Alison FreerHow to Get Dressed: A Costume Designer's Secrets for Making Your Clothes Look, Fit, and Feel Amazing

I love this book! The author is humorous and entertaining, but also very knowledgeable in her career as a costume designer. She has lots of great ideas for putting together a wardrobe and the care and storage of those items. She also makes suggestions that help making clothing choices easier...what situations are worth altering and which do not accept alterations well, for example. It keeps you from having a closet full of stuff that you can't wear because it will take too much money to change. It also helps to know what items are worth buying because they are inexpensive to alter, even if they don't fit perfectly off the rack.Some of my favorite parts were the clothing hacks that she uses to repair (torn zippers; dropped hems and other "oops" moments) or alter various pieces of clothing. Handy information for those situations in which you cannot suffer through a serious wardrobe malfunction. She even gives her secrets for fixing or avoiding many shoe problems that are uncomfortable or unsafe. She also gives the names of various items of equipment and products that she uses professionally...and most of them are surprisingly inexpensive.I also like the fact that she squashes some outdated notions on fashion and that she encourages each person to understand, and to wear, what looks good on them without blindly following whatever short-lived fad "de jour" that clothing companies like to make us think that we can't live without each season.This is a fun, informative and very useful book for anyone who loves to look great, effortlessly (once they have taken the initial rudimentary steps) regardless of whether they are in jeans or shorts while going to the grocery store; or if they are dressing for business; or, if they happen to be attending a festive occasion in an expensive gown. Frankly, this is the first book regarding clothing that I have found relevant enough to send to my daughter who lives in Paris...the city of beautiful and timeless fashion!

I’m recommending this book to all of my friends—even for those who say they never have time to read a book! I just tell them that the glossaries and the index at the back are incredibly useful--the stain glossary alone makes this book an excellent purchase. Alison gives us remedies for fixing a long list of icky stains (cigarette ash? candle wax? blood??) and the details are specific and the methods practical. The fabric glossary abounds with details about fabric that allows you to take care of your fancy or expensive duds yourself with little risk to your investment whether it is financial or emotional.Who knew about the myriad uses of safety pins—and did you know they come in black?! I didn’t, but I’m going to buy some as soon as I can. Have you ever heard of a tool called a belt hole punch? Alison puts this versatile tool to uses even its inventor never dreamed of! Those are a couple of unusual examples, but her book is stuffed with advice about the simplest, most effective and fast remedy for any type of situation you and your clothing might encounter. She touts the cheap and easy method when it will serve, but when nothing else will do she gives you the skinny on the more demanding and/or expensive method. Since her bedrock is the sensible and inexpensive method (organize your tights and stockings using the cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels), when she does recommend something more expensive I believe it’s the best idea—I’m definitely adding a fabric steamer to my Wish List!When Alison talks about her experiences on set or prepping for a show, she is discreet and never mentions an actor’s name or show (which makes your brain spin trying to figure who did that thing she just described as an example of what not to do). I wish I could watch her in a reality series, or a behind-the-scenes kind of deal—I would definitely tune in! She has a dry funny way to illustrate her point, like the time she advises us on the dangers of including towels in the dryer with clothing because they produce “a special kind of lint that attaches itself to your wardrobe forever, like lice on a first grader.” I couldn’t stop laughing—Texas women have such a funny wry way of illustrating their point (think Molly Ivins or Ann Richards).Alison’s style is breezy, confident and practical even when she talks about caring for a luxurious fabric like peau de soie—I bet she even pronounces it correctly! Alison is like your best friend’s older sister—you put her on a pedestal and drink in the words, ready to try anything she advises because she obviously knows the very best way to do everything. This book is a gem, everyone should own a copy!

The how-to content of this book can probably be found in the books and crannies of the internet. However, I loved it because the book is an amazing curated, comprehensive resource for learning about techniques I didn't think of and would probably have messed up many times and trashed many pieces of utterly destroyed clothing before finding something that worked. That, in itself, is far greater value than I paid for this book.The physical book itself, however, is falling apart after reading it partway through. The pages are sturdy, so I can still rebind it.The other reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is that the book doesn't say it's for women. It has one small section about assisting a male friend with men's formal wear, and the rest of the book is catered to stereotypical (but a wide range of) female bodies, fits, and tastes.