As Carrie and Danielle tell us in their manifesto of style, “Style matters. The design of your life can inspire or mire you. Every aesthetic and material choice sends a message to the world about who you are, and the world responds accordingly.” I think Nina Garcia must have read Style Statement before writing The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own. Garcia (of Project Runway fame) knows the importance of style, and she wants you to know, too.

In The One Hundred, Garcia sets out to identify THE one hundred essential pieces in a stylish wardrobe. The idea was born not only from the fact that Garcia is a style editor, and “what are the essential pieces” is the one question she is always asked, but also from an apartment renovation. While her apartment is being renovated, Garcia has been living in a transient place a few blocks away, and once in a while she braves the plastic, dust, and construction equipment to sneak into her closet to grab a few things. She realized over time that the things she would go back for were her “essential” items.

Garcia is quick and astute to point out that these one hundred pieces are her one hundred pieces, and that the list should be modified as needed. She writes, “Style is a deeply personal expression of who you are, and every time you dress, you are asserting part of yourself…Thus, if you are not altering each or some of the items on this list to suit your personal style, you are not playing the game correctly or for your benefit.” In each of the 100 entries, Garcia offers up a few variations, and often stresses the idea of personalization. She is so adamant about making the list your own, that I’m surprised she didn’t move to have the book renamed. The subtitle is actually a little unfortunate. A Guide to the Pieces EVERY Stylish Woman MUST Own? Something tells me “every” and “must” were points of contention.

All in all, the vast majority of the pieces included are very sensible and highly adaptable to almost any body shape and personal style. Garcia has done a great job of including not only the thing that makes the piece an essential, but also how to wear it, when to splurge or scrimp, how to get the most bang for your buck, where to get it, and a few fun facts and history blurbs. It’s infinitely fun to read, and I found the list to be largely common sense. While I found several ideas I hadn’t thought of before, the list somehow makes perfect sense. I can carry Garcia’s advice with me without literally carrying the book in my shopping bag. The advice is easy to remember, and it’s wonderful advice to have while shopping.

However, Garcia included a few pieces that just will not make it to my list of one hundred must-haves. Me in a caftan? Only in an alternate universe, I’m afraid. However, the points Garcia lost for including “caftan” she regained and then some when she warned readers in her “Old Concert T-shirt” entry that wearing the t-shirt of a band you don’t actually listen to is one of the most uncool things you can do. Ever. She had me at “concert.”

To be perfectly honest, Garcia could have included 100 variations of the caftan and nothing else, and I’d still love this book, if only for Ruben Toledo’s illustrations. The art in this book is truly fantastic. It’s lush, chic, vibrant, hip, and perfectly divine. Every time I turned the page, I had trouble deciding if I wanted to lick the page, tear it out and frame it, or rush the thing down to my tattoo artist and have the images emblazoned all over my arms. Forget movie star style icons…I want to be a Ruben Toledo drawing!