reviewed by me for you: showing your colors
i love libraries! whenever i have time, i love to go to the local library and peruse the stacks.
my favorite library sections to cruise? the craft section (which contains the knitting, crochet, sewing, and fiber art books) and the fashion section (including tomes on style, fashion history, and the like), and the art, photography, science and history sections too. i especially love the older books (pre-1990s) because they often give a fun peek into the cultural and aesthetic norms of the somewhat-recent and sometimes not so recent past. i look at my local library (or libraries as the case my be) as a terrific an extension of my own personal book collection, there for the borrowing and sharing.
i’m really bad too: i always end up checking out huge stacks of books, intending to gluttonously OD on knowledge, and i struggle to get them home as a result! it’s quite a funny sight, i’m sure, with me nearly dragging my stack along behind me and cursing myself because of the tremendous weight pulling down on my shoulders and back.
i think that we’re so lucky to have libraries, really! they are undeniably a rich resource at our fingertips, ready to enrich our minds for *nothing*. thus proving the adage: some of the best things in life are free.
on my last library visit, i found this great 80s book, showing your colors: a designers guide to coordinating your wardrobe by jeanne allen, in the style section.
as one might guess, it’s all about coordinating the colors in one’s wardrobe. it talks about the mixing of colors, the feeling said colors give off alone or when used in conjunction with other colors.
it’s really a fun way to see at a glance how colors sit with one another on the body in different proportions, and can help one ferret out interesting, unexpected pairings that might be fun to take for a stylistic spin.
suffice it to say: awesomeness overload for a color junkie like myself! worth a flick if you can find it at your local library.
September 1 2007 | Posted in book peeks, fashion musing, this inspires me!
September 1 2007 at 10:46 pm
botticellivenusMore library fun!!
Back in the dark ages librarians used to be given smocks to protect their clothes from dust, these librarians found a whole stash and are modelling them here for you. I love, love, love the hairy guy in the rainbow floral number.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cclstaff/
September 2 2007 at 9:36 am
jenniferi have tons of books, and i have read nearly all of them, and loved lots and hated some, and i recently realized all i’m doing is hoarding the books. i’ve always loved libraries, but so many complain about them in that the necessary books are often absent, no one can turn anything in on time, and the hours can be odd. and so, i’m getting together a library collective in my town. i will donate nearly all of my books to that, and people will be able to take any book they please, at no cost, with no return date, so long as they leave a book in its place. clever, aye? i like the community building through sharing aspect, and the idea of purging all of these shelves of books.
however… i just have to find a place to host it. people are hard to get in touch with!
September 2 2007 at 11:11 am
KaitYou are not alone in checking out too many books to carry. It’s hard to have a weakness for big art books when you realize that it’s hard to carry five home at a time!
You described the appeal of the library so well: free and an extension of my own library….I just realized that the suburban public library I went to as a kid was probably where I first realized that everyone did not dress the way people around me did. That book looks so awesome…I love that it seems to show every possible color combination, not just someone’s idea of the “right” ones.
September 4 2007 at 4:22 pm
GemmaJust found your blog through another. I was almost floored, I have that book!!!!!, purchased in the ’80s in Japan. A wonderful little book and this is the first time I’ve seen it other than in my bookshelf.
I hope to revisit.