "Average", "Tall", "Athletic", "Small-Framed", "Barrel-Chested", "Tummy", and "Hips" [no subdivisions for height].) There's also a "Top Ten Questions We're Asked on an Almost-Daily Basis", an intro, an afterward, and all that fun stuff.

Each section for the women includes general "do"s and "don't"s, and each subdivision has three pictures and advice for work (assuming your job requires a suit. If you have a uniform of some sort, this bit won't be very helpful), weekend, and evening clothes. For the men, each section has the same deal with three pictures and three pages of advice for work, weekend, and evening.

I enjoyed this book because while knowing what looks good on me is obviously useful, I think that what looks good on other people and why is just as interesting. If you're with me on that, or want to share this book with a group of friends with different body types, then this is a good pick. Please keep in mind that the advice is basic, and is focused on clothes - while they have a few tips about heel hight and what color pale-skinned brunettes should wear, I'm almost positive there's nothing about hair or makeup; there's certainly nothing remotely extensive. There also isn't much about serious signature style - the point is to look chic in figure-flattering clothes.

Yes, you can buy a magazine and look at all the "dress your body" features, but this book obviously has a lot more room to deal with it. At the same time, I wouldn't recommend actually buying it (or stealing it, for that matter); I got it from the library, and while I liked it, I don't love it enough to go buy it.

This book was helpful, but could have been more so. I read through every body type. I found two body types that could relate to me. I couldn't figure out which one applied to me though. For example, average height, curvy figure shows Stacy as the model. Although I am of average height and have a curvy figure, I am by no stretch of the imagination a size 4 (like Stacy). The next figure I thought may apply to me was the tall, curvy model. Although her proportions were more like my own, I am not tall (over 5'7'). So, I had to take both of the models and try to pull what I could use out of the three outfits given as examples of what to wear. My advice would be to read about all of the body types because advice is given that applies to every body type during most of the examples, like what type of heel to wear with what hemline. Definitely not a be all and end all book of what not to wear. The book also includes body types for men (not helpful to me, but fun to read).

Just the fact that there are so many pictures makes this book useful. But, if you watch the show regularly, not much is new.

Here's what I missed:

1) really, really curvy people, both men and women (OK, fatter people). Once you get past size 18, it's a whole new ball game.

2) sources. Some of us do not live in or close to large metropolitan shopping areas. Where can we buy, see, find out about some of the designers used in the book.

There is a list in the back of the brands of clothing, accessories, and shoes for each model, but no information about how to locate any of it.

The 'Universal Tips' for all body types were useful as were pictures of different ways to combine colors and textures.

Next book, I'd like just a bit more.

I am an avid watcher of the weekly television show What Not To Wear, so when I saw this book, I added it to my the store wishlist. I finally got around to buying it last week, and I am about to leave my desk right now to ship it back.

Although the advice is sound, the entire book only had 3 pages relevant to me. I'm sorry, but I'm not paying $16 for a book that I can only read/use 3 pages of.

I was able to find my body type, which is not curvy, average height, and it included some good tips about fit for my body type...but the rest of the book was useless to me.

I thought the book was going to be about putting together a look, and how to shop for specific items, but it wasn't.

My recommendation to anyone who is looking for a book about style and how to put together looks is this...don't buy this book, buy The Lucky Shopping Manual: Building and Improving Your Wardrobe Piece by Piece, which actually has tons and tons of great advice for how to develop your style and what items you need, etc. They also have another great book coming out in Oct. called The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style: Creating Iconic Looks and Making Them Your Own, which has information about how to put together the 10 most popular fashion styles (rock and roll, bohemian, etc)...now THAT book I can't wait to buy, and I know it will be worth every penny.

I have fliped through quite a few "style" books only to be disapointed by the super thin model photos and unrealistic fashions. This book is not like that! I really liked the way that clinton and stacey used real people in their photo shoots. Another surprise was that fact that they had advice for males as well! That's not usually featured in other style books. All in all, I think it's a great investment for anyone who needs a little help with their clothes choices.

This book should either be longer or broken down into several different books based on shape. The attempt is nice, but I would rather read a book intended just for people shaped like me than six pages of a book for everyone.

This book is amazing!! And unlike what some people are saying, the rest of the book is full of little tips that anyone can use (for example, the top 5 pieces for work and top 5 pieces of statement jewelry everyone should have). This book is a thousand times better than the British version with Trinny and Susannah (who have a weird obsession with wearing dresses over pants and... um... hair accessories that look like mobiles). The only way this book could be better is if they showed like 9 different looks for each body type instead of just 3. stacey and clinton, we need more advice!!

This book is pretty good. I do like Trinny & Suzanne's book better, but this one hits different points.

There are a lot of pictures with different body types and styles of clothes. The only drawback here for me is the limited information for each body style. The models are only wearing winter clothes, which makes it easier to hide "flaws". Not enough detail.

You have to read the entire book (other body types other than your own) to get all the "tips", which are good, but tedious to track down.

This book should be purchased with friends of different body types. I will say that for my body type the book was informative, but when I picked up my next month's issue of a fashion magazine, they had the some stuff in it. For each body type, there are 6 pages total. 3 have bits of facts and the other 3 are pictures of the people. The book focuses on shape of clothing, but not really on color. YES, there is a section about men, but the body types that they list are very broad like Athletic, not athletic, skinny, husky. If you have $13.00 burning a hole in your pocket and you LOVE Stacy and Clinton, buying is up to you. I am going to stick with my fashion magazine subscription.

I really liked this book but I wouldn't recommend buying it. I would try and find it at a local book store and look through it, making notes. The sections pertaining to each body type are very short. The most useful information for my type consisted of three whole pages, the rest of the book being useless for me. Once you read "your section" or body type you don't really need the book any more. Just my opinion.

Clinton and Stacy are very down to earth in describing fashion success in a way anyone can relate to and put into use. The book has pictures to make it easier to find your body type (yes, Clinton and Stacy even included themselves). I found it enjoyable to read and easy to remember their hints when I went shopping. Makeovers are possible. A must buy before that next shopping trip.

Stacy and Clinton are great in the TLC show "What Not To Wear", and I was pleasantly surprised that this information could transfer to a book version. The categories are based on body type and are easy to see with the various models that are pictured. Lots of tips and suggestions are sprinkled throughout and many of the comments are fun, just like their show. I would recommend this book to all ages, since body types do not change with age. Loved it!

The book offers advice for very specific body types, but as a result, there were only 3 pages that are personally useful. I could have looked at this book at the library (not even checked it out) and gotten everything meaningful. Buying the book was a waste.

Actually, this is a pretty good effort. I'm sure it covers 90% of the people out there who are looking for help in looking their best.

Unfortunately, it's incomplete. I would advise people to go to the bookstore and read the opening section there. If your body type fits the one of the profiles there - you're in good shape if you don't mind paying $12 (or more) for all of the six pages that apply to you. If your body type doesn't fit the the profiles they laid out, then the book probably won't help you much. For 90+% of people though - the profiles are dead on.

But since only 6 pages will wind up applying to each person, I'd read those 6 pages in the store & save the dough (if I were one of the 90%). But (as you've probably guessed), I don't quite fit the profiles.

As the description says the book includes advice for several different body types. The problem this causes is that there are only about four pages per type (eight if you include the full page pictures). The pages that are there don't really have much to them.

There were some other pages with some generic content but there really isn't any true substance to this book, save your money and time (most of your time will be returning it)

I purchased this book because my 13 year old daughter LOVES watching "What Not to Wear". It has helped her to learn more about how to look the way she wants to look and not to look "made up". It is a great how-to for anyone of any age.

Stacy and Clinton have really done a great job with this book. I also have the What Not to Wear book by the Brittish duo Suzanna and Trinny and this one is much more savvy. I recommend the book to every woman - with or without figure flaws. They also touch upon men's fashions but not with the same depth or energy.

Clinton Kelly and Stacy London did a great job in making dressing your best super simple with examples of different body types, and what to wear to accentuate your look, without difficult piles of information to sort through. What I like most about this book is its simplicity! It shows more of what "to do" so that you can easily (and inexpensively) dress for any time of the day or night, and any occasion, so that the clothes are perfect for you, as opposed to trying to twist your body into a look that might not be right for you.

It's a nice book and very helpful for finding the right clothes that are perfect for your body type. Well done!

Barbara Rose, author of Stop Being the String Along: A Relationship Guide to being THE ONE and if God Was Like Man

Editor, inspire! magazine

Sinceramente no me gustó, a pesar que soy fanatica del programa, y a mi parecer el programa es bastante bueno, sin embargo el libro no lo es, las recomendaciones no me parecen acertadas en algunos tipos de cuerpo, además busqué el mio y solo puedes aprovechar 3 paginas, no más, las combinaciones y las propuestas no me gustaron, si quieres un libro de estilismo y con buen gusto recomiendo mejor alguno de los libros de Trinny & Susannah.

I enjoy watching Stacy and Clinton on their show What Not to Wear. When I heard there was a book out I bought one. The book is great. It tackles every body type in short average and tall heights. It is a great book for the coffee table too.

This book offers great details how to dress YOUR body now, not after you lose a few pounds or gain some!

It gives you many options to choose from according to your style and body type...enjoy it. I did.

What a stupid book. The entire book is poorly laid out and the information given for each body type is vague at best. For example, I'm considered curvy, average height and the book tells me to wear "a straight dress for an hourglass shape to accentuate curves." How the hell does a STRAIGHT dress do that? It doesn't even get into skintone and color which is essential!

Stacy and cliton have been doing studies for many years on fashion and the book is great advice. Their show is wonderful (it airs on TLC friday sometime). Everybody, be fans of the duo...they are the best duo youll see in years. 5 stars obviously...i dont see how anybody could give it a ONE!

While I love the show and find it extremely helpful, the book was not. Once you find your body type, the rest of the book is a waste. I didn't find it helpful at all. The Lucky Shopping Manual is like a fashion bible! so much more helpful and explained what you needed to have a complete wardrobe.