Reviewing Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It

these-modern-times:

Let me start off this review by saying that I love studying fashion. I don’t have a degree in fashion studies but I own a vast collection of fashion books on designers, exhibitions, history, and various dictionaries and topics. I visit every fashion exhibition the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute holds. In grad school I wrote a 20 page paper on technology in fashion exhibitions and another paper on the conservation of a Worth of Paris dress from the late 1800s in a museum I used to volunteer at. Also, I was this close to applying to FIT for their Collections Management program to learn how to handle and care for clothing in museum collections but that school ain’t cheap. Needless to say, I love fashion. I’m not trendy nor do I religiously read fashion magazines. I just have a deep appreciation for the subject and how clothing can make people feel. 

Since I love fashion and Grace Helbig is my favorite YouTuber (and all around human being), what could be more perfect for me than her second book Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It? I’ll tell you what, NOTHING! 

Grace & Style can probably be looked at as Grace’s thoughtful, silly and hilarious love letter to clothes, makeup, and whatever style is. The book is, obviously, not academic and boring like a lot of fashion books (well, like the ones I tend to read anyway) it’s entertaining and so much fun. I love the way she writes about handbags and bad hair days and how to make them work, and the different types of people who wear different types of jeans. Grace’s fashion writing is never mean or off putting it just has that great sharp, sarcastic, quick witted bite her fans know and love. 

Like her first book Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-Up, Grace & Style is honest (literally right from the first page) and never once takes itself too seriously (there’s a sentence that contains “ass ripping fart”. Hands down the best sentence in a fashion book I’ve ever read). Grace told us how we can pretend to be grown-ups and now she tells us how we can pretend to have the grace to pull off clothing and style and look like we have our shit together. 

Ever since I became a fan of Grace’s I’ve looked up to her sense of fashion… or sometimes lack thereof. I feel like I finally found someone who lives for living in sweatpants and tee shirts (my weekend outfit is a pair of blue sweatpants and Grace’s No You Got Dressed in the Dark sweatshirt) and scouring the Internet all day, yet seems to like getting dressed up occasionally for events and parties just like I do. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I related to Grace’s struggle of wanting clothes from Limited Too. That store growing up was my siren call that I could never afford. I also know exactly  how Grace must have felt when she was told she could buy one thing in the store for her birthday because my grandma did the same for me one year and it was glorious (I think I got a button down short sleeve shirt and it lasted me a really long time until I grew out of it). And I remember when the store Deb was around. Ah, the memories of growing up and shopping in the late 90s/early 00s. 

With fashion books and magazines telling us what must go together and what you must wear for different occasions and events, it’s refreshing to have Grace tell us what works for her and how she wears things.

I loved reading where Grace gets her clothing inspirations from and how she makes those inspirations work for her. She tells us what has worked or does work for her with clothing, shoes, accessories, and makeup she is not telling us what we must use or wear. She’s still figuring all this fashion stuff out too. If there is a message to Grace & Style it could be to be comfortable in the clothing, shoes, makeup, and accessories that work for you not what everyone tells you is what “works”. 

For the first time reading a fashion book I didn’t feel ashamed, as silly and awful as that may sound, of the types of clothes I wear in everyday life and of the styles of clothes I like. I feel proud about being an awkward human being who loves fashion but needs comfort more just like Grace does. You can tell that Grace is very passionate about fashion on every page which in turn makes the book that much more fun and enjoyable to read. Every bit of style guidance from Grace is genuine and that is what makes Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It an absolute stand out among fashion books as well as a book every girl should have in their collection and one of my all time favorites. 

Thank you for such a lovely review!