The Power of Style: Amazon.ca: Annette Tapert, Diana Edkins: Books

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.

Ingram

A witty journey inside the world of fashion introduces fourteen trend-setting women who defined the style of their eras, sharing anecdotes and 275 photographs that capture Coco Chanel, Pauline de Rothschild, Diane Vreeland, Jacqueline Onassis, and others. 20,000 first printing.

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Not a treatise on style, rather a mini-biography on few rich stylish women, Jan 22 2011

By

Flavia Stanciu (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Power of Style (Hardcover)

"The power of style" was brought to my attention through the testimonials from Amazon.
It's an easy read, like the soap operas of the fashion magazines, where reader also glances at pictures. Actually it encloses mini-biographies of several interesting 20th century women, whom the author characterized them as the most stylish women.

Unfortunately, it delivers only a partial message on "Style".

Deceived by the title of the book, I was waiting for a keen analyze on style, like a treatise. Just reading about the lives of some "stylish" heroines, the reader can realize that their style was an elaborated fake, no wonder their adopted styles and lives collided brutally at some point in time notably after they have lost their youth and their men cheated and left them.
There are very few examples like Chanel and Elsie de Wolf, which were born talented, women who found their way to the top through hard work and creation; the rest of the presented ladies were rich women, either born rich or becoming rich from marriages/arranged marriages even by trading their own children with their ex-husbands for a hefty settlement.

This is irrelevant to authentic style; money helps to create a look, but this does not mean that adopted style can be your own self. It's just an artificial envelope. Style is above and beyond money.

Authentic style is harmony itself which is reflected by all levels of an individual: physical, intellectual and spiritual. This was not explained, nor analyzed anywhere by the author.

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5.0 out of 5 stars One of my very fave style books, May 25 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Power of Style (Hardcover)

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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2.0 out of 5 stars Style is more than money- someone tell Tapert and Edkins!, Oct 9 2003

By

C. L. Schoon "highly calibrated sarcasm machine" (Longmont, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Power of Style (Hardcover)

I remember I received this book at the tender age of 15, when I was in full adoration mode of Jackie Kennedy. I read it cover to cover on a flight to the West Coast and at that time, I was rapt.
Now, older and wiser, I have to say that this book seems to be little more than the drippingly doting praise of two wealthy, thin, East-Coast women for many other wealthy, thin East-Coast women, with little depth and a rather condescending tone.
Real style is so much more than a well-cut suit or the ability to throw extravagant parties (and when you are as rich as a Vanderbilt, it can't be that hard to acquire these things). Real style is about diplomacy, truth, and talent. The real "Power of Style" doesn't come from what you look like or how much you can spend, but how you present yourself and how you deal with the world. The women described in this book are not so much examples of the power of style, but the power of cash and connections. With the possible exception of Mrs. Kennedy-Onassis, they didn't define the art of living well, they defined the established upper classes who offered very little else to the world than a pretty face and something to read on the society pages.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better...
I enjoy this book, but my two biggest complaints are the lack of more colorful photos of the houses and clothes these women lived in. Read more

Published on Sep 20 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book As Stylish As The Women Featured In It!
Coco Chanel, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Diana Vreeland...these names recall the very essence of style. Read more

Published on Sep 26 2002 by Jennifer E. Williams