This is the third book review from the Kuwait-Style.com Fashionable Reading corner.

Falling Out of Fashion by Karen Yampolsky was an interesting read. It’s a fictional account of editor-in-chief Jill White’s story of how she came to run her own magazine and its subsequent downfall. It’s a roman à clef with a twist. This book doesn’t cover Karen’s story but apparently that of Jane Pratt.

Who is Jane Pratt? She was the creator of Jane magazine. Karen Yampolsky worked with Jane Pratt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Jane magazine for many years. You can draw many parallels between the book and the real life story of Jane Pratt’s rise and fall at Sassy and Jane.

Karen names the chief magazine in her book, Jill, a magazine named after the founder the same way Jane is named after its founder. She also hints at several events that have been rather prominent in Jane Pratt’s life. In Falling Out of Fashion, Karen mentions how a former child actress befriends Jill by nearly having a tryst with her and subsequently lands the cover of the first issue. Drew Barrymore was on the first cover of Jane magazine and Jane Pratt was on the Howard Stern show claiming to tell the truth about her relationship with Drew. In Jill, it is a celebrity named Rory Bellmore, who was a child actress, who lands the cover of the first issue.

These parallels make the book an interesting read because it draws you into imagining what it must have been like for Jane Pratt to see her magazine flourish and then fail. At times I grew bored by the book but stuck by it until the end, and I was happy I did.

Karen’s ficitional account of Jill magazine predicted the magazine’s demise and in July Jane closed its doors. Jane’s final issue was August 2007.

“Being stylish takes time, patience, but above all practice. Gore Vidal said, ‘Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.’”

When a book opens with my favorite quote about style, how can I not fall in love with it?

I first mentioned Camilla Morton’s book, How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything, in my Fashionable Reading post in late June. Since then, I have been reading a few chapters of the book each night. You could read it all at once if you wanted to, it’s under 450 pages and an easy read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

You may recognize Camilla Morton’s name from her pieces for The Times, Harpers Bazaar and Vogue among many publications. The forward to her book is written by none other than John Galliano, with whom she worked with at Christian Dior.

How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything offers snippets of advice for women everywhere.

The book offers five main themes:

1. Greeting Your Public
2. Being Socially Adept
3. Tackling your Technophobia
4. Homes and Gardens
5. Joining the Jet Set

Each theme contains its own set of chapters offering advice, tips and quotes. You will recognize a lot of names and may be familiar with many of the quotes. The reading is light and amusing, and I was amazed at the diversity of the advice tips offered. There are detailed examples of how to perform a tango and I laughed at the list of which songs should and shouldn’t be picked for karaoke.

Covering topics such as, “How to Change a Fuse“, “How to Observe Royal Protocol and Do a Royal Wave“, “How to Survive a Crash“and “How to Put up a Tent“, this book really does provide a guide for everything!

Some of my favorite headings include:

• How to get ready in 5 minutes - really
• How to make stylish excuses
• How to fit everything into your handbag
• How to cope in a real emergency: when a heel breaks
• How to survive an occasion: weddings, funerals and birthdays
• How to catch a mouse, rather than gain a pet

Those topics were great and I recommended many to some of my friends who enjoyed them as well. The book managed to find something for everyone I knew. I think I must have shared it with all my friends!

There are also quite a number of chapters written by celebrities. You may be interested in the following:

• How to pick a shoe by Manolo Blahnik
• How to talk to your tailor by Stella McCartney
• How to look good in a photo by Gisele
• How to pack by Anya Hindmarsh

How to Walk in High Heels: The Girl’s Guide to Everything is a fabulous book and I am sure that you will laugh out loud several times during your reading! I absolutely loved it and learned a lot from the advice tips. I think it’s the perfect gift to give your friend because they’re bound to find something useful in it and have a fun time reading it too!

I love the Simpsons and Linda Evangelista fashion spread for Harper’s Bazaar August 2007 issue! It’s too cute for words!

Linda was one of my favorite ’90s supermodels and it’s fun to see her in cartoon form, not to mention the designers! I was a little surprised she had the same hair color throught the fashion spread as she’s famous for all the different hair colors she’s sported over the years. It’s fabulous seeing Homer dress in something other than his white shirt and jeans. Seeing him dress like Lagerfield made me laugh so much!

The Simpsons are everywhere now, promoting the upcoming release of their movie on July 27th. It’s nice to see them do high fashion too!

Look through the scans I’ve put together and tell me which designer’s page was your favorite and why. Let me know in the comments!

Runway images from Style. Special thanks to Vikki of Supporting Cast for the Harper’s Bazaar scans!