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A.L.T.

A MEMOIR

Lyrical (if sometimes purple), satisfying, and suprisingly moving.

Fashion’s eminent Fabulous Person chronicles his metamorphosis from country boy to man about town, moving from the side of his beloved grandmother to his equally cherished mentor, Diana Vreeland.

Vogue editor-at-large Talley has been a scene-maker since the ’70s: noticed by “Empress of Style” Vreeland when he interned at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he moved on to cover the party circuit for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and never left the center of the New York fashion world. His career-making obsession with elegant detail was come by honestly, he reveals, beginning a discussion of luxury by recalling how his North Carolina grandmother boiled and ironed their crisp white sheets. A cleaning woman, Talley's “Mama,” Bennie Frances Davis, demonstrated the importance of maintaining dignity and dash regardless of financial circumstances; the bulk of his text dwells on the wholly absorbing details of his southern childhood and his grandmother's style. Talley reports on Mama’s elegant church wardrobe, her practice of packing clothing in layers of tissue paper, and her abiding regard for a very fine pair of gloves. Talley finds a similar iron will in his “surrogate mother,” Vreeland, making repeated reference to her insistence on maintaining an impeccable pedicure even as she took to her bed and slowly expired. The tale is larded with fashionista gossip, but far less than one might expect—and that’s not the most compelling feature: when Talley discusses how his hospital room was decorated for a Nest magazine shoot, we wonder when he'll get back to his grandmother's cooking. For a man who makes his living in a world that focuses scrupulously on appearances, the author has a surprisingly passionate affection for faith and family.

Lyrical (if sometimes purple), satisfying, and suprisingly moving.

Pub Date: April 15, 2003

ISBN: 0-375-50828-7

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955

ISBN: 0670717797

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955

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