Australian Style

Style is better than beauty, brains, breeding and billions in the bank. Style cannot be bought, sold or bartered, but it can be acquired, so long as you know where to look.

Style writers and watchers Melissa Penfold and Jenny Tabakoff reveal the secrets of the seriously stylish and show you how to be fabulous at everything you do, from getting your clothes right to throwing the perfect dinner party. Discover how style and great manners work their magic everywhere, from the boardroom to the bedroom.

Learn the secrets that will help you make a great first impression, pull a house together (even on a shoestring), find the perfect present, get the job or the man of your dreams - and dump bores at parties without them even noticing. The perfect guide to transforming your life without having to spend a fortune.

The following is an extract from this book: Introduction

How to Have Ultimate Style

Most of us know how to live, but not how to live well. We might have the money, but we don't have the know-how. We know how to spend, but not how to shop. We know how to cook, but not how to entertain; how to put on clothes, but not how to dress; how to furnish a room, but not how to decorate; how to write and speak, but not how to get what we want; how to be a tourist, but not how to travel. There is a world of difference between the two – and the difference is style.

Style is better than beauty, brains, breeding and billions in the bank. If you want to live well, style is as essential as breathing, and it's never too late to acquire it. If you were an unloved baby, the kid whose name was never called for the tennis team, the awkward teenager who was never asked for a dance, or the adult who never quite got their life together, start now.

Style is as redemptive as religion. Everything is forgiven, you don't have to be rich, and every day is an opportunity for a fresh start. It will transform every aspect of your life and change how others view you– and how you see yourself.

No more money is required than what you have now. You'll simply learn to get things right first time, have the confidence to make grand gestures, and get by with fewer but better things.

Personal style is what makes the greatest icons of any era. Think of Coco Chanel, the Duchess of Windsor, Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana. Without their individual style, those women might have been nothing. Coco Chanel could easily have been a pushy saleswoman in a suburban dress shop, and the Duchess of Windsor the sort of desiccated woman you sometimes see behind a library desk. Jacqueline Kennedy could have been content to be a trophy wife. Princess Diana might have been just another Sloane Ranger. But add a dash of style and they count among the most memorable women of the last century.

Now you're ready to join them.