Robertson's Reads
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
From fashion historian Jonathan Walford comes a comprehensive look at the evolution of footwear through the last four centuries. An amazing history book, The Seductive Shoe features a chronological rundown of unique and relatively unknown details on how shoe design changed with world circumstances. Walford elaborates on changes in shoe production, and how certain shoe styles were originally developed.
Overflowing with vivid photographs (which I think are reminiscent of Bata Shoe Museum’s shoe calendar), this book is an essential footwear glossary and great reference work for aspiring designers and shoe collectors. It also features a fairly well documentated appendix, lisiting popular designer names, though this appendix could have catered to lesser known names.
I certainly recommend The Seductive Shoe for every female; who doesn’t love shoes? It would make an excellent coffee table book, though most readers will have a hard time putting it down.
The Seductive Shoe: Four Centuries of Fashion Footwear by Jonathan Walford, $30.24, Amazon.ca
Robertson's Reads - Biographies / Style Icons
She is perhaps my favourite example of a fashion icon: Diana.
She exuded effortless elegance in every ensemble she wore, and that elegance is examined thoroughly in Diana Style through photos, commentary, and interviews with designers and her closest confidantes.
A beautiful follow-up to Audrey Style by Pamela Clarke, author Colin McDowell has created a delightful chronological history of Diana’s style evolution. His commentary — as well as the contributions of several designers — are both helpful and informative.
My favourite features in the book include the detailed drawings — straight from the designers of some of Diana’s famous and most-loved gowns — and intimate photographs. They’re inspirational, to the say the least, just like the woman was herself.
Diana Style by Colin McDowell, $25.17, Amazon.ca
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