In my family, you better show up to Thanksgiving dinner with your Christmas list in hand! If you try and pull any of this… “I don’t need anything”, let’s just buy for the kids”, “I just want good will towards man” you’re likely to get beaned in the forehead with a cranberry.
To make life easier on my family this year, all I want are books. I am very much a bookworm although I hate that saying! I usually read non-fiction because it’s so hard to find good fiction. I like a funny stories about people’s lives but it seems impossible to find books that are not boringly predictable and simple. Plus I can pretty much tear through a fiction book in a day. It feels like a waste of money. At least with non-fiction I’ll learn something!

Fashion (Taschen 25th Anniversary) by The Kyoto Costume Institute

“Fashion History is a fascinating excursion through the last three centuries of clothing trends. The KCI believes that “clothing is an essential manifestation of our very being” and their passion and dedication positively radiate from every page of this book. This special 25th anniversary edition has a chic new format: two volumes packaged in a slipcase.”

I’m hoping for 720 pages of fashion bliss!

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Contemporary Fashion Illustration Techniques by Naoki Watanabe

“thoroughly describes the basics of fashion illustration, and covers the  latest trends such as vivid images, sprightly movement, and garment  material texture. After all, fashion drawing is not simply about sketching a   body and face; only when you accurately reproduce the garments and their colors can the designs truly come to life.”

I don’t fancy myself a fashion designer but I use to love to draw and I thought  it could be fun to learn come sketching techniques

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Deluxe How luxury lost its luster by Dana Thomas

“Newsweek reporter Thomas skillfully narrates European fashion houses’ evolution from exclusive ateliers to marketing juggernauts. Telling the story through characters like the French mogul Bernard Arnault, she details how the perfection of old-time manufacturing, still seen in Hermès handbags, has bowed to sweatshops and wild profits on mediocre merchandise.”

I’ve heard several JCA’s mention this book.

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The end of fashion. How marketing changed the clothing business forever by Teri Agins

“In The End of Fashion, Wall Street Journal reporter Teri Agins astutely explores this seminal change, laying bare all aspects of the fashion industry from manufacturing, retailing, and licensing to image making and financing. Here as well are fascinating insider vignettes that show Donna Karan fighting with financiers, the rivalry between Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, and the commitment to haute couture that sent Isaac Mizrahi’s business spiraling.”

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Fashion: From Concept to Consumer (9th Edition) by Gini Stephens Frings

“Fashion: From Concept to Consumer tells the entire story of how the fashion business works. It includes the processes involved with producing raw materials, apparel, and accessories, as well as the retail businesses that sell fashion merchandise to the public.”

This is actually a text book but oh how I love details!

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Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag by Michael Tonello

“In a funny, whip-smart memoir sure to be a sensation among Vogue and W devotees, erstwhile hair and makeup artist Tonello (now a columnist for HuffingtonPost.com) chronicles a surprising (even to him!) trans-Atlantic move from Provincetown, R.I. to a city he’d fallen in love with on a short trip: Barcelona, where he knows no one and doesn’t speak the language. After many failed attempts, Tonello plans a weekend drive to Madrid in search of the haute couture holy grail; the result is a both a hilarious raid on fashion’s strongholds and a memoir that satisfies like a novel.”

This one combines my love of fashion and biographies. Plus is has many great reviews

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Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style by Arthur Plotnik

“Plotnik, author of the well-respected Elements of Editing (1982), takes on the venerable duo of Strunk and White in this peppery guide to vibrant writing. Implying that Strunk and White’s revered Elements of Style might be a little stodgy in its prescriptive approach to language, Plotnik advocates that writers judiciously bend the rules, “drawing on all levels of language to animate expression.” To that end, he devotes 31 chapters to detailed analyses of the factors that make language sing.”

I just recently realized, I have spent most of my life writing.  Diaries, stories, teen angst ridden poems (lmao) and now the blog. I thought maybe it was time for me to learn a bit more about writing well.

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On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Knowlton Zinsser

“Whether you write an occasional professional letter or a daily newspaper column, William Zinsser’s On Writing Well should be required reading. Simplicity is Zinsser’s mantra: he preaches a stripped-down writing style, strong and clear. He has no patience for excess (most use of adjectives and adverbs, he writes, just adds clutter) or tired phraseology”

Exactly what I was looking for!

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TASCHEN’s Paris by Angelika Taschen

“This book combines all of Angelika Taschen s recommendations for Paris hotels, shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars into one volume, ensuring visitors a wealth of ideas and a guarantee that their Parisian sojourn will never have a dull moment.”

Dh spotted these Taschen books at Anthropologie but they are much cheaper through Amazon

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Taschen’s London by Christine Samuelian

“From Dickensian charm to modern cool, London has it all and this guide will help you find it. With a selection of stylish hotels, from classic to designer; antique markets, vintage stores and the hippest boutiques; and all the best of the capital’s restaurants, bars, tea rooms and pubs”

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Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British by Leslie Banker

“Britannia in Brief is an indispensable guide. Better than Fromer’s, shorter than the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is hilarious, clever, and spot-on. This book is perfect for every foreigner who wishes to talk local, and for every local who doesn’t get out enough”

Maybe you can tell, we are planning on going back to Europe in Sept. This time we’ll spend just a couple days each in Paris and Munich. Then head over to London for a few days. I’m excited to see Brit style!