23 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The SOIGNEE "Ugly-Duckling"......., October 1, 2010
Diana Vreeland was one of those RARE individuals who ENTIRELY created themselves....... A RARE GEM of a GLOSSY, LACQUERED, somewhat aristocratic woman who, through SHEER WILL (and intellect and breeding, certainly) became THE paragon of style in a world that continues to coarsen and disappear,,,,,,,Interestingly, as the years went by she became more ALIVE, more liberated, hopefully more happy......A woman of EXCEPTIONAL TASTE, she was able to maneuver the Park Avenue crowd where she purpurtedly grew up, but as she grew older she KNEW that new blood was needed and she headed DOWNTOWN to mix with the "demimonde" and started to leave behind all that stuffy old money that was growing more and more irrelevant.....
I have been GREATLY inspired by Mrs. Vreeland, even though I never had the honor to meet her......
Her joy of life, of BEAUTY, of humanity was alwyays PALPABLE, and I believe she had a great heart......
BRANDED forever an UGLY GIRL by her unstable,rather monstrous mother, perhaps that came to define her life, as she says in her"Bio" DV---which I highly recommend.....
This particular book is filled with large black-and-white cutouts from newspapers and magazines that she kept for inspiration, and the subjects are varied, but always come back to her obsessions with royalty and the most SOIGNEE women of the 20th century..... Half or more of what she says is pure FLUFF, but frothy and delightful (and sometimes downright CRUEL). I have derived much pleasure from this book, but may I suggest that you ONLY buy this book IF you have a fascination with the upper classes, STYLE, and the sayings of a very STYLISH woman who sometimes verges on madness and parody-------tongue-in-cheek parody, as she was too intelligent to take herself too seriously.
In a world that COARSENS more and more, Mrs. Vreeland is the perfect antidote-------a "figure of fantasy" that can offer us a moment of respite in a CRASS, VULGAR, let-it-all-out society.....
She was very SPECIAL, and she is missed.......
UPDATE!!!!
I had based my review on the ORIGINAL TOME which was perhaps 18" by 12"---an oversized, ultra-glamorous object (SIZE CAN make a difference sometimes-----SHUT UP!), and then saw the new print a few days ago (March 2011) and my heart SANK------it has suffered from, well, erectile disfunction..Ha! That is not a problem for those who cannot envision the old, of course, but for me it was a deep disappointment...... The "Grandiosity" of the old one MATCHED the creator of it-----why they decided to do this, must clearly have been the fear of poor sales, but the "larger-than-life" clips were, to me, a necessity. Still, I will buy the SHRUNKEN one (why did I give that book away???)....So let me not SOUR it for you.......The paper is now glossy, which is lovely, while the old thing was a thick, rough kind.......
Oh well, go get it.... Mrs. Vreeland deserves your purchase!
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