I purchased this book after missing the opportunity by one day to meet the author here in Phoenix at Strut Bridal Salon. I ordered this book initially because I liked the message and I am at a place where I am ready to embrace my plus sized self. Once receiving it, I was really disappointed in how short it was. Chastity really just starts to warm up and get going somewhere when the book ends. At under 100 pages of actual helpful text, (which is printed in a sizeable font to begin with), it felt really underdone. I'm going to assume this is because Ms. Garner is to be releasing a series of these books, which, frankly, I feel is a mistake. Why need to release 5 books at 14+ dollars each? All are variations on the same knowledge (dressing for different situations as a plus sized woman.) I would have been happy to spend 40 bucks on a larger text; something along the lines of The Plus Sized Woman's Guide to Style in any Circumstance or something. I would have liked a large reference for myself as a plus sized woman, instead of a series of tiny skinny books about how great it is to not be tiny or skinny. All in all a good idea but don't expect much more than basic knowledge (wear black, don't wear horizontal stripes and know your measurements) and a HUUUUUUGE bibliography section almost as long as the book itself. I would encourage the interested reader to get their copy from the library as you won't need much time to read it, and the knowledge therein is easily retained (as there isn't much to take in). I really feel that this text suffers from its lack of more pages, knowledge, or substance.
Firstly, I finished the book without 2 hours. I really did enjoy the book. It made me a bit more confident to wear certain clothes that I wasn't sure would suit me. Chastity also talks a bit more in-depth about undergarments and the various things they can do, and so now I am significantly less intimidated of them. I found that very helpful.
Overall, there are good tips and advice in this book, not a lot of it new or previously unknown.I do still feel it fell just a bit short. I wished there were possibly more illustrations (to show the body types, and show what types of garments she was talking about...though she does describe them decently). It is one thing to say what would work, but once us gals get out there in the real world and try to shop, we really need extra visual aids to see exactly what we should go for. It can be hard enough for a curvy lady to get the guts to go shopping in the first place so that would be helpful. Also, I found myself wishing she talked more about how to find our personal styles, or how to accessorize. Now, Chastity does talk about accessorizing but it would have been helpful if she would show us some illustrated examples perhaps. I know not everyone is as clueless as I am, but alot of curvy women neglect their fashion choices for a long time and so need really all the help that they can get.
Overall I don't regret buying this book, I simply wish it was more comprehensive.
Buy The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style Now
I borrowed this book from the KLL because Amazon thought I'd like it after I read a few Body Acceptance/Health at Every Size-type reads. Warning: the recommendations are NOT accurate. This book is about using shapewear and clothing styles to make a fat body look like a thin one, i.e. be "flattering," not necessarily about accepting your body in the way that it looks.Pros: Succinctly written, recommends some good websites, takes into account different body types and variations/combinations thereof
Cons: Shallow in terms of self-acceptance -this author seems to promote using shapewear to squeeze yourself into clothes rather than accept your body and love it. Very mainstream (i.e. relatively boring) in its approach to clothing and fashion. Very, very short.
All in all, I prefer the fatshionistas on Tumblr and the like to this book. This book basically is about pinching and squeezing your body into shapewear so that it can look "sleek" in mainstream clothing. To me, it's the equivalent of veg*n food being imitation meat. That works for some people, but it's a lot healthier, cost-effective, and fun to think out of the box.It's hard to get good advice for girls who aren't size 4. This seems to be sensible and actually useful ---which is not something you can often say about fashion.
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