When fashion sensation Anne Fogarty penned WIFE DRESSING: THE FINE ART OF BEING A WELL-DRESSED WIFE, little did she know the effect her words would have on generations of women. Nearly fifty years after its initial publication, much of this classic original text of the 1950s is as every bit as practical, humorous, and helpful today as it was then. A nostalgic throwback to days when women played the role of a wife just as dutifully as they donned layers of petticoats and cinched belts, Fogarty’s joie de vivre is irresistible, no matter the era. An updated introduction by Rosemary Feitelberg contextualizes Fogarty’s appeal within a broader social range and provides a behind-the-scenes look at one of America’s most enduring fashion designers.
Complete with checklists that help chart a wardrobe plan and indispensable tips on everything from traveling to entertaining, this authoritative guide will strengthen every fashion I.Q. and aid in the search for the elusive quality of “chic.” WIFE DRESSING includes helpful suggestions for avoiding fashion traps, wise spending, and even has quick remedies for banishing the “haven’t-got-a-thing-to-wear mood,” providing all the while that there is indeed a fine–and perhaps lost–art to looking good for every occasion.
Encyclopedia of the Exquisite, by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins, will be published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday on November 2, 2010. Taking a cue from the exotic encyclopedias of the 16th century, which brimmed with mysterious artifacts, it focuses on the elegant, the rare, the commonplace and the delightful. A compendium of luxury that merges whimsy and practicality, the book traipses through all the fine arts, showcasing every sphere of style: fashion, food, travel, home, garden and beauty.
In the spirit of renewing old sources of beauty, and using an anecdotal approach, each entry proffers an array of engaging stories. Among them: the explosive history of champagne; the art of lounging on a divan; the emergence of “frillies,” the first lacy, racy lingerie; the luxe legend of sweet-smelling saffron; the riot incited by the appearance of London’s first top hat; Julia Child’s tip for cooking the perfect omelet; the polarizing practice of wearing red lipstick during WWII; Louis XIV’s fondness for the luscious Bartlett pear; the Indian origin of badminton; Europe’s 17th century false beauty mark fad; the evolution of the Japanese kimono; the pilgrimage of Central Park’s Egyptian obelisk; and the thrill of dining alfresco.
Encyclopedia of the Exquisite is a lifestyle guide for the Francophile and the Anglomaniac, the gourmet and the style maven, the armchair traveler and the art-lover. It’s an homage to the esoteric world of glamour that doesn’t require much spending, but makes us feel rich.
Excerpted from Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn?, by Pamela Keogh, to be published in October by Gotham Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.; © 2010 by the author.
1. DURING TIMES OF STRESS, YOU …
a) go for a walk on the beach.
b) meditate.
c) pour gin in your tea.
2. FOR YOU, SEX IS …
a) uncomplicated and fun!
b) a way of saying, “Thank you.”
c) a means to an end.
3. BEFORE YOU MEET A MAN FOR DINNER, YOU …
a) shave your legs.
b) run a Dun & Bradstreet on the guy.
c) break out your tippy-tallest Manolos and hope for the best.
4. YOU WAKE UP EVERY MORNING …
a) with your day completely planned.
b) and do whatever you feel like.
c) turn to the person next to you, and say, “Hello, dear.”
5. YOUR CHILDHOOD IS SOMETHING …
a) not discussed.
b) to be celebrated.
c) you’ve been running from your whole life.
6. YOUR FATHER …
a) loved you and gave you confidence.
b) was Clark Gable.
c) taught you to throw a football.
7. YOUR MOTHER …
a) scares the hell out of you.
b) left you all of her Balenciaga and Schlumberger.
c) secretly loves your little sister (you know, the “pretty one”) more.
8. AFTER YOU SLEEP WITH SOMEONE FOR THE FIRST TIME, HE …
a) offers you the lead in his movie.
b) asks you to marry him.
c) has a Cartier bibelot on the breakfast tray.
9. IN YOUR OPINION, MONEY IS …
a) everything.
b) no, we mean it—everything.
c) not that important—as long as you have a roof over your head and Veuve Clicquot in the fridge, you’re cool.
10. MEETING YOUR FUTURE MOTHER-IN-LAW FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU …
a) convert to Judaism.
b) brush up on your French.
c) eschew underwear.
11. FORMER BEAUX KEEP UP WITH YOU …
a) on Facebook.
b) on the front page of The New York Times.
c) they don’t. They’re still devastated by the breakup. They’ll never get over it. Never.
12. YOUR BEST FRIEND IS …
a) your roommate from prep school.
b) your hairdresser, makeup artist, stand-in, publicist, housekeeper, majordomo, Peggy Siegal—or some varying combination.
c) just you, baby. Just you.
VF.COM EXCLUSIVE QUESTIONS
13. WHO SAID, “ALL MEN ARE RATS AND CANNOT BE TRUSTED?”
a) Jackie’s father, John “Black Jack” Bouvier
b) Gloria Steinem
c) Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot
14. WHO SAID, “JUST GIVE ME CHAMPAGNE AND GOOD FOOD AND I’M IN HEAVEN AND LOVE”?
a) Oprah Winfrey
b) Ina Garten
c) Marilyn Monroe
15. OF THESE MODERN-DAY CELEBRITIES, WHO IS THE LEAST MARILYN-ESQUE?
a) Madonna
b) Scarlett Johansson
c) Lindsay Lohan
Answers at VanityFair.Com
Don’t sulk when things go wrong. If you can’t help being vexed, say so, and get it over.
Don’t say she needn’t stay up for you. You know she can’t sleep until you are safe at home.
Don’t hesitate to mention when you think your wife looks especially nice. Your thinking so can give her no pleasure unless you tell your thought.
Don’t forget to trust your wife in everything – in money matters; in her relations with other men . . . Trust her to the utmost and you will rarely find your trust misplaced.
Don’t call your wife a coward because she is afraid of a spider. Probably in real danger she would be quite as brave as you.
Don’t scoff if your wife wants to drive the car.
Don’t rush out of the house in such a hurry that you haven’t time to kiss your wife goodbye. She will grieve over the omission all day.
Don’t ‘talk down’ to your wife. She has as much intelligence as you colleague at the office; she lacks only opportunity. Talk to her of anything you would talk to a man and you will be surprised how she expands.
Don’t sneer at your wife’s cookery or bridge-playing or singing, or indeed, anything else she does.
Don’t increase the work of the house by leaving all your things lying around in different places. If you are not tidy by nature, at least be thoughtful.
Don‘t try to regulate every detail of your wife’s life. Even a wife is an individual, and must be allowed some scope. – “Don’ts for Husbands and Wives, 1913”
