Book Review: Expressionista: How to Express Your True Self Through (and Despite) Fashion

Expressionista: How to Express Your True Self Through (and Despite) Fashion. Jackie Walker and Pamela Dittmer McKuen. New York: Aladdin (Imprint of Simon & Schuster), September 3, 2013, Trade Paperback, 224 pages.

Reviewed by Vicky Edwards.           

To write a fashion book for adolescent and teen girls at a time when we are aware of their need for reassurance and not criticism may seem at odds. After all, doesn’t the concept of giving girls advice about how to be fashionable correlate with telling them they don’t look quite right just the way they are?

Not necessarily. “Expressionista” manages to bridge the divide between helping girls to develop a sense of personal style and letting them know they are just fine regardless of how they look or what they wear. If they want to emulate Taylor Swift, have at it! If they’d prefer the drama of Lady Gaga, that’s just fine too.

Take, for example, the introduction to this recently published book by Jackie Walker and Pamela Dittmer McKuen. “This book doesn’t want to change you at all,” they write, “but it will change the way you think about yourself.” The authors successfully manage to maintain the philosophy that “You’re OK” throughout the book, and they also encourage readers to remember that “Others are OK too,” regardless of what outfits people wear or what accessories they choose.

“Expressionista” is replete with quizzes, quote boxes, illustrations, lists, and pop culture examples from Kim Kardashian to Miss Piggy. The affirmations of celebrities are sprinkled throughout the text to remind girls that, as Zooey Deschanel is quoted, “It’s all about finding your own beauty, not wishing you look like someone else.”

A series of quizzes help girls to determine their style: classic, natural, romantic, dramatic or trendy. Even though categories are determined, the authors remind the readers that creative expression means, “Nobody fits exactly into one type.”  

Once the fundamentals about style personas are established, the book offers advice on basic wardrobe needs, shopping strategies, and “closetology” to help them to organize and keep their clothing and accessories easy to find. “Closet math” tells them that a basic eight pieces of clothing mixed and matched can give them over three weeks of outfits. Additional options like scarves, jewelry and even keeping a jacket open vs. buttoned reinforce their advice that it is economically possible to look like a million bucks on far less than that amount of money.

“Expressionista” is subtitled “How to Express Your True Self Through (and Despite) Fashion,” and is a worthy addition to a girls’ bookshelf. For most pre-teens and teens, the clothing they wear is important; however, the book’s words and graphic boxes continually remind them that fashion is never as important as being nice. “Talk to the new kids” may be advice shared in the book that has absolutely nothing to do with fashion, but it has everything to do with reminding readers—who are at a vulnerable age—that those around them feel vulnerable too.

Jackie Walker is a fashion consultant and seminar leader. She co-authored the adult book “I Don’t Have a Thing to Wear.” Pamela Dittmer McKuen is a fashion and feature writer for magazines and newspapers. She is also an adjunct journalism professor at Columbia College in Chicago.