Reddit mentions: The best style & clothing books

I'm stealing another redditor's format to make it easier for you to find the useful information in this ramble...haha


DRESS:If you are a small enough size, try looking in the kids'/juniors' section - no joke. My friend only just breaks 5', and she found a really pretty white dress that was a fraction of the price of adult dresses.

Dress shopping is hard :( It's worth finding out about your body type to help narrow your options. When your arms are relaxed at your waist, are your elbows below your natural waist (the smallest circumference of your waist)? If you said yes, then congratulations, you're short-waisted like me and cheap dress shopping will be a bitch because everything cheap is catered to long-waisted women (elbows are above natural waist). If you are short-waisted, for instance, babydoll styles look silly, but empress waistlines/dresses that ruche at the side or wrap around are flattering. If you're long-waisted, I think you can rock a wider variety of styles.

It may be a worth a spin by Ross, Filene's Basement, or the like - often, you can find decent, cheap stuff there.

MAKEUP:For makeup, many people get makeovers from the counters at malls (Bobbi Brown does the most natural-looking jobs). Sometimes these are free, and sometimes they do this with the understanding that you will buy one or two items afterwards. This can cost $30 and up in products, though, so do your research and see who will do it for free. I think the Body Shop does free makeup, although it'll be their mineral-y powerstuffs which don't augment as much as other kinds of makeup would. I, personally, prefer Bobbi Brown because you exit looking like a slightly prettier normal person, and you get some high quality products you can use for the next year (if you wear makeup as infrequently as I do, haha. Actually, I may still have products I bought for prom makeup four years ago).

By the way, Bobbi Brown has some books on beauty that I still refer to - here and here, although this might be most helpful for you if you decide to do your own makeup. The InStyle Secrets of Style books are also like DIY manuals for fashion/style/life in general. You could also check out the blog Already Pretty, although I don't remember if there are many prom-appropriate articles. They do have a lot of confidence-boosting articles, though, and confidence is important for any social event! They also have some stuff on finding the right clothes for your body type, which could help with dress shopping.

EVENT: The event varies from place to place. Mine was a dance in a large hotel hall that came with a seated dinner buffet and dessert buffet. It was chaperoned by teachers. The deejay did a bit of challenging girls vs. boys to dance, but nothing with plastic inflatable goods. He played mostly top 40 songs, and then some songs we had requested (e.g. "Don't Stop Believing" was our prom song). There wasn't a lot of grinding at our school because the clothes were generally too restrictive and the girls were wearing heels, haha. I doubt you'll feel pressured into doing that; some people are totally happy just sitting and talking and eating for the whole time, if those are options for you.



Above all, have a great time! Everyone's nervous, but it is so much fun to see everyone all dolled up - especially the dudes forced into tuxes. Bring a camera and you'll always have something to do :) Best of luck!

How much money do you have to spend on clothes right now? Take that money and spend half of it on a good, comfortable, nice-looking pair of shoes. If you don't have hundreds of dollars, go to a second-hand store or a vintage clothing store or something, but try to buy new shoes. You can buy cheap stuff for every other article of clothing if you like, but don't skimp on the shoes; they are the most important aspect of your wardrobe. A pair of black oxfords would be versatile.

Next, get a button-down shirt (or some shirts) which fit you well in the shoulders and waist. You want your shirt to fit like a second skin. Try to find something that is long enough that you can bring the front and back together at the crotch (more or less). Check the shirt(s) for mother-of-pearl buttons, good stitching, and, if patterned, check to see if the pattern lines up from shoulder to arm. Look up the word "gusset" and try to get shirts with gussets. These are some general marks of a quality shirt. You don't need all these things, but they are signs of quality.

Trousers: make sure they look good in the butt. No frumpy ass for you; no pucker either. Length: around the ankles...no flood, no bunch up at the bottom. Try to get something simple; some nice denim goes well with a dress shirt, a blazer or sport coat and a tie.

Check out the following books:

Dressing the Man

Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion

Esquire Handbook of Style

The Affected Provincial's Companion--this one is about fashion to an extent, but it transcends it and puts it into a decorum and lifestyle aspect. In fact, also check out Glen O'Brien's new book, How to be a Man if you're interested in a more lifestyle-oriented reason to look nice.

I honestly think the last two books would be a good start for you. Due to your description of yourself, I'd maybe start with How to be a Man. The first few paragraphs are shit, but it gets really good, especially by the time it gets to "How to be sexual". It seems like you need a much better reason to dress nicely than the reasons you've suggested. I think this book could really help you develop a better ethos regarding style, and maybe even help you with decorum (if you need help with that).

Check out this quick video for a great introduction to O'Brien.

Good luck.

edit: clarification

I'm writing this as a main comment so I know you'll see this, rather than down in response to /u/hambonedinosaur. I also see that you already say you're going to go for it, but I thought I'd toss in my two cents anyway.

EDIT: If you read one thing I have to say, be it this - check out this reading about the PA here. It's from The Piercing Bible, a fantastic source about anything piercing. It's extremely helpful, and it's what convinced me to get my PA. Seriously. It's really helpful.

I got my PA last summer, about 9 months ago, and I have no regret about it. I was pierced with 12g, which I recommend. 8g is unnecessarily large for initial piercing, and will lead to A LOT of bleeding. I'd say go for 10g at most. With 12g, there wasn't too much bleeding. It healed very quickly, my gf and I had sex three or four days after.

Don't worry one bit about your size. Your piercer doesn't care, and they'll understand about it being small. I'm average sized, and when I got pierced it was the smallest I've ever seen it. I think it knew the needle was coming, and was trying to hide. /u/hambonedinosaur said the receiving tube (goes down your urethra to receive the needle) was the worst part. I disagree with this. The tube wasn't painful, just awkward feeling. I'd never felt anything stretch/put pressure on my urethra like that before, it was definitely interesting. If your piercer starts to use foreceps instead of a tube, ask them to stop and use a tube instead. And don't worry about the pain of the needle, it's instantaneous and gets better as soon as it's through. The euphoria that comes after outweighs the pain 10:1 and makes the pain seem like nothing. You will be walking awkwardly after and the next day or two as you figure things out haha.

I wore thin pads for the first couple of days, and it was plenty to catch the dribbles of blood that came out with movement. At night, I slept with a rubber latex glove and paper towel gently rubber banded on. That helped a lot not spreading mess in bed. The first night was by far the most bleeding of all nights, but it wasn't much at all (a teaspoon maybe?). I was scared as shit to get a boner and tried my best not to. You really don't have to worry, you will get a boner in your first few days, but it's not going to be as catastrophic as you may believe (at least I did, I thought it would make me start bleeding).

It's important to keep it clean. When you shower, take a minute to lather your hand, gently rub the soap around. Put soap on the ring, and turn the ring so it rotates as much as possible through piercing hole and urethra. The first week or two you will get dead cell build-up and (while you're still bleeding) dried blood on the ring. It's very important to thoroughly get this off, it is uncomfortable as fuck for shit stuck on your ring to go through the hole. If you happen to not take a shower every day, make sure you clean the ring at least once a day. I recommend soaking it (I put soapy water in a shot glass and let it soak for a few minutes, while I brushed my teeth), then using a q-tip and saline solution to gently rub/scrub any build-up off. You'll noticed after a week, two, three, that your ring stops getting as much build-up as it did, and then you can stop cleaning it as religiously. Still give a minute to clean it whenever you shower.

If your piercer only gives you the jewelry they put in you and no extras (that's what mine did), MAKE SURE YOU GET EXTRAS! Doesn't matter where, whether you buy them there or at a mall or whatever, just have a few extras lying around. You never know when you'll need one, and don't want to be caught without one. I've lost the ball in my compression ring a few times - thankfully not the ring, but could've easily happened. Just last week I lost my horseshoe ring at work when I was going to the bathroom and noticed as I was shaking off one of the balls had come unscrewed, and as I noticed that, it went flying and went down the drain of the toilet. RIP horseshoe ring. And (you may be different from me) when I got home 9 hrs later and put my compressing ring in, it took a bit of convincing to go in. So don't leave your ring out for an extended period for a long while, it could shrink.

Going back to gauging, I recommend NOT starting at 8g, start at 10 or 12. It's easy to go up. I'm at a 10 now and am planning on going to an 8g in a few months. I'm taking this slowly. One of my friends who has a PA said that (if you don't want to gauge to a 0 or 00 or whatever) 6g is a good stopping place - just the right size, good weight, etc.

Anyway. That was a lot longer than I had planned making this. It's going to be awesome, and I'm confident you're going to love it. Don't let your douchebag brain get you all worked up and worried about how much it's going to hurt or how terrible it's going to be. Tell that little voice to stfu and go sit in the corner. It won't be nearly as bad as anything that little voice in your head will make you think it'll be. You're going to love it as soon as your pierced.

Cheers, and good luck! (Sorry for the essay....)

Here goes the dump:

On perfume industry:

Chandler Burr - The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York - the book that originally got me into fragrances. It is exactly what it says on the cover: an inside look at how mainstream fragrances (specifically Jardin Sur Le Nil by Hermes and Lovely by S J Parker) are developed.

Jean Claude Ellena - Diary of a Nose J-C Ellena is the head perfumer at Hermes and a part time writer (and a hero of the previous book). This book is more about his personal reminiscences and thoughts about perfumes. He also gives an interesting list of cool fragrance recipes (accords) in the appendix

Jean Claude Ellena - Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent - by the same author. This book is mostly about the industry.

Denyse Beaulieu - The Perfume Lover: A Personal History of Scent This is an autobiographic book from a woman who reeeealy loves perfumes and managed to convinced a famous perfumer Bertrand Duchafour to make a perfume for her. Sometimes reads more like an erotic novel but a good book.

Perfume guides:

Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez - Perfumes: The A-Z Guide - a famous guide, very quirky and opinionated but their perfume descriptions are great fun to read.

Luca Turin's blog Turin is a famous perfume freak and olfaction scientist, he stopped writing, but the blog posts are available for download.

Chandler Burr - articles Burr is a self-styled perfume art critic, who writes for major newspaper and magazines. His articles make a good intro for a layman.

Barbara Herman - Scent and Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume This is about collecting antique perfumes. Reads a like a slightly edited collection of blog posts (which I think it indeed is).

Tessa Williams - Cult Perfumes A guide to niche perfumes. I suspect most of the text was written by the brands themselves, because sometimes it has a marketing blurb feel to it. Nevertheless it gives a good overview of major players.

The H&R Books (4 Volume Set) Book of Perfume, Fragrance Guide , Feminine Notes, Fragrance Guide, Masculine Notes, Guide to Fragrance Ingredients It doesn't say all that much about each perfumes, just the notes, but what it lacks in depth it makes up in breadth.

Michael Edwards - Fragrances of The World - another huge compendium. Don't have it myself, but looks very solid.

On general olfaction:

Chandler Burr - Emperor of Scent - it's about Luca Turin and his new theory of olfaction. I get the feeling that the technicalities are over the author's head but it's a fun read. Has a lot about fragrances as well.

Luca Turin - The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell the book by the man himself. Fun popular science.

Avery Gilbert - What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life A collection of popular sketches about olfaction, from Smell-o-vision to the way they train police dogs

Gunter Ohloff, Wilhelm Pickenhagen, Philip Kraft - Scent and Chemistry - I havent read it yet, but it comes with high recommendations.

I also have a bunch of books on perfume making, but these probably should go into a separate topic

I'm back!

Usually the info about beauty, makeup, and hairstyles, are found in fashion history books, so here a couple of general fashion history:

• Auguste Racinet. Complete Costume History, is like THE fashion history book. Published in the 19th century, includes info not only about fashion, but beauty, hairstyles, interior design, fabrics, prints, etc. If you want to buy it, take the version of the link. There is a cheaper edition, but it is smaller, and the point of this book is the amount of detail in the illustrations, so go for the big one.
  
• Pictorial Encyclopedia of Historic Costume: 1200 Full-Color Figures, by Karl Rohrbach
  
• A Pictorial History of Costume From Ancient Times to the Nineteenth Century: With Over 1900 Illustrated Costumes, Including 1000 in Full Color, by Wolfgang Bruhn & Max Tilke.
  
  Some books about beauty:
  
  
• The book Facing Beauty:  Painted Women and Cosmetic Art analyses the beauty and makeup through the eyes of art, from the Renaissance to the early 20th century.
  
• Face Paint: The History of Makeup by Lisa Eldridge, she is a makeup artists for celebrities and fashion editorials, and she has a YouTube channel with videos that are a nice complement to the book.
  
• Beauty and Cosmetics 1550–1950, by Sarah Jane Downing.
  
• If you're more like a experimentation person, take a look at The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty, which ahs tutorials for hair and makeup.
  
• Classic Beauty: The History of Makeup, by Gabriela Hernández.
  
• This edition of Arqueología Mexicana (E37) is all about body modification in the prehispanic cultures: face an body paint, tattoos, ear, mouth, and nose piercings.... It is sadly not available to read online, BUT you can buy it and they send it anywhere in the world. It is a bilingual edition.
  
  Here some online resources:
  
  
• On this site there's a compilation of articles about makeup through the ages.
  
• Here's another cosmetics site with more resources from ancient times to the 2000s.
  
• A little bit about Victorian Makeup and beauty.
  
• A paper published on a dermatology journal, COSMETICS AND SKIN CARE PRODUCTS: A Historical Perspective, by ZoeDiana Draelos MD.
  
• Silvousplaits on YouTube reproduces historical hairstyles.
  
• Also on YouTube, Janet Stephens is my favourite with the most accurate historical hairstyles, and a ton of research behind. She does not upload so often, but you can follow her on Facebook too.
  
• If you're fluent in Spanish, you can download this paper about body modification in the prehispanic Mexico.
  
• A little bit about tattoos in Ancient Egypt.
  
• A LOT of downloadable papers about body modification in Ancient cultures.
  
  And finally, not a resource, but LBCC Historical sells beauty products from historical recipes of different centuries, but you know, without lead and stuff XD
  
  Yeah, I'm a fashion history nerd, in case you haven't noticed.

I like the comments u/goodbyereckless made - if you are wondering why in the world do people spend all this time and effort doing makeup I would agree that it is to accentuate the features of ourselves we like best. For instance, I have freckles so I try to use a foundation that does not cover them up. Sometimes this gets tricky when I have redness from pimples, but I like my freckles to show through so I use a foundation with less coverage than others (BB Cream, BareMinerals powder foundation).

I like my eyes - blue with yellow in the middle so sometimes they can look green - and I like to choose colors for eyeshadow that accentuate my eyes. Browns can look very natural and day to day and they make blue eyes pop. Purples can be a little more fun and really bring out the green part of my eyes. You can use eyeliner to define your eye more, but you don't have to. In fact, one of my favorite looks is just to use dark shadow in place of eyeliner - it looks a little softer for everyday.

My go to look if I don't have lots of time is foundation, setting powder (ELF HD Powder - $6), a little blush and some mascara. Ooh and I'm a chapstick addict, but I try to also have on a MLBB (My Lips But Better - something your lip color but maybe just a shade deeper or pinker whatever you find yourself preferring) so that I don't look very pale in the morning. And if you want something to look at with some good tips and a very real world sense about makeup I really enjoyed the book Bobbi Brown Beauty when I was younger and a little more clueless about what is important about makeup.

I don't think 19 is too young at all! I think I started wearing liquid foundation around 15 to cover up acne and stuff. The best way to go about it is to get to your local Sephora or a drug store and try out some colors with the help of a sales assistant and try them out on your skin. Bobbi Brown wrote Bobbi Brown Beauty where she talks about testing the colors by going outside and looking at them in the sunlight to make sure you get one that's a perfect match before buying. She says to absolutely not let the sales staff talk you out of this test, it's the best way to know if the color is truly perfect for you. Foundation is a great way to build self confidence and cover up imperfections. Good luck!

Not exactly what you're asking for, but I found The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant fascinating. It really made me think differently about what I wear and why I wear it.
From Amazon: "The Thoughtful Dresser celebrates the pleasure of adornment and is an elegant meditation on our relationship with what we wear and the significance of clothes as the most intimate but also public expressions of our identity."

When I was younger my parents never really kept me from makeup which I think was very smart on their part. I was able to experiment without going over the top for the thrill of it being "taboo". I have tried a lot of different foundations - liquid, mousse, and bare minerals which I am currently favoring since my skin has evened out a bit past my teen years and I am liking a more natural look in my day to day. I tried liquid liner when I was younger and that took a long time to be successful with. I have played with a lot of different color palates, but I feel like I look best when simply enhancing my natural features. One book I really enjoyed on this topic was Bobbi Brown Beauty, it has a lot of great tips for people of all ages.

Hello! Welcome to RAOA :D

Oooh soaps! That's awesome. Do you have a website or anything where you sell your soaps? I've seen Dead sea mud in soap, but never thought about how someone who wants to make it would obtain some >_> maybe this? or here's some Pink Himalayan Salt.

This book and this seem interesting.

I thought this was funny :3 and here's a badass cat!

I watched this video a long time ago and it's my favorite (:

Thanks for the awesome contest :D

Trish McEvoy. It’s a little pricey but well worth the money. She still oversees her whole company and is very involved with the day to day business. Her husband is a dermatologist. She has amazing skincare products and most of her cosmetic products also have skin benefits. When I worked in cosmetics she taught me that our focus was educating clients while they are in your chair. Too often in cosmetics a client sits down and gets their makeup done and will purchase a couple of products only to get home to realize they either don’t know how it was used, it wasn’t the product they thought it was, it’s not as simple as it seemed, or they already have a similar product.

While working for Trish McEvoy we really put the focus on our client and getting to know the person in our chair to have a better understanding of the look that they are going for and how much time they want to spend getting ready. From there, I give my client a mirror so they can watch while I walked them through how to do each step. Usually I do one side and teach them how do the other so if you take any products home you know exactly how to use them.

She has a book The Power Of Makeup it is a really fun and informative.

Sorry probably more information than you were looking for😂

I bought this book for my Christmas present, and I can say that the book helped me out. Here is what it says for the acne skin type:

INGREDIENT AND DIET/LIFESTYLE RECOMMENDATIONS

Cleansers: sulfate-free gel cleansers

Exfoliators: fruit enzymes, glycolic or lactic acids (so basically a fruit or yogurt mask)

Hydrators/Moisturizers: oil-free formulations with aloe vera, hyaluronic acid

Ingredients that reduce oil/acne: phytic acid, salicylic acid, tea-tree oil, benzoyl peroxide, sulfur, clay masks, vitamin A

Avoid certain occlusives: mineral oil, petrolatum, coconut oil

Topical antibiotics if necessary: clindamycin, erythromycin

Diet: reduce saturated fats; avoid dairy, nonorganic meats, white sugar, and white flour; increase fiber; drink eight to ten glasses of water a day

Supplements: probiotics, vitamin A, zinc, cleansing herbs (burdock, dandelion)

Reduce stress, exercise

TREATMENTS

Regular facials, every 3 to 4 weeks

*LED phototherapy (alternating blue and red light) - be sure to look for a practitioner who will provide exfoliation before placing you under the lights, for increased efficacy

^Please do not scrub too hard if you have blemishes! You can break them open and spread bacteria. Let the enzymes do the work

I didn't do the antibiotics or the phototherapy, but you can do your own facials at home! They take less than an hour and help out a lot. Dandelion tea tastes nutty, but I like drinking it every night. I hope I helped a little. If you have any questions for me, I am willing to answer. :)

All of these are on loan from my library network and on Amazon.

Coming to My Senses; A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bride, by Alyssa Harad. The book that got me into this. An account of how author got into it, recommended for those interested in niche.

What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life Avery Gilbert

Scent and Subversion: Decoding A Century Of Provocative Perfume by Barbera Herman



Fragrant; The Secret Life of Scent Mandy Aftel. Author trivia; before Aftel was a perfumer, she was a psychotherapist.

A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman.

The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell Author Luca Turin explores the two competing theories of smell. Is scent determined by molecular shape or molecular vibrations? 




Available sometime in June I believe, the new edition of The Perfume Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez will be available.

Here's some goodness from Instagram from Mandy Aftel

Do not ever pay for magazines!!!! There are a few ways to get most of the popular magazines online for free you just have to make a new email and sacrifice it for spam. Seriously google it for 15 minutes you will have more magazines then you can dream.

Also, I don’t know if you’re familiar with PurseForum but you should check it out. #pursejunkie haha

There’s a book I have bought but haven’t read yet The Thoughtful Dresser that might interest you.

There's been some interesting work on relating structure to scent. Have you read Luca Turin's book? People think he's nuts, but it's an interesting theory…

edited to add:

Here's an Amazon link to the book: The Secret of Scent

The TL;DR version of the theory goes something like this:
Turin believes that there is an as-yet undiscovered mechanism in the smelling apparatus, that does the equivalent of spectroscopic analysis on molecules that are inhaled. This is opposed to the standard receptor model, which posits that you've got more-standard nerve receptors that are keyed to particular molecular shapes.

The evidence he presents includes a bunch of molecules that have the same scent, while having radically-different structure - like organometallic compounds that mell like phenols, despite having no ring structure.

My university has been running a project for a few years now, led by Professor Danny Miller, entitled The Global Denim Project and its aim is understand the phenomenon of denim, its enduring presence in global fashion and how different cultures interact with the fabric on a day-to-day basis. It's a really cool project, so check it out! It's got links to other projects related to denim as well.

For those with access to a university network, here is the original paper that inspired the project. For those who cannot see more than the abstract, the project page linked above provides a good synopsis.

It accompanies the book he wrote on the subject, Blue Jeans: The Art of the Ordinary if anyone is interested in that, too.

I'm sorry that I cannot directly answer your question, I feel it is perhaps a lot more multi-faceted that we think, but I hope that the links above can point you in the right direct and may be of interest!

Edit: I realise that the links I have provided, and the approaches discussed in them, are anthropological rather than historical so not directly helpful for OP. That said, the question itself relies more on anthropology than history. There isn't a singular narrative or specific cause as to why we see denim in every country throughout the world and have done for decades. It's the result of numerous cultures interacting over time.

Welcome! I hope you have a good time here. I think we are pretty swell. An autobiography of a famous drag queen is pretty outrageous.

Hey thanks for sharing, just added some of your items into my wishlist! :)
This one (Man Up!: 367 Classic Skills for the Modern Guy) looks great, I am getting it today hehe.

As Rupaul says " You are not your skin color. You are not your gender, your politics, your career, or your marital status. You are none of the superficial things that this world deems important. The real you is the energy force that created the entire universe!" These are the words of one of the most inspirational and loving people on earth. Workin it - by Rupaul

I'm not too sure if it'd help, but I was reminded of this book -> http://www.amazon.com/Deploy-that-Fabric-Projects-Military/dp/160705244X

I've never used the stuff before, so I'm not really sure how to answer, but I imagine if worse comes to worse, that book may have some answers for you. Either way, good luck! I love those sorts of projects. :) Can't wait to see!

full or half windsor are fine for most situations.

85 ways to tie a tie is actually a pretty good book. Wow it's so pricey now.

I can't remember where, possibly Workin' It, I read that apparently Mathu has a knack for the symmetry/proportions of faces. Ru said something like that Mathu would just be able to look at someone's painted mug and be able to say like, 'Do this more..' 'Fix that..' etc. That talent, applied to wigs, pretty much.

While I know a lot of anthropologists working on this topic, they're all young scholars who don't have books out yet, and I don't know the field well enough to recommend the books that are out. What I can tell you is that John Bowen's work on Islam in France has been popular among public intellectuals there (see Why the French Don't Like Headscarves and Can Islam Be French?). His current research is on Sharia law in Britain and he's already got a book out on that too (On British Islam).

the bangs are really great. wear some more makeup. try different looks. bobbi brown has some great books for makeup advice:

http://www.amazon.com/Bobbi-Brown-Beauty/dp/0060929766

Honestly, you don't really need acne cleansers. Skin Rules, wrote by a dermatologist, basically said just stick with gentle cleansers such as CeraVe hydrating cleanser or Neutrogena extra gentle cleanser. Most cleansers especially acne cleansers are very stripping and can cause acne.

Back more than a decade ago I learned a lot of the basics from a book called "Beauty" by Bobbi Brown and then later I filled in a lot of the gaps with YouTube tutorials.

https://www.amazon.com/Bobbi-Brown-Beauty/dp/0060929766

That said you don't have to wear makeup all the time to look awesome. I'm 30 and I wear makeup maybe once a week and a full face of makeup maybe once a month. Looking good is more about hair and clothes than makeup for me.

I've used and like Alterations and Repairs, and Easy, Easier, Easiest Tailoring as far as resources go, but nothing will teach you tailoring better than simply doing it.

Pick up some cheap clothes at Goodwill (so the fear of "ruining" the garment doesn't paralyze you) and dive in. Yes, you will make mistakes. We all do. But that's part of learning!

Putting darts into blouses and pants is probably the most important and most common tailoring technique, aside from hemming. This no-tie finish for darts literally changed my life.

I'm agnostic and from the West - but why do we completely dismiss the possibility that perhaps (some of) these women wear hijabs/burkhas et al by choice? And not because of coercion from outside, misogynistic sources? What if they feel that it's a way of expressing themselves and participating/holding onto their culture?

Edit: If you have the time/the money/the desire, you may want to consider reading this book.

It was in the curriculum for one of my upper level history courses called "Church and State."

Wow, atrueamateur, way to be a buzzkill. Once OP learns the basics of cutting on grain and assembling with the machine, there is no reason why you can't try a simple unlined jacket. There are a ton of patterns out there for these kinds of jackets. Look at sewingpatterns.com and search on jackets. Don't try it without a pattern, and buy the pattern according to your measurements, not your RTW size. Once you get a little practice, you can look at on-line sources for instruction and at a book called Easy, Easier, Easiest Tailoring from http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Easier-Easiest-Tailoring-Palmer/dp/0935278095/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396641608&sr=8-1&keywords=easy+easier+easiest+tailoring It's old but the basics are there and the authors really demystify what atrueamateur is talking about. Go fo it!

While I normally wouldn't recommend a book, I bought this one and I found it awesome:

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Up-Classic-Skills-Modern/dp/157965391X

1.) Done! I fucking love Queen <3

2.) "Drop of a hat she's as willing as.
Playful as a pussy cat.
Then momentarily out of action,
Temporarily out of gas,
To absolutely drive you wild, wild..
She's all out to get you.

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime"

3.) Stuff and Things

4.) A Night of Queen

5.) !!!!!!

6.) My favorite type of queen because they're as bitchy as I am

What's on your scent to-try list right now?

I think it was this one? I read/skimmed several. Lol.
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Scent-Adventures-Perfume-Science/dp/0061133841/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WSYNFTMAVV3G5A7B82SQ

Per 85 ways to Tie a Tie, the four in hand knot is not symmetrical.

In France, the notion of citizen / citizenship, secularism ("laïcité"), and the "Public" have specific, important components that are often poorly understood by non-French. It is something worth reading about.

Seriously? You're not going to find the answer to that question here. It takes a lifetime, sweetie.

Take a page from my new book...

Bobby Brown Beauty is a classic book on both skincare and makeup. Don't be fooled by the book's age (1998); her tips are timeless and extremely applicable.

1. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159240328X/ref=oh_o04_s01_i00_details
   
2. http://www.amazon.com/GENTLEMAN-TIMELESS-GUIDE-FASHION-Ullmann/dp/3833152702/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3TPPWDLACPI4Z&colid=FLC5W5OOSQLF
   
3. http://www.amazon.com/Esquire-The-Handbook-Style-Looking/dp/1588167461/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3HOO0657RWPLF&colid=FLC5W5OOSQLF
   
4. http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I32MMPCIUV1D2I&colid=FLC5W5OOSQLF

Gentleman: A Timeless Guide To Fashion by Bernhard Roetzel.

> Out of curiosity, how many knot options are there for tying a tie?

85.

Here are other, less-expensive tie-related resources.

The definitive book on tying your tie was written by a physicist. Here it is: The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie: The Science and Aesthetics of Tie Knots.