Book review and give away!! Vintage Style, Iconic Fashion Looks and How to Get Them

The lovely folks at Carlton Books have very kindly given me a copy of Vintage Style, Iconic Fashion Looks and How to Get Them by Sarah Kennedy to review.  What’s more, they’ve also given me five – yes five – copies of the book to give away.  So first, let’s get down to the review and then if you’d love the chance to get your hands on your very own copy, read on…

Firstly, there’s been a lot of buzz around this book, with British Vogue recently listing it in their guide of books to curl up and read at Christmas.  The cover of the book, as you may have realised, is the gorgeous Debbie Harry.  Now, while she may not be my personal style icon, she is, without doubt, certainly an icon.  As soon as I got the book in the post, the first thing I did was to open it up to find what reference had been made to Debbie Harry.  Straight away, it was obvious this was going to be a style book with a difference. 

There’s twenty‑five women used in this book to demonstrate different eras and looks, from the twenties to the nineties.  There’s a good deal of detail about their lives and the impact their look had on the fashion‑scene at the time.  Within each icon section, there’s also bullet‑points to key looks, style and beauty tips, key designers of the time and shopping advice.  For example, with Debbie Harry there’s a guide to achieving smoky eyes and hot red lips.  So, which other icons has the author selected to illustrate style through the decades? 

•  Louise Brooks: Flapper
•  Jean Harlow: Tea Dancer
•  Marlene Dietrich: Femuline
•  Wallace Simpson: Mistress
•  The Mitford Sisters: English Aristo
•  Marilyn Monroe: Goddess
•  Audrey Hepburn: Ingénue
•  Grace Kelly: Ice Princess
•  Elizabeth Taylor: Hollywood Glamour
•  Jackie O: American Classic
•  Brigitte Bardot: Bombshell
•  Twiggy: Ultra Mod
•  Jean Shrimpton: British Classic
•  Marianne Faithfull: Rock and Roll Girlfriend
•  Talitha Getty: Boho Contessa
•  Francois Hardy: Euro Chic
•  Bianca Jagger: Studio 54
•  Grace Slick: Combat Chic
•  Joan Jett: Rock Chick
•  Debbie Harry: New Wave
•  Lauren Hutton: Simply Seventies
•  Diana Ross: Diva
•  Kate Bush: Free Spirit
•  Molly Ringwald: Indie Girl
•  Cindy Crawford: Glamazon

Picking out a few of the icons I particularly enjoyed reading, I found the Louise Brooks: Flapper chapter very interesting.  The Roaring Twenties is not really one of my go-to eras, so I found this full of useful detail and beautiful illustrations.  Within each chapter there’s a quote from each iconic lady, maybe this one from Louise Brooks appealed to me due to the time of year?!

“A well-dressed woman, even though her purse is painfully empty, can conquer the world.”

Moving on, the chapter Jean Harlow: Tea Dancer, discusses how fashion evolved from the twenties to the thirties and very helpfully suggests some films worth watching if you do aspire to achieve the Harlow look.  There’s also some history on the Marcel Wave and the history of tongs, with the book frighteningly informing the reader that

“in the early days, tongs were heated over a gas burner and first tested on paper: if they burned a hole, the tongs had to be cooled down before being applied to the hair.”

Eek! If you do want to give finger waves a try without the use of a hot appliance, then there is a tutorial in this section.  Now I can tell you from experience that finger waves take practice.  It always looks simple in books, but if you do want to try this look, I really would advise that you have a practice run before an actual big  event. 

The chapter with Bridget Bardot: Bombshell, sees the author describe Bardot as an “antidote to Hollywood vamp glam”. I think that's a perect description. Bardot was certainly something very different to the likes of Marilyn Monore and Elizabeth Taylor with their curves, sets and lipstick. This section includes tutorials on how to get the Bardot Face, with cat eye eyeliner and that famous pout. 

It’s actually very difficult for me not to run through every icon in this book because there really is something worthy of discussion in each chapter.  What I really liked about the book is that whilst every chapter includes a tutorial of some kind, it’s not just a 'how-to' book. 

Whizzing forward to the chapters covering the eighties and the nineties….vintage lovers can often raise eyebrows when the eighties gets mentioned.  Personally, I wear quite a lot of eighties clothes but I wear pieces that reflect back to the forties and fifties.  There’s always fashion trends that lend themselves to previous decades.  How this book covers the eighties, though, is to choose the Indie Girl look, which I actually think is quite an inspired choice, because although it’s not my cup of tea, when you walk through the street, you do see this look on teens today a lot.  So if like me you read the list of icons and saw Molly Ringwald’s name and thought “really?”, well I can honestly say that having read that chapter in full, I get what the author is trying to demonstrate. 

The book is as much about the history of fashion as it is about inspiring the reader to experiment with a look.  It’s an informative look at fashion through the decades and whether you decide, as I did, to read the book from cover-to-cover or just dip in and out of the sections, you won’t be disappointed. With an RRP of £20, it may not be the cheapest book out there but it's packed with not just ideas but historical facts. It’s a beautifully illustrated guide to fashion, that casts its definition of “icon” as widely as possible to cater for every taste.  It's a book I would recommend adding to your book wish list.  

If you’d like to win one of five copies of this book (UK entries only on this give-away), then here’s how.  Firstly, all you need to do is follow the Missy Vintage blog using any or all of the following methods:

-  Google Friend Connect (the box is on the right hand side of the screen)

-  Facebook

- Twitter (don't forget to tell me your twitter name)

- or subscribe via email (this box is also on the right hand side of the screen)

Secondly, you then need to leave me a comment on this blog post with your name, tell me how you follow the blog (list all the ways, each follow is one entry so there’s a possible four entries per person!) when leaving your comment why not tell me who your style icon is.  It can be anyone who inspires you, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Cheryl Cole, your mum.... me ;o)

 *It's really easy to leave a comment: where you see the 'comment as' under the comment box  a drop down box opens -  if none of the options apply to you, just select annonymous - but remember to leave your name!*

Five winners will be picked at random using random.org.  This competition runs from today right now! (Monday 23 January 2012) to midnight on Friday 27 January. 

Each method of following equals one entry, but only one book can be won per person.  If the same person is randomly selected more than once, another name will be selected instead. 

I will announce the five lucky winners on Saturday 28 January 2012.  If you are on Twitter, then why not follow the Carlton Books PR team This week, they’re having a special vintage week so there’s no better time to follow and see exclusive tweets about vintage goings-on. (You may have started to see the hashtag #VINTAGEWEEK bouncing around twitter already!) 

Good luck everyone! 

Vintage Style by Sarah Kennedy, published by Carlton Books, £20, is available in all good book shops and online now.