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Book Review of The Body Shape Bible: Forget Your Size Discover Your Shape Transform Yourself

jjares avatar reviewed on + 3413 more book reviews


Susannah Constantine and Trinny Woodall have decided there are 12 body types amongst females. The premise of their book is to pay less attention to one's dress size and pay more attention to one's body shape -- how the parts fit together to make the whole. Each shape has challenges and attributes to emphasize.

Because there are twelve body types to be discussed, each chapter is short. The authors show the biggest horrors (mistakes made by body types) and then offer suggestions. I found the suggestions to be eye-opening and helpful. I would have liked for there to be a book for each body type because just about the time I got excited about the clothing suggested, the authors moved to the next type. I guess I'm a dreamer.

I found the best page in each body type to be "Key Shapes." Dress types, blouse shapes, jacket features, trouser choices are mentioned, as well as jewelry and shoe suggestions. Then there are three types of looks offered for each shape: Casual, Smart and Party. Showing celebrities with each body type was a nice feature; the authors showed them dressing well for type as well as dressing in mistakes.

The authors are gutsy; they showed photos of themselves in disasters and wearing more appropriate garments. One of my favorite features was (at the back of the book), ideas on how to salvage buying disasters so they become useful garments. I couldn't or wouldn't do some of them, but it opened me to the idea that buying disasters could be saved with some thought.