I read this in one sitting – probably not even an hour. It’s a basic overview of the houseparty concept, which was semi-helpful. Gave some resources for me to check out. There were things I did not agree with, but no fundraiser does things exactly the same as another. I was mostly interested to see that there wasn’t something I was forgetting and it seems that there wasn’t, so that’s good.
I can’t remember why this was on my To Read list. It’s a very basic primer on how to manage money and all that. I think I could have written a more practical approach, but then lots of people think they can write books and can’t It’s good if you’re a young woman, just starting out, with no real idea of how to manage money. Of course, if you’re like most young women, you’re going to ignore the advice anyway.
This was a quick and easy read, definitely for the novice decorator. It was $3.99 in the bargain shelves at Barnes & Nobles, though, so it was okay.
Last night, I went to Target. I was looking for a platform bed that they had on the internet and I was hopeful I could get it locally. I could not but then I wandered around looking at other things. I went to my usual Target Aisles: bedding, cosmetics, skin care, and books. I bought a makeup bag to corral my lipgloss, blotting papers and brush in my work totebag and Gorgeously Green.
I almost didn’t buy it because I saw it in one of those health food store advertorial magazines and I generally think those are full of nonsense.
Let me tell you: half the book is highlighted with Things I Must Remember. I’m sure it will take me a while to incorporate them all – or even half of them – in to my daily life but I will. There were also a lot of websites where you can buy things and we all know how much I love an internet shopping “trip.”
The thing about Uliano is that she isn’t preachy and she isn’t “all or nothing.” For example, while I agree that using plastic or glass dishes is better than Styrofoam, I am not taking my Tupperware to D & W and asking them to put my sandwich in that. Or my pasta salad or whatever. Maybe someday I will but not now. I’m also not going to stop flying to cool places for vacations and I’m not quite ready to give up my plan to go on a cruise with my sister. Uliano understands that we aren’t all going to Go Granola. Of course, now I also have a new vacation destination, entirely thanks to Uliano: an Eco-Spa!
There were other things that thrilled me that I had no idea existed. For example, Woman’s Wonder Bar, which are chocolate candy bars that are supposed to help with PMS and menopause. I am so going to that website and buying some. Eco-friendly poop bags since I must clean up the presents Peggy Sue leaves for the world. There are free ringtones you can download that sound like nature: the mating call of a whale, an owl hooting, various birds. All kinds of things. Sadly, I have to go to the Sprint store to figure out how to actually download them since I couldn’t get a Sprint customer service operator whose first language was English but that’s beside the point. I can’t wait! There is a nonprofit who will take your partially used antibiotics, antifungals, etc and distribute them to developing countries. That’s pretty cool.
I can’t tell you how many websites are highlighted so I can buy more eco-friendly clothes, shoes, bedding, etc. I am going to check out a wool bed and wool pillows as well as bamboo sheets. Who knows? I may really love them. I have always been one who prefers fewer things that I love than lots of only mediocre things, so that they are more expensive won’t seem so bad in the long run.
There are 8 chapters, each covering a different area of life. The chapters are:
I bet you’ll find some ways that you can live a more eco-friendly life without driving yourself nuts or becoming one of the Granola Brigade. (Though there *is* a recipe for granola that looks yummy!) You’ll likely find some things you never considered and each small change adds up to a big difference.
I don’t know if you’ll take the advice in this book, but you should read it. How can you not read a book buy a gay British guy who both impersonates Queen Elizabeth and quotes Flava Flav?
Okay, some of the advice you shouldn’t take. Ignore the permission to wear “a gold leotard with your lesbian aunt Sylvia’s mauve nylon fanny pack.” Unless you live in NYC, people will talk about you and not in a good way. At least they will if you live in Southwest Michigan.
Still, Doonan is hilarious. I laughed out loud several times and that’s not normally true of fashion books. Okay, not true of any books, but most fashion books take themselves so seriously.
Lest we be overwhelmed with possibility, Doonan assures us that there are only 3 basic types of glamorous eccentric: the Gypsy, the Socialite and the Existentialist. It’s true that as I think of women I know who tend to be “eccentric”, they do generally fit the stereotype of one of those three.
Interspersed with stories and interviews with Glamorous Eccentrics is bits of advice, some of which I might actually take. For example: I collect handbags, totebags, etc as I’m always in search of the perfect bag. Doonan thinks that a woman – at least a Glamour Eccentric, one of which I think I am not, should only have one great bag that she takes everywhere. He encourages a person to buy the Hermes Birkin bag they are coveting. That is advice I might take! Of course, chances are good I’ll buy a knock off first and see if I really like that style, etc before I save up TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS to buy one of the damned things. Still, I covet that bag.
Doonan is kind to his reader. He reminds the reader that you are a work in progress and to be patient with oneself.
These are some of the things that made me laugh: (they are all direct quotes from the book.)
Not directly quoted, but still funny, his idea of working on your relationship is to come up with games so that you get the hostility you feel towards your partner out before they become big hostility. He recommends 3: Soothing or Annoying?, Concerto and Talking Through the Hamster. Soothing or Annoying? involves on person doing something clearly annoying to the other while saying “Soothing or annoying?” The other partner tries to pretend it’s soothing to have, say, a dessert spoon tapped on your head, for as long as they can. Then the other partner gets to choose their own form of torture. In Concerto, play some form of music and use your partner’s face as instruments: ie tweak noses, etc. In Talking Through the Hamster, no hamster actually need be involved, just a pet of some sort. For example, if your partner is gaining weight and you want to tell them so without saying it yourself, the next time they reach into the freezer for an ice cream sandwich, your “pet” will say something like “Paging Richard Simmons!” at which point you can step in and “castigate the impudent beast” by saying something like “who knew Chihuahuas had such a mouth on them!” then “caution the pet that any further outbursts will result in a withholding of tomorrow’s treats.”
That last part particularly cracked me up as a) I have a Chihuahua and b) she does have a mouth on her. Or as my sister would say after she has gotten the dog in trouble, “Hey. I can’t help it if your dog’s a wiseass.” In my family, we LOVE to talk for the dog! Peggy Sue has her own little sayings. Such as “Guilty!” which was shamelessly stolen from Janelle in Steel Magnolias. Peggy Sue is also fond of calling and leaving me messages on my voicemail whenever she is in the care of her Tia Madrigada. Peggy Sue loves to call and recount her mistreatment at the hands of her Clearly Evil Tia. (“Tia” for those of you who don’t speak Spanish means “aunt” and being a Chihuahua, clearly Peggy’s first language is Spanish. Her real name is “Margarita Susana” but that’s too hard for Americans to say, thus Peggy Sue.)
I digress. There are other bits of true wisdom that would be helpful to all of us, regardless of whether we are glamorous or eccentric. Sadly, I suspect I’m neither. For example, “alluring” is not cheap & tawdry. To paraphrase Doonan, it’s timeless, it’s beautiful and sensual. Alluring is “irresistible charm, which ever fails to mesmerize the viewer, regardless of gender.”
A quote from Iman that I love:
Simon Doonan asks: Do men think you’re hot?
Iman responds: I know they do – especially the ones with good taste!
I can’t decide if this is a “fashion book” or a “self-help book” but it’s definitely an entertaining book and I highly recommend it.
Despite opinions to the contrary, I am not high maintenance. According to Charla Krupp, I am medium maintenance on most things and low maintenance (!) on others. Ha!
Of all the fashion books I’ve read of late (and there have been several!) this is, by far, the best. Krupp is practical and informative, she gives “real world” examples that even those of us who live in the Midwest can follow. Well, all except for that “go barelegged even in the winter” thing. Anyone who lives in Michigan and goes barelegged in winter would a)freeze and b)cause people to wonder about her. But not in a good way.
Krupp writes this book in an entertaining, but serious, manner. None of that flippy “Oh, we all know appearance *really* doesn’t matter” business. She is one of the few who recognizes – and says – that appearance DOES matter. If not to your mate, then to the rest of the world. People make judgements about you based on your appearance, so you might as well have a good one. Take work, for example. Men can “age gracefully” but women do better if they look younger. There are many examples of this, but let’s look at newscaster. Diane Sawyer is till blond, still young looking. Her male counterparts? Who cares if their hair is gray? It may not be “fair” but it is a reality. Let’s not ignore it.
Since we aren’t ignoring it, Krupp explains all about “maintenance” and what a woman needs to do. Okay, “needs” is a strong word. You may decide you don’t need to do any of this, but if that’s the case, you probably will just skip the book anyway. In each area, she explains the high-, medium- and low-maintenance versions. You find yourself on the continuum, which may be different in some areas, and there is your blueprint. She encourages you to modify, modify, modify to make it work for you.
There is none of that awful advice often given to women older than 40. Only wear long sleeves no matter how hot it is, for example. (I honestly read that in another book and I just couldn’t stand it. In Michigan, in summer, anyone wearing long sleeves would look ridiculous. Not a look a woman wants!) She talks about how to adapt fashion trends to suit you. Helpful.
As with most books of this sort, you should take what you like and ignore the rest. Not everything is for everyone but at the very least you’ll leave this book knowing what it is you’re ignoring!
This was not really what I was looking for but if you’ve never planned an event or meeting before, this would be a good resource.
I agree with most of the published reviews: this is just a rehash of what’s been in the magazine. Still, there were good bits. I wrote down her “Facial 101″ and, if I ever remember to do it, I’ll follow those directions.
If you haven’t been reading Allure faithfully or if you just want a review, this book is okay. Nothing really new and I would have been mad if I’d bought it rather than getting it at the library.
When Fabulosity came out back in 2006, there were several comments on amazon and other places about how vapid it was, how trite, how it was all about how to look “hip hop” and blah blah blah. I didn’t read it then for some reason, but it’s been on my list, mostly because I am a fan of Kimora.
I got it from the library and I’d definitely put this on the list of books that a young woman should read. Sure, if you’re an adult who has learned all this stuff, it’s going to seem simplistic. There are a lot of young women who haven’t and that’s who Kimora’s market is.
I did find some useful things, though, and I’m definitely an adult woman. It wasn’t so much things I didn’t know, but things that were a good reminder. She had useful things for a person new to the work world that I’ll bet no one else has told them. It may seem evident to a person who has been working for a while but not if you’re new.
Kimora’s basic message is dream big and you can achieve it. It might not be *her* life that you aspire to but whatever it is, you can work toward it and probably get it.
While I am a Grammar Girl as well as a Glamour Girl, I never thought a book entirely about punctuation would be funny.
It is.
I can not give you examples since I do not have the book with me but trust me. It’s funny. For example, she can not imagine how on Earth someone could get to adulthood and NOT know that an apostrophe + an “s” makes things possessive rather than plural. For that alone, I’d love her.
You should read this. Really you should.
