How to wear your wardrobe, according to bloggers

What advice can style bloggers offer, aside from how to soulfully peer at a camera while a self-timer tick-tocks in the background?

In Style Yourself, a tome centered on “advice inspired by the world’s top fashion bloggers,” the blogger is the authority. Featuring counsel from international names like Tavi of Style Rookie, Susie Lau of Style Bubble, Nadia Sarwar of Frou Frou and Shini Park of Park & Cube, Style Yourself approaches the wardrobe like an architectural plan, with helpful (yet also ridiculously obvious) tips, like Wardrobe Builders, a chart of items that every woman should own. The list includes: tops and shirts, jeans, shorts and skirts. Go figure.

The book’s approach is to assume the reader is an alien unaware of the fact that she requires a party dress and work-appropriate frocks in her arsenal, as well as outerwear, like coats, cardigans etc., to protect her from the elements during the colder seasons.

Even more ridiculous: the remix demonstrated by bloggers on how to wear one item in three different ways. Like a cape, essentially a garment that defeats the notion of clothing as a multitasking device — it is, after all, a large bulky item that cannot be layered or shortened — which is worn in three iterations that look almost exactly the same, except paired underneath with shorts, cropped trousers and jeans. Not exactly the fault of the bloggers modeling the items. The concept is a little laughable, and more than a little silly.

But that is what is funny — and, ultimately, charming — about this book. It doesn’t so much take on an authoritative tone but instead bears the mantle of a close friend’s wacky personality with a mental disorder or two. “Look at me wearing these shorts over tights!” “Now look at me wear it with a cape!”

Where the book excels is its friendly voice particularly when introducing bloggers who don’t enjoy the same popularity as, say, Jane Aldridge of Sea of Shoes who wrote the foreword to the tome.

One standout is Funeka Ngwevela of The Quirky Stylista, a Johannesburg native who bears a slight resemblance to her icon Grace Jones. Ngwevela strives for a brave and bold aesthetic, which makes itself apparent in her distinctive use of print and color. Well-spoken with an eye for style that is all her own, she is lightyears away from many of the other bloggers who could easily be categorized as girly fluff. “Regular ingredients of my looks,” she writes, “are non-conformity, female empowerment and tough sophistication.”

Discoveries like Ngwevela make the book worth a read. And if you need advice on how to stock your closet or wear a cape, then this is precisely what you need on your bedside table.

Shop wise

Who better to give advice on shopping than people devoted to sharing their recent purchases online? Style Yourself offers advice on how to hit the shops and get enough blog-worthy bang for your buck.

1. Inventory

Take a good look at your closet and split it into three groups: donate, sell, keep. If the clothes no longer fit or you haven’t worn them in a few months, then it’s time for them to hit the give-away bin to make room for clothes you do wear.

2. Make a list.

And check it twice. The key to shopping is to decide what you need before you leave home. Accessories for the cocktail dress you’re wearing to the next work function? Shapewear for the strapless ensemble you’re sporting at your merciless cousin’s beach wedding? Something fabulous for your birthday bash? Note it, so you won’t be distracted by something shiny at the checkout counter.

3. Discipline is key.

Stick to your shopping plan and resist unneeded items. Keep your money where your list is so you don’t end up leaving the mall with bags of stuff you don’t need.

4. Work with what you’ve got.

Perhaps the wisest advice we’ve come across. Look for pieces that will work with what you already own. The best way to expand a wardrobe is to find things that work well together.

5. Don’t be afraid to leave empty-handed.

An empty shopping bag only means you were wise enough to save your money for a worthwhile purchase — and not the section of your closet you’ve internally labeled, “Now why did I buy that?”

6. The only opinion that counts…

…is your own. At the end of the day, you’ll be sporting whatever you purchased. Take your friends’ — and the salespeople’s — advice with a grain of salt.