Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: glamorous eccentricity, glamorous eccentricities, eccentric glamour, New York, Euro-glam Gypsy, Shelley Winters (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Entertaining and bitingly witty, Doonan (Confessions of a Window Dresser) calls upon the women of America to embrace their inner potential for dressing idiosyncratically, conventions be damned. But in making clear his fondness for vulgarity and bits of bad taste, he is clear about the downright hideous: fannypacks, for instance, are close to blasphemy. Doonan is uninhibited in revealing certain truths many outside the fashion industry tend to throw in its face: yes, there is more to life than clothing, and yes, the world of high style is often "depressing." Before one praises him for single-handedly unveiling the dirty underbelly of Fashion Week, it's worth noting his reliance on heavyweight figures such as Iman, Isabel Toledo, Lucy Liu and Hamish Bowels to provide their own insights via mini-surveys. Entertaining anecdotes from Doonan's life pepper the text, though his own style can at times be flippant or offensive (as when musing on how he would dress were he a butch lesbian).
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Review

"Simon Doonan is a modern Noel Coward with a dash of Auntie Mame and Liberace thrown in for good measure!"

--Michael Kors, Project Runway --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (April 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416535438
• ISBN-13: 978-1416535430
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #296,324 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh-out-loud funny, May 1, 2008

By	New York Foodie - See all my reviews

I adored this book and was sad when I read the very last page that my time in the company of the wonderful Simon Doonan was coming to a close. Rarely have I literally burst into laughter while reading a book (causing quite a commotion on the airplane!). This is not the book to pick up if you're looking for a list of must-haves for your wardrobe. Instead, it celebrates those glorious creatures who throw fashion advice to the wind and unabashedly embrace their own unique, personal style--whether Vogue agrees or not. A true delight!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simon, Are You Listening?, April 15, 2008

By	Tiger Lily "book store owner" (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews

Where are all of the gushing reviews for this book?! Maybe I'm a speedier reader than most but I would assume anyone who's read this would immediately get online and share with the world what a hilarious gem this is.

Charming, self-deprecating, outrageous and dead right about fashionable people and popular culture, Simon Doonan is THE man I'd want at my dinner party. By page 100 of Eccentric Glamour I had to put it down because I was shaking with silent laughter at every word. Literally every "of", "the" and "and"!

Please, Simon, please let your next book be a compendium of all the columns you've written for the New York Observer. Thanks for making this world your own.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This guy must be the MFK Fisher of fashion writers, April 23, 2008

By	squalorholla (Austin, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

Simon Doonan is clearly dealing with a minor bat infestation in his flawlessly-haberdashered belfry, but the man can write. I don't think there's one clunky sentence in this book. It's also hysterically funny and subversive, and the brilliance of the writing elevates the material to no end. I'm indifferent to fashion and I'm still buying this thing in hardcover -- and now that I am armed with my diagnosis of Existentialist with Gypsy overtones, shopping has even become more enjoyable.