This is a great photo-montage of 25 fashion icons, including their past and present style, closets, jewelry boxes and general lives. I had a hard time getting through the interviews of the women I didn't actually know about but I enjoyed the saturated photos and collages on every page.
Here are my notes:
1. Lea Michele - I totally didn't recognized her as the Glee star I'm obsessed with in this great gown. However, she mentions her stylist a few times in the interview which lends me to believe she is given more credit than she deserves in the fashion world at the moment.
2. Erin Wasson - She is way too messy and somewhat lazy for me to relate to. She also loves to display real art next to crap and I can't really respect that. I moved through her article quickly.
3. Padma Lakshmi - Love her! I would kill for her jewelry collection. I also love that she "commemorates everything with jewelry and food" as these are my two favorite things.
4. Fergie - She is very eclectic but no matter what look she's wearing it always seems 'rich'.
5. Anjelica Huston - She's so evil and I love her in every movie, ever. She sticks to a simple and crisp look that I can respect even though I think it is a little boring.
6. Ashley Greene - She doesn't look a thing like her Twilight character! She's still figuring her style out but I love the looks they did talk about in the book.
7. Tracee Ellis Ross - She is very colorful in a great 70's way and definitely has her own style.
8. Christina Hendricks - BOOBS. That's all I have to say. But really, she tells it like it is: they're there and you can't hide them. She sticks with figure flattering, classic and simple. she definitely dresses like Joan but more updated. God she is beautiful.
9. Diane Von Furstenberg - Love her saturated prints. I also love that she designs dresses that "Showcase the woman." She is so confident in her style and career and I an very enviable of her.
10. Olivia Wilde - Very chic/hippie style. I love most of her pieces but it's just not sparkly enough for me.
11. Estelle - I don't agree with any of her choices with she definitely has a point of view - architectural shapes and glitter on everything.
12. Yvonne Force Villareal - I was really bored by this article. The only interesting thing is that she wears lycra cat suits under everything, which is how I feel about leggings. I love in those (in my house, not outside so much). Don't get me started on her weird art collection.
13. Margherita Missoni - It's great that she wears Missoni about 90% of the time. I know I only want to be photographed in my own designs so I don't really understand why a designer would wear any other name.
14. Katherine Pope - Good for her for being so powerful and all that but her clothes really bored me! It's all about chic office wear, day and night, office and red carpet. Too cookie cutter.
15. Dita Von Teese - She doesn't usually keep her clothes on but god she is beautiful so who cares. It seems her 'accessory' is make up. Her face is perfect! However, I would be so incredibly bored only wearing clothes from one era with all her strict rules. I need more freedom than that to be inspired.
16. Kate mara - Yey redheads! However, her pretty-preppy-pink style bores and sometimes grosses me out. Maybe it's just her culture up north but I feel like preps are just trying too hard and I want them to stop.
17. Alicia Keys - All I could think about was "man she has amazing hair." If I had to have dark curly hair I could only dream it would be as perfect as hers. I loved how Elle made sure Alicia knew her earlier style was just too-damn-much. Lately however, she has made considerable strides transforming herself into someone seen as uber-chic.
18. Becky Newton - Boring article but I loved this: Every girl needs a shoe that goes with nothing and therefore goes with everything. That's how I shop for shoes and bags. Otherwise I'd be buying a new pair of shoes for every outfit and I'd be wicked broke.
19. Candice Bushnell - I love that she is "obsessed with the image of a woman going somewhere" because this is how I pose in dressing rooms. I want to know how people are going to see me walking, standing, sitting, dancing, generally moving around. (even though I just sit at a desk all day and rarely go out).
20. Janie Bryant - Like Dita, she uses certain eras to inspire her (which makes sense since she's a costume designer) but, thankfully, she moves through several eras. She also enjoys some restyling of her own, shopping vintage and changing silhouettes and styles of not-so-flattering pieces. Love that. Look at her closet!
21. Charlotte Gainsbourg - All I got out of this is that she is very laid back and becomes obsessed with one piece at a time. At the time of this interview she had several pairs of flat boots made to copy a pair her mother used to wear. She wears these EVERYDAY, boring.
22. Fatima Robinson - I've loved her for a long time, not so much her clothes until recently. She was into the hip hop baggy look but I was happy to read that she never actually embraced that and only wore it as part of the job. She's very girlie and loves her accessories.
23. Minnie Mortimer - I like that she designed a capsule collection showcasing dressshirts and named each look after her famous friends. Also I want to steal her shoe closet!!!
24. Charlotte Rampling - I've never heard of her but I now want to watch all her super-old movies. She's very feminine and balances that with very masculine clothes.
25. Milla Jovovich - She is perfect. It's a proven fact. We have similar styles, at least logistically, in that she wears basics but likes to dress up the look with one "whimsical" piece to make people smile. I like to wear atleast 3 pieces at all times (a top, a bottom, and something to make the outfit unique like a scarf, statement necklace, hairpiece, etc). Hers is definitely the closet I'd like to sneak into and stuff my favorite pieces into a large handbag hoping she didn't notice...
I know this is a super long read. It probably took me longer to type this all out than it did to actually read the book. I love this book and it did help me figure out how to begin figuring out my own style and ambition. This was published in 2010 but I feel like it's still pretty relevant give or take a few icons. Check this one out asap.
