How to be a Gentleman


John Bridges - 1998
    This book is an indispensable guide for men of all ages who aspire to become gentlemen.

The Allure of Chanel


Paul Morand - 1976
    Through Morand's transcription of their conversations, Chanel tells us about her friendship with Misia Sert, the men in her life - Boy Capel, the Duke of Westminster, artists such as Diaghilev, her philosophy of fashion and the story behind the legendary Number 5 perfume...The memories of Chanel told in her own words provide vivid sketches and portray the strength of Coco's character, leaving us with an extraordinary insight into Chanel the woman and the woman who created Chanel.Pushkin Collection editions feature a spare, elegant series style and superior, durable components. The Collection is typeset in Monotype Baskerville, litho-printed on Munken Premium White Paper and notch-bound by the independently owned printer TJ International in Padstow. The covers, with French flaps, are printed on Colorplan Pristine White Paper. Both paper and cover board are acid-free and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

A Lotus Grows in the Mud


Goldie Hawn - 2005
    She writes about her childhood dreams of becoming a ballerina. She takes us on a tour of her go-go years in 1960s New York City, the phenomenon of TV’s Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, her Oscar-winning debut in Cactus Flower and Hollywood stardom. She writes intimately about the challenges of love, anger and fear, and the importance of compassion and integrity. She speaks openly about her family, her partner Kurt Russell, her children; her faith, her curiosity for that which she doesn’t yet know, and her thirst for knowledge. Most of all, it is a trip back through a life well lived by a woman well loved.

Pattern Behavior: The Seamy Side of Fashion


Natalie Kossar - 2017
     Feeling nostalgic for your grandmother's old sewing patterns? Stitch some humor into your distant childhood with Pattern Behavior, featuring vintage covers from the McCall Pattern Company's archives. Based on the popular Tumblr blog, this droll comic collection brings the McCall's models back to life -- in a way you haven't seen before! Combining retro fashion and modern wit, Pattern Behavior shines a light on the outdated social ideals of yesteryear--all with a big dose of humor.

The Art of Seduction


Robert Greene - 2001
    Now Greene has once again mined history and literature to distill the essence of seduction, the most highly refined mode of influence, the ultimate power trip. The Art of Seduction is a masterful synthesis of the work of thinkers such as Freud, Ovid, Kierkegaard, and Einstein, as well as the achievements of the greatest seducers throughout history. From Cleopatra to John F. Kennedy, from Andy Warhol to Josephine Bonaparte, The Art of Seduction gets to the heart of the character of the seducer and his or her tactics, triumphs and failures. The seducer's many faces include: the Siren, the Rake, the Ideal Lover, the Dandy, the Natural, the Coquette, the Charmer, and the Charismatic. Twenty-four maneuvers will guide readers through the seduction process, providing cunning, amoral instructions for and analysis of this fascinating, all-pervasive form of power. Just as beautifully packaged and every bit as essential as The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer of persuasion and offers the best lessons on how to take what you want from whomever you want or how to prevent yourself from being taken.

The Essential Handbook of Victorian Etiquette


Thomas E. Hill - 1967
    This book is about life in the Victorian World when the British Empire never slept or the sun never set on it. America in the Victorian World was still a colony and indeed wanting to become its own in identity. The book plays an important role in explaining that the rules and manner system of America was very similar to the British at least in the old families of Boston and Philadelphia. This highly entertaining little book is great for those just starting to learn about the Victorian culture.

Wreck This Journal


Keri Smith - 2007
    Acclaimed illustrator Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in "destructive" acts-poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting with coffee, and more-in order to experience the true creative process. Readers discover a new way of art and journal making-and new ways to escape the fear of the blank page and fully engage in the creative process.

A Life in Frocks: A Memoir


Kelly Doust - 2010
    For as long as she can remember, Kelly Doust has been passionate about clothes. They are her first, and most enduring, love affair to date. Like many women, she adores the playfulness of fashion and its endless ability to transform. She loves the ritual and drama of getting dressed, assuming different identities in different outfits, and exploring the many facets of her personality. She buys far too many glossy magazines, and puzzles over how she can spend half her life shopping and yet still find herself with nothing to wear. Over the years, clothes have comforted her, given her confidence, lured lovers, made her invisible, secured jobs, aged her, and given back her youth. And yes, they have betrayed her. This is one woman's charming analysis of her fascinating relationship with what she wears.

Alligators, Old Mink and New Money: One Woman's Adventures in Vintage Clothing


Alison Houtte - 2005
    Narrated by Alison Houtte, a former fashion model who runs the beloved Brooklyn, New York, boutique Hooti Couture -- a shop that Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times has toasted as a premier spot for vintage finds -- this book is not only the story of one woman's life in fashion, but also a vintage-shopper's guide that helps readers embrace the idea of seeking out fashion finds from past decades to accent their current wardrobe.Marrying two of women's favorite pastimes -- shopping and reading -- Alison Houtte uses the merchandise she has bought, worn, or sold as a prism through which she examines everything from the labels we wear to the labels we put on our surroundings. Whether talking about her grandmother's navy blue slip or a creamy white forties alligator purse, Houtte knows that every article of vintage clothing has a story behind it. She uses these items as a springboard to explore such universal topics as relationships, self-image, the bond between mothers and daughters, and that elusive thing called style.Whether you're a flea market veteran who savors the thrill of the hunt or a couture shopper with a Vogue budget, or are simply drawn to the de rigueur world of vintage, Alligators, Old Mink and New Money offers a shopping adventure -- through auctions, estate sales, flea markets, and clothing racks all over the world -- to be savored, and inspired by!

Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You


Bill Burnett - 2016
    Now in book form for the first time, their simple method will teach you how to use basic design tools to create a life that will work for you.Using real-life stories and proven techniques like reframing, prototyping and mind-mapping, you will learn how to build your way forwards, step-by-positive-step, to a life that’s better by a design of your own making.Because a well-designed life means a life well-lived.

Style: The Modern Lady's Guide to Elegance and Charm


Eliza Chamber - 2013
    Charm is an everyday practice and attitude that helps you become an enriched person. Instead of aiming to simply please others and cater to antiquated social norms, you can grow within yourself and enjoy modern life, culture, beauty, and style in a bold new way. This updated version of the traditional charm school guide offers adaptations and insights on how to be a woman of charm and grace in the modern, fast-paced world. Style: The Modern Lady’s Guide to Elegance and Charm conquers everything from etiquette and manners to women’s clothes and how to be chic and elegant in an intuitive three-part format that makes it easy to quickly navigate the style guide and find the information that is important to you. PART 1: Interacting with Others by Charming Yourself First Beginning your journey by empowering yourself through charm Learning how to be a woman who is unique and confident Letting go of imperfections and using flaws to increase your charm and appeal Appreciating the world, including art, literature, and music through your own unique tastes Etiquette and manners for communicating via phone, text, and web (including social media), saying no politely, introductions, and dining A style guide to behaving stylishly and impressing others by being yourself How to be charming during conversation, including etiquette and manners for introductions, goodbyes, finding conversational partners, and exciting go-to topics to keep things going Tips on how to be a lady from masters of charm Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly PART 2: Beauty and Fashion for the Charming Individual Comprehensive style guide to obtaining and maintaining a good appearance Selecting the best skin, hair, and nail products to achieve easy and beautiful looks Tips for conquering bad hair days, chipped nails, and situations where you need to look good fast How to be chic and elegant through proper choice of women’s clothes Pampering yourself with easy spa remedies and relaxing treatments that renew your beauty Posture tips that teach you how to be a lady in any situation Women’s clothing style guide that covers all pieces of your ensemble from head to toe Applying makeup, perfume, and finishing touches to perfect a look Shopping for women’s clothes and accessories on a budget and selecting staples for quick and easy fashion solutions PART 3: Maintaining Elegance and Charm during Various Situations Etiquette and manners for traveling, including airport visits, plane travel, hotel stays, touring foreign countries, tipping and more Women’s clothes and fashion choices for on-the-go charm How to be chic and elegant during trips by selecting the proper luggage, fashions, and behaviors for unique situations Item suggestions for the stylish traveler How to be a lady during visits to Paris, Rome, London, and locations in Europe Planning events and how to be charming as a hostess while keeping guests entertained Information on table and place settings, menus, drink selections and cocktails, seating arrangements, and decorations to create perfect parties Handling unexpected and overnight guests with elegance a

How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking


Viv Groskop - 2018
    written with style and wit.' Mishal Husain Most books about public speaking don’t tell you what to do when you open your mouth and nothing comes out. And they don’t tell you how to get over the anxiety about performance that most people naturally have. They don’t tell you what to do in the moments when you are made, as a woman, to feel small. They don’t tell you how to own the room. This book does. From the way Michelle Obama projects ‘happy high status’, and the power of J.K.Rowling’s understated speaking style, to Virginia Woolf’s leisurely pacing and Oprah Winfrey’s mastery of inner conviction, what is it that our heroines do to make us sit up and listen - really listen - to their every word? And how can you achieve that impact in your own life? Here’s how.

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek


Maya Van Wagenen - 2014
    Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise—meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.

Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius


Ryan Holiday - 2020
    It's no wonder; the philosophy and its embrace of self-mastery, virtue, and indifference to that which we cannot control is as urgent today as it was in the chaos of the Roman Empire. In Lives of the Stoics, Holiday and Hanselman present the fascinating lives of the men and women who strove to live by the timeless Stoic virtues of Courage. Justice. Temperance. Wisdom. Organized in digestible, mini-biographies of all the well-known--and not so well-known--Stoics, this book vividly brings home what Stoicism was like for the people who loved it and lived it, dusting off powerful lessons to be learned from their struggles and successes. More than a mere history book, every example in these pages, from Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius--slaves to emperors--is designed to help the reader apply philosophy in their own lives. Holiday and Hanselman unveil the core values and ideas that unite figures from Seneca to Cato to Cicero across the centuries. Among them are the idea that self-rule is the greatest empire, that character is fate; how Stoics benefit from preparing not only for success, but failure; and learn to love, not merely accept, the hand they are dealt in life. A treasure of valuable insights and stories, this book can be visited again and again by any reader in search of inspiration from the past.

Vivienne Westwood


Claire Wilcox - 2005
    Published to accompany the hugely popular Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the V&A, this book is the first in-depth Vivienne Westwood retrospective. It studies her work as a groundbreaking fashion designer and celebrates her visual impact and iconic profile world-wide.