Handbags and Gladrags [Mass Market Paperback]

Maggie Alderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2005

The fashionably funny new novel from the bestselling author of Pants on Fire.

Cross Bridget Jones with The Devil Wears Prada and you have this engaging romantic comedy about love, sex, friendships, and relationships...with a lot of style.

Emily Pointer, stylist for Chic magazine, has a rule about fashion: never wear anything older than six months...unless it's so old you can pass it off as vintage. And never, ever fall in love, unless it's for a killer pair of Manolos.

With a witty and biting insider's take on the fashion world; the crazy circuit of the New York-London-Milan-Paris designer shows, and the most humbling of all experiences, love, Maggie Alderson delivers a poignant, funny novel of success and revenge, friendship and flirtation, passion and Prada that's as fresh and rejuvenating as an afternoon at Bliss Spa.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Emily Pointer seemingly has it all--a job as a stylist for the hot British magazine Chic, a killer wardrobe, trips to glamorous locales, and a cosmopolitan husband. So why is she jeopardizing it all for an affair with a roguish Australian photographer? Perhaps because everything's not as it seems on the surface. Emily and her husband have a relationship based more on how they look together than how they feel about each other. Emily's superficiality and her ambivalence about her infidelity initially make her a very unsympathetic character. But, after a somewhat inauspicious introduction, she begins to change--coming to terms with her tumultuous childhood and reexamining her shallow lifestyle. Alderson, a former editor for British Elle, has a lighthearted, engaging style. Her descriptions of Fashion Week--all wild parties, gossip, and thrilling shows--will draw in wannabe fashionistas, but her often flippant attitude toward relationships may alienate more conservative readers. Aleksandra Kostovski
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Maggie Alderson has worked on three newspapers and on glossy magazines, as editor of four of them including British Elle. She has been covering the international fashion-show scene for more than 15 years and this experience was her inspiration for Handbags and Gladrags. She is also the author of the novels Pants on Fire and Mad About the Boy.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042520278X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425202784
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The title says it all, January 4, 2006

By 

Book Maven - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handbags and Gladrags (Mass Market Paperback)

I love fashion. I have a huge wardrobe and collect handbags. I can be superficial. STILL this novel bored me to tears until about halfway through. In short, it is the story of a fashion editor who revels in the Fashion Weeks of various cities, meets a cute and down to earth fashion photographer and has an extra-marital affair. The first half of the novel talks endlessly about fashion shows, shopping and...shopping. How many times can one really enjoy reading about the joys of Prada boots?

The second half starts to get deeper into the characters' lives and explores their motivations, which is quite enjoyable. Even though I only gave this book three stars, it does end up being a decent, light book. I think the author was trying to pull some "Princess de Cleves" style: focusing on triviality at first to show a contrast later on. However, like Madame de Lafayette, she should've kept it more in the twenty page range rather than the hundred+ page range.

I highly suggest Pants on Fire, another M. Alderson book that handles the trivial with a lot more excitement for the reader.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING......, July 22, 2005

By 

Sheila Shoop "Amy" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handbags and Gladrags (Mass Market Paperback)

I normally read novels that are very deep and heavy. I enjoy John Grisham and C.S. Lewis. This summer I was looking for a quick, light, "girly" read and I bought this book on a whim. I absolutely LOVED it. I could not put it down. Despite some parts being very crude (for my taste), I still found it to be incredible. Even though I am not into the fashion world, I could still follow and really understand what was going on. It is well written and fast-paced. Parts of the novel had me rolling with laughter while others had me shocked. If you are looking for a quick, fun, light read, this is the book for you!!!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars droll sexy story, June 7, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handbags and Gladrags (Mass Market Paperback)

Chic Magazine fashion expert Emily Pointer would rather shop till she drops instead of dining on food or men though she makes an exception with Australian photographer Miles McCrae, who scores more often with her than her spouse sees her. Of course Miles has more opportunities as both attend the same international shows.

Still Emily wonders about all the one night stands in Milan, Paris, New York, London and Plant Tharg, etc that she has with sexy Miles. Even more so she begins to panic as she starts questioning her clothing theory of women that the garb makes the female so nothing is worn that is between the age of six months to a couple of decades; older that that might start a fad while younger is the hip chic chick trend. As Emily ponders is that all there is, she also dissects her non-relationship with Miles and that guy she is married to, what's his name?

Though the audience might consider Emily as a shallow clothing hound, she is much deeper as she struggles with her lifestyle feeling more inadequate daily. The story line focuses on her in a chick lit style, but also provides insight into the fashion world from design to runway to the fantastically dressed rich and famous. Maggie Alderson writes a droll sexy story starring a superb spirited soul struggling with HANDBAGS & GLADRAGS as the meaning of life.

Harriet Klausner