Simon & Schuster slipped Lauren Weisberger’s Everyone Worth Knowing into the gift bags at Melinda-Mae Harlington‘s fashion show.

This book was amusing, but I did not find it satisfying. The story is not over the top enough to be camp or believable enough to identify with. The main character Bette drifts through the story without ambition or spunk. She is obviously wrong for PR from the beginning.

The author makes an effort to show a bit of the art of PR, but predictably, PR plays the villain. There are so many vivid characters and interesting conflicts in the world of public relations, I wish Weisberger had taken better advantage of the material.

P.S. The one really satisfying moment in this novel was the outing of an anonymous gossip blogger. :)

You know you have arrived as a fashion blogger when you start getting books in the mail. The first of these little affirmations arrived in my mailbox six weeks ago, and as promised, here is the late review.

The Collection by Gioia Diliberto is a historical novel set in Paris after World War I. It follows the fortunes of a seamstress named Isabelle and features a cast of characters both fictional and historical, most notably that of Gabrielle Chanel, whose character needs no introduction for readers here.

For fashionophiles like myself this book is an easy read. We get to nod knowingly at appearances of Boy Capel, Poirot, Vionnet, and other notable members of the fashion firmament. Chanel is a wonderful character in a literary sense and Diliberto brings her to life faithfully. The book does well at setting the broader tone and background of the times. The descriptions of the ateliers are fascinating, if the descriptions of the actual sewing are too vague to be satisfying for readers who do sew.

Still, I am left with the feeling that as a novel it would be tedious for those not obsessed with fashion history. The main characters are treated somewhat formally and are hard to feel close to. This might be because the story is told from the first person by a character who is somewhat taciturn. As a reader I was left wishing for something more but could not quite put my finger on what was missing. This made for an unsatisfying finish from a narrative sense.

From the perspective of someone who loves fashion and fashion history, this book was definitely enjoyable. The bibliography at the back is a treasure trove of further reading once the curiousity for the era and characters are reignited by the atmosphere and detail of the novel.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The late review comes after I read a book long after everyone else has read it, and I write a small review. This time Anita from I want – I got lent me the book.

Fashion Babylon, by Imogen Edwards Jones is glorious ball of fashion myth and trash talk, and it is all extra true.

Featuring much improbable innuendo that confirms fashion’s terrible reputation, this piece of fiction is told with that breathtaking, casual hyperbole that all of us fashion people are experts at.

Someone not familiar with the industry might be wondering if we are all like this. The answer is that our quirks vary in detail, but on average, yes we are like this.

The main character somehow manages to be the sum of the worst traits of designers in general. Many of the good traits of designers that I know of did not make it into this book.

There is a lack of empathy for either the characters or even fashion itself. It may be that the anonymous narrator is more self-deprecating than objective; or because good traits are too old fashioned for modern chick lit.

That is it for the late review… stay tuned for a later review of The Collection by Gioia Diliberto, that will be posted after I have read it.