Put on Your Pearls Girls

Fashion designer Guinness has come up with a nifty acronym for remembering how to dress and act in life: PEARLS, which stands for ""poised, elegant, attractive, radiant, ladylike, sophisticated."" This hybrid self-help handbook and fashion advice guide centered around that theme is long on cute illustrations and short on original advice, but lovers of Guinness's feminine, 1950s style won't mind. Whimsical text flows across most pages, imparting life wisdom (""beauty comes from the heart-not a jar""; ""be who you were meant to be-not who others think you ought to be""; ""trust your instinct""; ""follow your dreams"") and style tips (""emphasize your favourite sic features""; ""powder your nose""; ""create a style that is uniquely yours-don't be a slave to fashion""). Although cliches like ""there are days when only chocolate will hit the spot, but before you eat the whole box, remember-a moment on the lips is a lifetime on the hips"" don't do much to hook readers in; what does captivate are Welch's adorable drawings of a dark-haired woman (presumably Guinness) living it up in black dresses, heels and, of course, pearls. These charming illustrations alone will make readers want to breeze through life with style and graceful optimism.