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The Power of Style | 
 enlarge | Authors: Annette Tapert, Diana Edkins
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $40.00
Buy New: $13.15
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Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 226980
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 10.4 x 7.8 x 0.8
ISBN: 0517585685
Dewey Decimal Number: 920.72
EAN: 9780517585689
ASIN: 0517585685
Publication Date: November 1, 1994
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Product Description
Reveals the inner qualities of 14 remarkable women who define style in ways that have lasted for generations. Witty and fascinating excursions into the worlds of Coco Chanel, Pauline de Rothschild, Diana Vreeland, Elsie de Wolfe, and others are captured in lavish photographs and entertaining anecdotes. We discover not only the preeminent influence that these women held over fashion and culture, but also the wry, often poignant tales of their personal lives. Full-color photographs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Looooved it! August 1, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Great, great book on the diva's of style. I will love and cherish it forever. I also go back sometimes and reference it to see how good-bad I'm doing. This is a must by!
a brilliant short history of self-invention May 1, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
In 'The Power of Style,' writer Annette Tapert and Diana Edkins, then curator of photography at Conde Nast, have created a short history of self-invention --- specifically, the transformation of English, French and American women into society figures and "style icons." You may know nothing about most of these women except their names: Daisy Fellowes, Rita Lydig, Millicent Rogers, Pauline de Rothschild, Mona Bismarck, Elsie de Wolfe. Others you know mostly as auras: Diana Vreeland, Coco Chanel, the Duchess of Windsor and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Good. The less you know, the better.
Why do I say this? Because if you have your nose pressed against the glass at all, you see only the woman in a dress --- not how she got there and the price she paid to get what she thought she wanted. In other words, you see someone who, if you're honest, you might like to be, just as you once fantasized about being a princess. But you're not a kid any more. You know that life is deals. You may even suspect that rich men aren't always so nice to their women. And so, reading 'Power of Style' fresh, you can have a pure reaction --- some admiration, to be sure, but also pity, also compassion.
Dailsy Fellowes, for instance. She married a prince, who "did her the favor of dying during World War I." (They'd had three children. One was like her husband, Daisy said. The other was "like me but without guts." And the third "was the result of a horrible man called Lischmann." Pretty blunt, huh? But then, seeing a pretty child in the park, she asked the nanny, "Whose is that?" The nanny replied, "Yours, Madame.") On her yacht, she liked to hurl dinner overboard, shouting "Oh my, it's gone bad!" What was great about her? Her fashion sense. Whatever she wore, others wanted --- even the necklace she had made of corks. And she could write: "Isn't it time you let your furs out for an airing?" And her baubles were so brilliantly designed that jewelers would go to the opera and train binoculars on her neck, then rush home to make copies. But then there were human qualities. Her husband went broke; she quietly replenished his funds. She paid for cosmetic surgery for less rich friends. When she wrote a book, an orphanage got the royalties. A complex woman.
Or Diana Vreeland. We recall the one-time editor of Vogue for her ludicrous pronouncements --- "Pink is the navy blue of India" --- but almost no one knows how loyal she was to her husband, an empty suit who couldn't make a living and had a keen eye for other women. She pretended she was rich; in fact, she desperately needed to work. Her entire life was thus an act, and she was a brilliant performance artist, a kind of society impersonator. Which begins to suggest her extraordinary discipline. She had her shoes --- including the soles --- shined every day. She injected herself with vitamins. She famously arrived at her office at noon; in fact, her phone calls started at 8 AM. When she was fired, she kept her mouth shut. "I loathe narcissism, but I approve of vanity," she said. Complex, again.
These profiles are addictive; you want to read them, pen in hand, to mark the great bon mots, the gems of wisdom, the unbelievable stories --- and Ms. Tapert's sage conclusions. You will also savor the photographs, many never seen before; they are full of good ideas that today's designers would be shrewd to copy. Mostly, you will gain a deep appreciation of these social butterflies as professional women, careerists of a special kind.
A book of cautionary tales. A dream book. A chronicle of parallel lives. It's the same book --- but each woman will find her own meaning in it. Who would have thought that something as shallow as Society could have such depth?
When style WAS the only appropriate feminine power March 16, 2005
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book showcases women who rose to public prominence through their individual style. Not all were born wealthy, not all were pretty but each of these women had an inner spirit and an outstanding sense of style that caught the eyes of the public (and of wealthy, influential men).
It is interesting to see how each woman expressed her individual fashion sense within the very narrow sartorial dictates of her era. Their collective appeal lies in managing to balance conformity with originality to come up with a signature style that transcends time. Yes, they had access to great coutouriers, jewelers and stylists. But so did other women of their wealth and social rank who did not create a similar aesthetic legacy.
What can we learn from them? One, that a woman need not resort to tasteless skin exposure to make a fashion statement. Two, a conservative dress code can be maintained without being bland and forgettable. The third (and I think the most important) lesson is that you need not be dazzlingly gorgeous to create a lovely sense of style that makes the most of your assets.
I love this book March 12, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm not particularly fashionable myself but I love to read about beautiful things, beautiful clothes and beautiful people. This book is delightful and I've read it several times. Interestingly enough, the lesson learned is that beauty, money and glamour are not the answer. Most of the women profiled lived unhappy lives despite having those qualities in abundance. Nevertheless, it is a lovely "guilty pleasure" to read this book and learn more about how the other half lived.
One of my very fave style books May 26, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
You need this book if you love fashion. I wish the book was larger; that's my only wish! Some people say they wish there were more colored pictures, but early photography was B&W; for one reason, it captured the nuances of the clothing, and I guess color photography wasn't as prolific in the times that some of these ladies had their heyday. This book is interesting both to READ and to LOOK at! You will pick it up several times a year just to drool over the lovely pictures and re-read the lives and choices of these ladies. It's my very favorite book on style, and I have Ultimate Style: Helena Rubenstein: Over the Top; Oscar de la Renta; Shocking: Elsa Shcaparelli; and I even count Happy Times (Lee Radziwill) as one of my style books. I recommend all of these books, by the way! Also get D.V., Diana Vreeland: The Bazaar Years, and Vreeland if you like Diana Vreeland--=she's a really interesting style icon. Someone needs to put together an exhibit on her for the Metropolitan Museum (since she was the longtime curator of their Costume Institute and she made it what it is today, as far as I can tell from what I've read...incredible style, imagination, and flair!) Please buy this book; you won't regret it. It's a glimpse into a bygone era that still fascinates us and calls on us to imulate it.
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