Robertson's Reads
Robertson's Reads - Biographies / Style Icons
At first I was skeptical when I started reading Kelly Cutrone's book, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You, because I really didn't think I could glean a whole lot of information from this hardcover that would be applicable to my own journey. So, I picked it up to read more as a form of entertainment than enlightenment.
Consider me corrected, and pleasantly surprised. Within the first two pages, I found myself hooked. This book reads so easily, and though I've already heard much of what Cutrone has to say, her voice is what kept me reading. She's brutally honest, completely outspoken, and totally inspiring. Whether she's sharing about her fancy-free first years in New York City, or about her professional prowess and how she climbed the corporate ladder to create and control one of the world's most powerful PR firms - and first-ever fashion PR firm, wha! - Cutrone delivers an untraditional and entirely refreshing guide to self-confidence and success.
If You Have to Cry, Go Outside is broken down into 9 relatively short chapters, each of which contains honest and often-humourous anecdotes and footnotes, and the occasional list (with catchy titles such as "Everything Good Happens After 30"). At the end of the book is a fantastic Q&A called "Kelly Cutrone Speaks" where the woman herself answers some serious and not-so-serious questions sent in by fans.
Definitely my favourite how-to book for 2010 (and yes, I'm aware it's only May), Kelly Cutrone's If You Have to Cry, Go Outside is an inspired guide to self-styled, sweet success - no matter what your career field of choice.
If You Have to Cry, Go Outside by Kelly Cutrone, $18.50 CDN, Amazon
Robertson's Reads - Biographies / Style Icons
Remember the Eames chair from Frasier?
Sit back in your own and have a read through Charles & Ray Eames: Pioneers of Mid-Century Modernism. It covers the lives of the dynamic design duo from their earliest designs through to their contribution to film.
What I love about Charles and Ray wasn't just their tale of true love. I also love the fact that this power couple had such an intense, explosive spark for architecture and design - these two made MAGIC together! From the Eames house and the Eames chair, to their work in such films as Banana Leaf and Powers of Ten, Charles and Ray Eames were two gifted individuals.
The book includes a detailed history as well as drawings and exclusive photos.
A worthy read.
Charles & Ray Eames: 1907-1978, 1912-1988 Pioneers of Mid-Century Modernism
Robertson's Reads - Biographies / Style Icons
While I've not yet read either, I'm eager to turn the pages of Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom and What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. These books come in at nine and ten (respectively) on my Christmas wish list this year.
Have a Little Faith is Albom's first nonfiction work since his first big bestseller Tuesdays With Morrie. I'll let you know exactly how it reads, but so far I've heard only amazing things about it.
What the Dog Saw is a compilation of Gladwell's best writing from his days at The New Yorker. He says in the preface that "good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head." And the stories in this book are supposed to just that.
Check back in the new year for my reviews of these and more Robertson's Reads...
Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom, $16.49, Chapters
What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell, $19.24, Chapters
Though not as orderly or thorough as some fashion history books, Winifred Gallagher does a stellar job of looking at the handbag through a pair of Tom Ford shades from a variety of perspectives.
She includes fun and thoughtful interviews with style gurus like Candy Pratts-Price and Ellen Goldstein-Lynch, asking questions that I’d personally probe given the chance. And unlike some q and a’s in fashion books today, this guide reads like a juicy novella, full of tips and tricks to finding the perfect bag.
From Chanel to Hermes, Gallagher does her insightful duty researching why ‘it’ bags are on the arms of the world’s most powerful women, and why these women choose to carry the bags they do.
The perfect pick-up read to carry in your purse.
It’s in the Bag, by: Winifred Gallagher, $15.72, amazon.ca
There are few things I enjoy as much as fashion.
Excepting, perhaps, looking through photographs that depict near-perfect examples of it.
Check this treasury of portraits, quotes, and personal style from Pascal Morche. Morche's A Year in Fashion is nothing if not inspiring.
Who knew getting dressed could be so much fun?
A Year in Fashion
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