Closet Essentials: 60 Core Pieces and How to Wear Them

by Amber McNaught

When your style is timeless, you’re always on trend—learn how to incorporate these sixty chic classics into your wardrobe.Fashion trends may come and go, but timeless pieces can look chic in every season with the right kind of style. Closet Essentials reveals the secrets of styling sixty of these wardrobe essentials—from the Breton striped top to the little black dress, bomber jacket, jeans, ballet flats, and more—into endless outfits, perfect for any event. With five different ways to style each item and advice for casual, work, vacation, evening, and special occasions, plus fashion illustrations that make each style easy to replicate, this is a must-have guide for every woman, from the sophisticated fashionista to the fashion-challenged and everyone in between.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion

490 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2017

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A great book with a lot of pictures showing how clothes can be stylishly worn in different ways to create new looks. Great for the clotheshorse.

[Duckpondwithoutducks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the drawings in this book, showing five different ways of styling one item- for example, if you have an a-line skirt you could wear it with a knotted button-up shirt and pumps; or with a t-shirt, statement necklace and gladiator sandals; or with a striped top, jean jacket and open-toe wedges. There were a lot of interesting outfit ideas in those drawings, but the actual pictures were uninspiring. Hardly any of the models were wearing any jewelry or other interesting accessories, which made the pictures rather bland.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads and when I first received it thought it was 'too young' for me. I figured I would pass it along to the girls.

However, once I started looking through it, I had to give it a second look.

Closet Essentials by Amber McNaught is a good read for all ages.

With a two-page layout for most of the basic clothing styles you can find, from ballet flats, denim jackets, A-line skirts, she leads you to some very interesting combinations I would not think of. And they look good.

Believe me, no one who knows me would ever accuse me of being concerned with what I wear, both inside and outside the house. And in a day when the trend is toward minimalism and capsule wardrobes, there is a ton of no-nonsense tips on how to combine the most basic of wardrobes into something a step above.

Now I'm going to have to relook at my closet with a different attitude and see what new combinations I can make out of what I have.




Note: I received this book as part of the Goodreads giveaway for my honest review.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up to 3.5–While the models appear to be in their twenties, Closet Essentials: 60 Core Pieces to Wear Any Time, Any Place, Any Where is a book that might appeal to a woman of any age who is interested in different ways to wear items in her own wardrobe. I enjoyed the author’s humor: “But how on earth are you supposed to wear it, without looking like it’s laundry day and you’re all out of options?” Most of all, I appreciated the historical background of various pieces of clothing. For example, I learned that the 7th Earl of Cardigan gave his name to the sweater I love and it originally was a woolen waistcoat worn by British soldiers during the Crimean War. Did you know the cardigan was made fashionable by Coco Chanel? “She didn’t like how sweaters messed up her hair when she pulled them on”!

[Am Y · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book gives illustrations of each of the "core pieces" mentioned (e.g. mini skirt, pencil skirt, tank top, etc), paired in 6-7 (can't remember exactly) different ways (e.g. sleeveless top + mini skirt; t-shirt + mini skirt; denim jacket + mini skirt, etc etc), which was useful. But then you start to realise something: anything can be paired with anything else in any way. (o_O)

So, you don't really need this book - you just need to know: any of the core pieces can go with anything else (which you essentially find out after trawling through the entire book and seeing the same combos again and again and again), and there aren't really any rules to follow, except how good it looks on you.

[Bussola Vespucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from staring skeptically at "60" and "core" being next to each other, I really like this book.
Especially since it realizes most people are probably buying on some sort of budget, and makes actually useful suggestions for doing so (I have seen 'every woman needs a Hermes' scarf' in a wardrobe book before).
I also really like how it shows multiple different ways to ware each piece that it talks about.
This book is a great resource for wardrobe curating.

[Chelsey Cosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love the drawings in this book, highlighting the essential item. The colours are ridiculously bold, but the primary palette is ... well, a palette cleanser. This is not a Nabokov novel, by no means, but when I was merely idly flipping on a Sunday afternoon, I got exactly what I wanted for thirty minutes. For anyone with minimalist capsule wardrobe aspirations and a Type-A personality that demands lists and lots of 'em, this is a read for you.

[C Mccloud · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book is helpful I think it’s good for girls around 20 years old. Otherwise the information is just basic and unhelpful.

[Jess Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

[Elisabeth Valienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book with good advice, though the style definitely was one individuals. It didn't seem to have a huge range.

[Willow Rankin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book about closet essentials was just ok.
If you bought every piece of clothing mentioned in this book, I don't think you would be the most stylish person in the room, but you would have a wardrobe of interchangeable items that could fit with most styles.
Personally, I find any style book to ignore that not everyone looks good in camel (honestly it makes me look like I am ill), and describes a camel coat as a basic, does not much about styling for different skin tones and colouring.
There is no mention of different body sizes, and all of the drawings of the outfit ideas are done on a skinny model.
What I did like, was that each piece, for example Skinny Jeans, has five different images, and five different ways of wearing the item, usually with other pieces throughout the book.
For me, the over arching downside is less about personal style, and more a shopping list on particular items.