Living in Style

January 6, 2014
Hollywood stylist, fashion designer, and businesswoman Zoe (Style A To Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty, and Everything Glamour) fills her latest guide to stylish living with the sound advice you’d expect from such a fashion maven, including how to wear nude platform pumps to make your legs appear longer, exactly where to find her signature black liquid eyeliner (Smashbox Limitless Liquid Liner Pen, in case you’re looking), decorating tips, and photos and text about her style icons (including Brigitte Bardot, Bianca Jagger, and Edie Sedgwick). Writing with Harel, Zoe is strongest when she plays the role of tastemaker. She successfully extends her aesthetic expertise to diverse subjects, such as how to host a dinner party or choose flower arrangements. Less engaging are the occasionally meandering and self-indulgent chunks of personal details that interrupt the flow of the book—it’s difficult to imagine how a spread of wedding photos or her daily schedule (kissing her son at 7:00 a.m., followed by a three-minute shower at 8:30 a.m.) will be instructive to any aspiring Zoe-ettes. After all, the proof of her glamour doesn’t rest with those tidbits, but in her ability to build them up and make them into a more beautiful whole. Photos. Agent: Andy McNicol, William Morris Endeavor.

March 1, 2014

Aspiring fashionistas and Zoe fans will take delight in this latest style guide from the fashion designer and host of Bravo TV's The Rachel Zoe Project. Zoe gives advice on how to be glamorous in fashion, grooming, home decor, entertaining, and travel. As in her previous best seller Rachel Zoe: A to Z, the author's homage to her style icons--among them Brigitte Bardot, Bianca Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Ali MacGraw, Iman, and Jane Birkin--is coupled with suggestions on how to modernize their classic signature looks. Zoe clearly has a passion for vintage fashion, and lovers of vintage dress will discover ways to wear their favorite decade without appearing outdated. Those who prefer a contemporary style will learn how to be fashionable whether they are hosting a casual event or walking down a red carpet. The author also shares a few intimate details about her own life, such as her foray into the fashion world, her daily routine, and family rituals. VERDICT If it's true that "a lipstick shade is as important as a shoe," then this glam guide is for you. Best suited for larger or suburban library collections.--Ajoke Kokodoko, Oakland P.L.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
When you step into the pages of this breezy, breathless book, you can almost imagine designer, stylist, and author Zoe (Style A to Zoe, 2008) using Dragon software to record her sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. Her book is truly a reflection of her bicoastal (New YorkCalifornia) life: specifically, how to dress and act and behave in this era of everyday glamour, which simply means knowing yourself, your comfort level, and what's the best visual interpretation of you in fashion. In addition to some solid tips (Who knew that it takes 12 hours to thoroughly dry nail polish?), Zoe imparts almost TMI about her personal life and habits: her favorite hotels, iconic inspirations, travel recommendations, even an hour-by-hour day in her life. Beauty tips coexist with some intriguing expert commentary on collecting art, buying vintage stuff (primarily clothing and accessories), and making memorable toasts, among other topics. Pictures and contributors from the fashionable crowd (think both living and deceased, such as Brigitte Bardot, Jackie Onassis, the Rodarte sisters, Farah Fawcett, and others) could make this a go-to keepsake for the young and impressionable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)