Dressing Smart for Women: 101 Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make...and How to Avoid Them (Career Savvy S) Paperback – Illustrated, August 5, 2003

This book is by one of the co-authors of the fabulous book Color Wonderful, one of the best explanations I have ever read about why some colors look good on us and others don't; in fact, no one else's explanations about that subject even comes close! In this book, OF COURSE, the styles and some of the advice are going to be out of date because the book was published in 2004, so please get past that, which one reviewer wasn't able to for some reason! Here, JoAnna Nicholson (spelled Joanne in the book Color Wonderful) does go into excruciating detail about every aspect of one's look, but when you really study the points she is making, for the most part she is spot on, and you can easily discern what no longer applies because styles have changed. There are so many examples about the good advice she offers I can't begin to think of them all. For instance, on page 80 she discusses the "weight" of your shoes -- light, medium, or heavy (looking) -- that you should wear with different fabrics. I recall attending an important family wedding years ago and having on a semi-sheer skirt and must have worn a shoe that was a little too heavy-looking because when I asked people in my family what they thought about the shoes, the overwhelming response was, "Well, they looked 'sturdy." OMG, so "they LOOKED" meant they had actually formed an impression at the time, and STURDY was not the look I was after! At the time I was worried about my feet surviving a long wedding standing on pebbles in a courtyard, so I probably should have changed my outfit! Yes, this book has things that are a bit out of date, but all in all, it's a priceless book and I love JoAnna for sharing all her knowledge.

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I was so happy to find this book in my library (so much now that I am buying it for my bookshelf). Coming from someone who didn't know anything about style or know how to pull an outfit together - this book came in extremely handy. With a recent promotion it was important that I now look the part. There are a lot of great tips and rules to live by. I successfully put together a capsule wardrobe. I am now confident going into the office with style.

The author gives some good tips on color, basic items to buy and styles but the photos are terrible. They are extremely outdated - who wears denim jeans with animal print and belts printed on them? Or jeans splattered with paint that look like a bad spinart project. The few photos that are in the book are very outdated. The author also trys to pair a scarf with everything. Maybe I'm too young for this book but I was trying to find something that would show me how to put together a professional look. I'm still looking.

JoAnna Cole does a good job of pointing out color contrast which I had never before heard - and I grew up hearing about seasonal coloring (she doesn't subscribe to seasonal coloring). The contrast between the colors you wear is a factor and should mirror your natural coloring. I really liked the exercise where you hold up different whites (white & off-white) and see which draws more attention to your face (rather than drawing attention to the cloth). I wish she had explained the color theory more clearly, but figured that maybe she's trying to get you to hire one of her consultants in order to get more info. She mentions there are 12 precise configurations but doesn't go into detail, just sticks with the basics. About 3/4 through the book my interest waned because she seemed to get very picky about which earrings go with which necklace - and we're not talking just gold and silver clashing, but scale and very specific details. If I had a store with all the variety she illustrated, I'd be in heaven. Honestly, the differences she pointed out seemed minor to me. Some good tips - create illusion with dressing and grooming, be consistent or people will think the one time you looked good was a fluke, wear makeup, do your hair, extend your eyebrows if necessary to fill the proper space (and I must), wear jewelry, fill in your whole lip with lip liner so that when the lipstick fades your lip color won't go with it. I like the point that we are not being superficial by attending to our appearances - just get things in order so you can go on with your day confident about your personal presentation. We have important things to do - don't be distracted by feeling uncomfortable or unsure about how you look.