Anna Wintour
I REALLY hope that Father Christmas has been working on his upper body strength this year. Because, while Furbys and Moshi Monsters shouldn’t be too much of a struggle, he is going to need a good old pair of guns on him to deliver all the mighty fashion tomes that make for must-have presents for the style set.
The Christmas books market is a goldmine, hence the flood of celebrity autobiographies hitting the shelves every December, but this year they are accompanied by a slew of style bibles.
Vogue leads the field with no less than three books on offer: In Vogue: An Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine, Vogue: The Editor's Eye and Postcards From Vogue: 100 Iconic Covers.
You can take that to seven if you include the Vogue On... series which focuses on individual designers.
The fash pack – Sarah Jessica Parker, Christina Ricci and Vogue editor and rumoured new US ambassador to London Anna Wintour left included – was out in force in New York this week to celebrate both the launch of The Editor’s Eye book and the accompanying HBO documentary, the second to go behind the scenes at the famous fashion magazine.
By all accounts it is no September Issue but I’ll watch it when it airs I’m sure.
While the Vogue books are very much of the coffee table variety – for flicking through, rather than reading – one release that does look worth a delve is Grace: A Memoir, the autobiography of Wintour’s right hand woman Grace Coddington.
The flame-haired stylist has led quite the life from modelling for the likes of David Bailey and Norman Parkinson to surviving a serious car crash. I imagine a few hours in her company beats any Christmas re-runs on TV.
Many a fashionable stocking will also, no doubt, contain Kate Moss’s weighty tome which I mentioned a couple of weeks back.
The glossy hardback comes in at a whopping 368 pages, with a choice of eight covers, and takes us through the model’s 25-year career from waif to world famous. It will however set you back some £50. And these books are hardly ideal for e-readers so no scrimping to be done there.
The more serious fashionista would probably prefer Irreverent, the story of former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfield or perhaps The Eye Has to Travel, a look at the life of Seventies style icon and the woman they dubbed the “high priestess of fashion” Diana Vreeland.
Personally I would be delighted to place my Christmas Day cappuccino alongside Love Looks Not with the Eyes: Thirteen Years with Lee Alexander McQueen, produced by his longtime photographer and collaborator Anne Deniau.
I’d be even happier if there was one of the designer’s handbags on the other side though...
AND so to the week’s biggest news, the Duchess of Cambridge below is expecting her first child.
Given that Kate is barely eight weeks pregnant and hardly able to hold down food I think it a little early to start musing on what maternity wear she will opt for or calling her the yummiest mummy of all.
Instead I return to my favourite Kate topic: her hair. Because the 30-year-old’s baby news was preceded by the unveiling of a new hairstyle.
A clever move I think; looking after a new baby is going to be a breeze compared to looking after that fringe!
