Disclosure: The book “A Passion for Fashion” was sent to me for review. The post is not endorsed by Post Hill Press nor Nick Verreos. I wrote the review entirely on my own and it represents my own 100% honest opinion.
- Introduction of Nick Verreos‘ book A Passion for Fashion
- Review of Nick’s book
- Why every fashionista or stylish woman should read his book
- Other great fashion subjects covered by “A Passion for Fashion”
- Price-performance Ratio of a Passion for Fashion
- Further Reviews of Books Written by Fashion Experts
Introduction of Nick Verreos‘ book A Passion for Fashion
Fans of Project Runway know Nick Verreos as one of the contestants in the second run of this reality TV show. He is also an instructor for fashion sketching at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM). He recently wrote a book with David Paul entitled A Passion for Fashion – Achieving your Fashion Dreams One Thread at a Time to help (young) fashion interested people to prepare for admission into fashion school.
For this audience, the book will be an excellent reality check, whether or not fashion is a career path that is right for them. Reading his book may save them many dollars in student loans as the book will help them to avoid studying something of which they had a wrong perception. A fashion career is not always red carpet, glam and jet set, and a pathway for becoming famous (and rich). Any career in fashion is about hard work with long work hours, ambition, willingness to life-long learning, and being a multi-talent in all branches of fashion industry from designing sketching, sewing, over marketing and running a business, just to mention a few essential aspects for survival, i.e. making a living.
Nick discusses various fashion career paths and provides excellent career advice. A must-read for anyone dreaming and/or about or tempted by a fashion career.
Review of Nick’s book
In his book, Nick Verreos teaches making fashion sketches, inspiration boards, preparing application material, among other things. Like many great modern educators, he uses his own experience and mistakes to teach how things have to be done right. He provides step-by-step explanations with reasons why to do it this way. He promotes activity-based learning using how-to tips. These tips help (potential) fashion students to prepare themselves for admission and success in fashion school by applying and practicing needed skills.
Nick Verreos also points out how mistakes look like, which helps the students to identify that they are doing something wrong, and to improve fast.
Being an educator myself, I like that he also documents how his own skills have developed and improved over time. Doing so encourages students that continuous practice is a pre-requisite to success and everybody can achieve their goals when they commit to work on what it takes to achieve them. It also well illustrates that even when you are already good at something that there is always room for improvement and learning. Nobody is born as a know-it-all, and talent is never enough, nor sufficient.
Why Every Fashionista or Stylish Woman Should Read His Book
His examples of mistakes are of great value for every fashionista and stylish woman even when they do not want to attend fashion school. The examples namely show how ill fitting clothes look like. Thus, when you learn how a good sketch of a jacket collar for instance has to look, you can use this knowledge when you shop for a new jacket. When your collar hits the right proportions on your body you will get the fit right, and you will automatically look awesome in that said jacket.
Other Great Fashion Subjects Covered by “A Passion for Fashion”
As pointed out above, Nick covers also how to make an inspiration board. When you are in search for your own signature style, an inspiration board is a great starting point to learn who you are, and what is so you.
Among other, he teaches on the power and pitfalls of the press, and the importance of knowing the business hierarchy and the job related skills, and necessity to have great mentors and to invest in networking. These points are of value in any job field and business, and hence read-worthy.
Price-Performance Ratio of a Passion for Fashion
Of course, whether a book is worth its price always depends on what the reader does with the material covered by the book. I think it has extreme value beyond its original intend. The reader can use the correct sketches and his tips as cheat sheets to look for the right fit when shopping. His discussion of the characteristics and behavior of various fabrics help to make educated decisions when shopping for your closet to achieve the effect you want (e.g. hiding bumps and lumps, highlighting the waist, etc.). For my own money, I definitively would buy the book.
A Passion for Fashion was published by Post Hill Press. It is available as hard copy and e-book. Read it! You can connect with Nick Verreos on his website accounts if you like.
Further Reviews of Books Written by Fashion Experts
You may also be interested in my reviews of Paul Wharton’s book Pulling It All Together or of Patricia Gucci’s book In the Name of Gucci.
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