Book Review: Capture Your Style

The new social media bible for fashionistas

Before we make our morning coffee, before we rummage through our wardrobe, even before we pry ourselves out of bed, many of us take a quick scroll through our Instagram feed.

If you are interested in fashion, décor, food or travel then you may even be one of Aimee Song’s 4 million followers. The blogger, designer, and social media icon released her first book, Capture Your Style, last month and it brilliantly tapped into a topic that many young women have been dying to learn more about: How to up your Instagame.

Filled with tips, examples, and beautiful photos Song’s book is an easy read that makes a lot of sense to the subculture of millennial style bloggers, entrepreneurs, and frequent #ootd (outfit of the day) posters. If you do fit into that target audience, but you haven’t heard of Song then the foreword by Diane Von Furstenberg successfully gives the book some credibility as well.

If you don’t know how to best utilize a hashtag, geotag, or mention and if you don’t know how to take the perfect shoe selfie or tell a story with your grid then Song has you covered. From the basic concept of choosing a handle (username) to more complex tactics of making money through your posts, this book is useful for people who have been on Instagram for three days or three years.

There were a few low quality images that although the subject of the photo complemented the text well, they were too blurry and it through off the vibe of the overall book (which talks a lot about taking high quality images). Using images like that in such a clean and visually appealing book should have been avoided and it would have made the book that much better.

When comparing this book to other blogger publications such as Michelle Phan’s Makeup: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success—Online and Off and Lauren Conrad’s Style it clearly takes on the same target audience with the same formula of a popular social media personality guiding young women on how to best showcase their style. What makes Song’s book different than the others is that it has a more specific focus—Instagram.

Unlike the best selling book #GirlBoss by Sophia Amoroso, Song’s book is less about her personal life and journey to success (although the book does use some of her own experiences and travels as examples) and is more of a practical how-to book than a philosophical life guide. It is because of this specificity and unique approach that Song’s new paperback is able to stand out in a sea of style icon produced books with beautiful aesthetics.

If you are not that concerned with the quality or number of likes on your Instagram photos then you will definitely get bored with the multiple sections dedicated solely to lighting and background selection. But, if you are curious about how often you should post foodporn or what photography apps Song uses to craft a post worthy of thousands of likes (the process involves four different apps by the way) then you will benefit from reading Capture Your Style.

Some of the other interesting topics that are covered include composing a good flat lay (a group of arranged items that follow a theme, shot from an overhead view) avoiding Instagram clichés and even using Instagram as an interactive map to explore new travel destinations. If any of those tactical methods are of interest to you then this book is a must-read.

You can purchase the book on Amazon and it’s currently on sale for $12.16. You can also check out her awesome blog, Song of Style.

What did you think of the book?

xoxo, Kayla

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