Amy Odell

Thank you to Goodreads, the publisher and the author.

What a monster of a book. Details, details, details. It was an interesting read. I admit that I don't know much about Anna except she's the editor of Vogue, wears sunglasses all the time and of course the movie The Devil Wears Prada. I didn't even know she was British. I never read articles or Googled her because I guess I never had an interest. What an iconic figure.

I feel I know like I know a lot about her after reading it and a lot about Vogue, other magazines in the Conde Nast family, fashion, other people in the magazine industry etc.

I can usually read a book this size (351 pages – pictures in the middle of the book, the last 100 pages or so were acknowledgments, the index, and afterward), but this book was so rich in detail that what it usually takes me maybe an hour or less to read 55 pages, in this case it took me much longer).

Overall, a great bio and kudos to the author for such a stunning, detailed book that took a lot of research.… (mere)

I am a reluctant fashion consumer, in that I started out a tomboy, and as a 4'11" woman I am not exactly fashion-model sized. But, over the years I've had to admit, at least to my cats, that I like clothes, and would enjoy going shopping and trying out lots of outfits (not that I do, because no one I know and hang out with would want to join me, or know what to do with me afterward). I thus might never buy a book about the fashion industry, but if one happens to land in my book stacks (as this one did- I won it through a Goodreads giveaway) I'll read it. I quite enjoyed this book, actually. I have struggled for years to make music and book blogging work at a local-scene level, in smaller Western cities where in some cases 'scene' is a bit of a stretch, or maybe optimism for a more developed local market blogging might help create. So, in addition to learning more about the sometimes bizarre world of professional fashion in New York, I also was noting what worked and what was similar between the author's blogging experiences and my own. I liked the details about how bloggers are (or are not) treated like members of the press, and the uneasiness of being a newish blogger asserting press rights at an event with celebrities and 'real' journalists. In local music, I experienced a lot of similar episodes, and in books the problem of working out how book blogging fits into the market is still one of the biggest issues book bloggers must deal with.

I am perhaps fortunate that I am a broke blogger and could not rush out to go fashion shopping after reading this book; it was certainly a temptation I might have fallen to, had I possessed any money with which to buy clothes right now. Of course, styles are different in Southern Colorado, so that if I tried too hard to emulate the fashion culture the author and her book grew out of, I would simply look out of place, but as often happens when I read about fashion, I feel a renewed, albeit temporary, urge to dress 'better' and be more tenacious and hardworking with my blogging efforts. And, I definitely recommend this book to other bloggers, and to people who enjoy fashion and reading about odd subcultures.… (mere)