Nina Garcia's Look Book What to Wear for Every Occasion

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Introduction

Work
Power Chic: What to Wear to a Job Interview
Start Strong: What to Wear on the First Day of Work
Honoring Tuesday: What to Wear on the Average Workday
Gal Friday: What to Wear on Casual Friday
Showtime Chic: What to Wear to an Important Meeting or
Presentation
Material Girl: What to Wear When Asking for a Raise
Work and Play: What to Wear to an Office Party
The Sweatpants Trap: What to Wear When You Work from
Home
Come Fly with Me: What to Wear on a Business Trip

Dating
Coquette 101: What to Wear on a First Date
And the Beat Goes On: What to Wear on a Casual Date (or
Any Date After the First Date)
Ode to Cozy: What to Wear for a Netflix Night In
Love Hurts—Style Shouldn’t: What to Wear When You Break
Up with Your Boyfriend
Shopping Around: What to Wear on a Blind Date
From Heartache to Heartbreaker: What to Wear After You’ve
Been Cruelly Dumped
The New Crew: What to Wear to Meet Your New Boyfriend’s
Friends
 Staking Claim: What to Wear to Meet Your Boyfriend’s Ex
The Moment of Impact: What to Wear When Meeting Your
Significant Other’s Parents
Kid-Friendly Style: What to Wear When Meeting Your
Significant Other’s Children

Day
Task Mistress: What to Wear for a Day of Errands
Details for Retail: What to Wear When Shopping
“Do” the Right Thing: What to Wear When You Are Getting
Your Hair Done
Going Green: What to Wear When You’re Gardening
For the People: What to Wear When You’re Volunteering
Style Sessions: What to Wear to Therapy
Over Easy: What to Wear for Brunch with the Girls

Night
Enchanté: What to Wear to a Cocktail Party
Bon Appétit, My Sweet: What to Wear to a Black-Tie Dinner
Curtains Up: What to Wear to a Broadway Play
The Gallery Crawl: What to Wear to an Art Opening
Bordeaux Baby: What to Wear to a Wine Tasting
Glam Rock: What to Wear to a Rock Concert
La Vogue Bohème: What to Wear to the Opera
Smoke and Mirrors: What to Wear to a Club—Comedy, Jazz,
Magic . . .
Style in Motion: What to Wear to Go Dancing

Holidays
Style Resolution: What to Wear to a New Year’s Eve Party
Hangover Chic: What to Wear to New Year’s Day Brunch
 Reality Bites: What to Wear If You’re Single on Valentine’s
Day
Love-In: What to Wear to Valentine’s Dinner with a
Significant Other
Spring Has Sprung: What to Wear for Easter Dinner
Let My People Glow: What to Wear to a Passover Seder
Weekend Warrior: What to Wear on Memorial Day and Labor
Day
Patriotic Panache: What to Wear to a Fourth of July Picnic
Pure Style: What to Wear for Rosh Hashanah
Costume Drama: What to Wear for Halloween
Autumnal Chic: What to Wear to Host Thanksgiving Dinner
Talking Turkey: What to Wear for Thanksgiving with Your In-
Laws (or Boyfriend’s Family)
Gelt Glamour: What to Wear for Hanukkah
Santa Baby: What to Wear When You’re Hosting Christmas
Dare to Dazzle: What to Wear for Christmas with the In-Laws
(or Boyfriend’s Family)

Life Events
Special Delivery: How to Pack a Hospital Bag for Your
Baby’s Birth
Who’s Your Daddy?: What to Wear to Meet a Potential
Surrogate
Sweet Chic: What to Wear to a Baby Shower
Baby Bliss: What to Wear to a Baby Ceremony
Cool in School: What to Wear to a Parent/Teacher Meeting
Just Do It: What to Wear to Your Child’s Sporting Event/Play
Youth Gone Wild: What to Wear to Chaperone a School
Dance
Pomp and Circumstance: What to Wear to Your Child’s
Graduation
 Objection, Your Honor: What to Wear to Jury Duty
Good Mourning: What to Wear to a Funeral

Weddings
Spoken For: What to Wear to Your Engagement Party
Last Whirl with the Girls: What to Wear to Your Bachelorette
Party
Ladies Who Lunch: What to Wear to a Bridal Shower
Love Is in the Wear: What to Wear to a Rehearsal Dinner
To Honor and Adorn: What to Wear to a Black-Tie Wedding
A Fine Romance: What to Wear to a Casual Wedding
Matriarchal Chic: What to Wear to Your Daughter’s Wedding

Dream Travel: Chic Transit and Stylish Adventuring

Hair: A Glossary
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Praise for Nina Garcia’s LOOK BOOK
Also by Nina Garcia and Illustrated by Ruben Toledo
Copyright
 Introduction

Know first who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.
EPICTETUS

One of the most magical places on earth is a small island in the Caribbean
called Mustique. With brilliant beaches, warm water, and lush vegetation,
this tiny green swath of land is my idea of paradise. I go there to
decompress from the frenetic pace of New York City and all the necessary
and unnecessary pressures I place on myself at work and in life.
It was on Mustique that the genesis of this book took place, sparked by
a conversation I overheard while lounging late one morning under an
umbrella by the beach. I was reading a novel that wasn’t nearly as
interesting as the dialogue taking place between two women sitting near
me. I couldn’t see them and wouldn’t have known they were there were it
not for their animated discussion, their tempers on the brink of flaring the
way they sometimes can when women are at odds. The older woman, whom
I presumed to be the mother (I met her later at the hotel bar and confirmed
this), was scolding her daughter about the merits of dressing appropriately
now that she had graduated from college.
“You can’t go around wearing sandals and jeans 24/7 anymore,” the
older woman almost barked. “Every occasion requires thought about how
you look. You know this.”
“But I didn’t think I looked bad,” her daughter whined.
“You can’t tell me there aren’t jobs out there after I ask what you wore
to the interview and you tell me you put on those jeans!”
Oh dear, I thought. Jeans to a job interview. She didn’t.
I instantly thought of my own mother, a beacon of elegance who would
have threatened me with incarceration for that kind of transgression. In
Colombia, where I was born and raised, women like my mother considered
their appearance and personal grooming a matter of principle. There was
never an occasion where she didn’t show up looking picture-perfect.
Although I was supposed to be “on vacation” and far away from all
things job related, I could not help thinking how this exact sort of
conversation was probably taking place between mothers and daughters
around the globe. From Delaware to Düsseldorf, I could almost hear the sea
of mothers and daughters, each up in arms about the other’s recurring faux
pas. Frustrated moms eager to vanquish tattered T-shirts, torn jeans, dirty
sneakers, and old flip-flops in a bonfire of oblivion. Desperate daughters
insisting they will “literally die of embarrassment” if their mothers look too
dowdy or, worse, continue raiding their daughters’ closets for skintight
jeans and microminis in misguided last-ditch attempts to regain the
rebelliousness of their youth.
Then I thought about my girlfriends. I thought of the hundreds, if not
thousands, of calls I field from them (and they from me) a couple of hours
before we meet for an event, each and every call boiling down to the same
question, repeated over and over: “What Should I Wear?!” Everyone has
made that call, had that conversation, and wailed this question—what to
wear to a rock concert, a first date, a funeral, or a Yankees game, a trade
convention, or even to brunch with each other!

I don’t do fashion, I am fashion.

I firmly believe that 90 percent of the confusion that women feel when
they are attempting to put together an occasion-specific ensemble is caused
by fear: fear of breaking the “fashion rules,” fear of violating some long-
forgotten tradition, or the basic fear of looking bad. However, any
undertaking based on fear is likely to fail—or, at the very least, it won’t be
much fun. And style is all about fun. Getting dressed for an occasion should
not induce anxiety. It should be an exciting challenge to communicate who
YOU are to the world, without saying a word. The most fabulous style
icons are those women who know what the rules are and have the
confidence to ignore them, push things to the edge, and yet flawlessly keep
within the confines of what’s appropriate.
Overbearing, too-stringent rules are the enemy of true style. But there
are clues, contexts, and a fashion language that exists in any given
situation. We’ve probably all heard the cliché “There is a right time and
right place for everything.” This is completely true for matters of style.
Each moment calls for a different stylistic essence and a different sense of
impact, and mastery of this balance is an art form—a very learnable art
form. The key to style success is knowing what this essence is, and
knowing how to effortlessly communicate in the language of fashion. You
don’t have to be fluent, but you want to be understood.
Take, for example, one of my least favorite fashion rules: the precept
that no woman over the age of twenty-nine should wear a skirt shorter than
two inches above the knee. Ridiculous! If you’ve got it, flaunt it, no matter
your age. However, it’s equally important to know in what context to flaunt
it. If you meet someone for the first time and while she’s talking to you,
you’re wondering why a person would wear a micromini skirt and knee-
high boots to her son’s soccer game, well, she might be a fascinating,
quirky, intelligent woman; she may be up for a Nobel Prize; she may be a
classically trained French pastry chef; or she could be the most loyal friend
in the world (once you get to know her), but many people (including you)
will never bother to try. They will dismiss her at hello. Making a good
impression is about understanding boundaries, communication, social
savvy, and my favorite factor: knowing thyself—and then translating the
unstoppable force of YOU into the style language of every event and
occasion you grace with your presence.

A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as

This book will lead you through the fashion lingo for some of life’s
basic occasions to ensure that your ensemble is always a flawless
representation of you. You’ll learn how to be appropriate without being
prudish, creative without being too zany, and confident without being
overbearing. Obviously, I could not include every single life event in this
one volume. I pared the list to some of life’s biggies; to the situations that
cause most of our fashion stress. I’ve offered advice on the social graces of
an occasion, factoids that have helped focus me and give me confidence
throughout the years. The outfits I suggest for each situation are just that,
suggestions. I’ve given you my ideal ensemble to illustrate each look, but I
never want you to forget that really authentic style comes from within, and
you must always remain stylistically true to yourself. Don’t be afraid to add
your own flair to my recommendations. Fearlessness is integral to
innovation. Just remember that whatever you wear, wear it with sublime
confidence.
Life is dynamic, ever changing, and fluid; so too must our sense of
style move and evolve. Every one of us should constantly be honing our
style skills and adjusting them to a changing audience. I’m always acutely
aware of what I’m wearing and who will be seeing me in it. Believe me—
there’s pressure when you’re deciding what to wear to a meeting with an
iconic fashion designer or a member of the press. It can be terrifying. But
instead of panicking, I stop, take a deep breath, and remember that I speak
“fashion.” And by the time you have read this book, you’ll be able to speak
the language of fashion too, at all the key moments of your life. True style
is not about having a closet full of expensive and beautiful things, it is
instead about knowing when, where, and how to utilize your collection.
Whether you’re more Lady Gaga or more Lady Bird Johnson, there is
always “just the right thing” for you to wear, anywhere. Your job, with my
help, is to figure out what that is.
Work
 Power Chic

What to Wear to a Job Interview

There is no better way to start the Look Book than with the question we’ve
all asked ourselves: What should I wear to a job interview? This, along with
first dates, which we will, of course, explore later, is the mother of all first
impressions, a minuscule slice of time when a potential employer gets a
peek at your essence. Especially now, when competition is fierce and the
stakes are higher, it is critical that you consider not only what you will say
to impress your interviewer and sell yourself, but also how you will look
the minute you walk into that office. Who will the employer see? How will
that make her feel about you as a colleague? The smallest detail can set you
apart from your competition. It’s essential that you appear professional,
capable, and confident without going overboard. Extremes of any kind are
an absolute no-no. Your wardrobe should complement your skill set, never
detract (or distract) from your assets. You want your ensemble to say, “I
have good judgment, I am extremely competent, I am socially adept, and
you are a true visionary if you choose to hire me.”
It’s a tall order to live up to, but I have faith in you.

You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.