The Cheap Date Guide to Style

POSTED BY Morgan Hungerford, 18 April 2008

Cheap Date is a now-defunct British fashion mag that championed both a total commitment to anti-fashion and a "wear what you want" aesthetic. The print magazine had a too-short run in the early 2000s, but (lucky for us!) its thrift-espousing spirit has been reinstated in the form of the US release of The Cheap Date Guide to Style.

The book is an eclectic mix of photo collages, mini-interviews, and the most offbeat of style breakdowns; a section on fashion "classics" includes such excellent pieces as the kung fu shoe, the beret, and "anything." How can you not be a fan already?? Authors (and former Cheap Date editors) Kira Jolliffe and Bay Garnett have done a bang-up job of stressing the importance of personal style and their fashion icons are as diverse as Anita Pallenberg and Beth Ditto. Readers of ThreadBanger will love the sections on alterations and thrifting, but for my money the most compelling parts of the book are the interviews and collections of quotes regarding fashion and style. Tastemakers from Zac Posen to Miss Piggy throw their two cents in throughout the guide, but my favorite piece of advice is dispensed by style icon Anna Piaggi: "I think one should be completely relaxed, and a little bit off, asymmetric. Like building a geometric frame then destroying it." It is, perhaps, the perfect suggestion for a style guide dedicated to renowned fashion eccentrics George Melly and Isabella Blow.

For more of a feel for Cheap Date and their opposition to "fashion tyranny," check out the details of their attempted 2004 "Fashion Strike" at the last vestiges of the website, CheapDateMagazine.com; for a little more on the guide itself check out the great reviews at both bits and bobbins and Style Bubble.