Dressed To Perfection

The quintessential American designer and fashion industry darling reveals his insights into what to wear on your big nights out and how to look your very best. Carmen Marc Valvo has been dressing leading ladies and It girls for more than thirty years, including such notable stars as Kate Winslet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Beyoncé, Katie Couric, Eva Longoria Parker, Queen Latifah, and Mary J. Blige. Whether it’s his expert manipulation of folds of silk chiffon for an inspired Grecian draped gown or the sparkles that pop from a fabulous minidress, Carmen’s eveningwear and cocktail dresses have become a trusted favorite among women, who look and feel beautiful in his clothing. With tips for dressing according to age and occasion, thoughts on silhouettes and hemlines, advice on styling and accessorizing and on how to perfect an unforgettable look, this book will inspire women to live their ultimate red-carpet moment, whether that means looking fabulous for a summer afternoon party, a glamorous cocktail soiree, or a black-tie event. This book will empower women to find their own sense of style to achieve the perfect, unforgettable look, whatever the occasion.

Until recently, Elizabeth Cline was a typical American consumer. She’d grown accustomed to shopping at outlet malls, discount stores like T.J. Maxx, and cheap but trendy retailers like Forever 21, Target, and H&M. She was buying a new item of clothing almost every week (the national average is sixty-four per year) but all she had to show for it was a closet and countless storage bins packed full of low-quality fads she barely wore—including the same sailor-stripe tops and fleece hoodies as a million other shoppers. When she found herself lugging home seven pairs of identical canvas flats from Kmart (a steal at $7 per pair, marked down from $15!), she realized that something was deeply wrong. Cheap fashion has fundamentally changed the way most Americans dress. Stores ranging from discounters like Target to traditional chains like JCPenney now offer the newest trends at unprecedentedly low prices. Retailers are pro­ducing clothes at enormous volumes in order to drive prices down and profits up, and they’ve turned clothing into a disposable good. After all, we have little reason to keep wearing and repairing the clothes we already own when styles change so fast and it’s cheaper to just buy more. But what are we doing with all these cheap clothes? And more important, what are they doing to us, our society, our environment, and our economic well-being? In Overdressed, Cline sets out to uncover the true nature of the cheap fashion juggernaut, tracing the rise of budget clothing chains, the death of middle-market and independent retail­ers, and the roots of our obsession with deals and steals. She travels to cheap-chic factories in China, follows the fashion industry as it chases even lower costs into Bangladesh, and looks at the impact (both here and abroad) of America’s drastic increase in imports. She even explores how cheap fashion harms the charity thrift shops and textile recyclers where our masses of cloth­ing castoffs end up. Sewing, once a life skill for American women and a pathway from poverty to the middle class for workers, is now a dead-end sweatshop job. The pressures of cheap have forced retailers to drastically reduce detail and craftsmanship, making the clothes we wear more and more uniform, basic, and low quality. Creative inde­pendent designers struggle to produce good and sustainable clothes at affordable prices. Cline shows how consumers can break the buy-and-toss cycle by supporting innovative and stylish sustainable designers and retailers, refash­ioning clothes throughout their lifetimes, and mending and even making clothes themselves. Overdressed will inspire you to vote with your dollars and find a path back to being well dressed and feeling good about what you wear.

Educator resource guide for the exhibition. This guide looks at fashion, paintings, and costumes and explores the groundbreaking work of Yves Saint Laurent. Contains background information, looking questions, and activity suggestions.

Elizabeth Goldsborough was enjoying a London season that promised marriage to that handsome gentleman, Simon Bellgrave. But an accident involving arrogant Captain Darius St. John stole her happiness. She was forced to accept St. John’s honorable offer of marriage, though she knew he had no interest in her. How was she to bear being married in name only, when she found herself falling in love with her bridegroom? Regency Romance by Charlotte Louise Dolan; originally published by Signet

The touching story of one couple's decision to start a vineyard in France, where they fear nothing more than the destruction of a sudden cold snapFrost can be fatal to a fledgling wine business. . . it's a gorgeous glitter with a high price tag. On a winter's day it is beautiful, but on a spring day after bud burst it spells devastation. For Sean and Caro Feely, a couple whose love affair with wine and France has taken them through financial and physical struggle to create their organic vineyard, it could spell the end. Until they receive an unexpected call that could save their skins. . . This book is about life, love, and taking risks, while transforming a piece of land into a flourishing vineyard and making a new life in France.

Can it really be true that 'golf' stands for 'Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden'? Or that 'rule of thumb' comes from an archaic legal principle that a man may chastise his wife, but only with a rod no thicker than his thumb? These and hundreds of other stories are commonly told and retold whenever people meet. They grow up in part because expressions are often genuinely mysterious. Why, for example, are satisfying meals 'square' rather than any other shape? And how did anyone ever come up with the idea that if you're competent at something you can 'cut the mustard'? Michael Quinion here retells many of the more bizarre tales, and explains their real origins where they're known. This is a fascinating treasure-trove of fiction and fact for anyone interested in language.

Costume designer Alison Freer’s styling kit is a magical bag of tricks, built to solve every single wardrobe malfunction on earth. TV and film productions wait for nothing, so her solutions have to work fast. In How to Get Dressed, Alison distills her secrets into a fun, comprehensive style guide focused on rethinking your wardrobe like a fashion expert and making what’s in your closet work for you. She provides real-world advice about everything style-related, including: • Making every garment you own fit better • Mastering closet organization • The undergarments you actually need • The scoop on tailors and which alterations are worth it • Shopping thrift and vintage like a rockstar Instead of repeating boring style “rules,” Alison breaks the rules and gets real about everything from bras to how to deal with inevitable fashion disasters. Including helpful information such as how to skip ironing and the dry cleaners, remove every stain under the sun, and help clueless men get their sartorial acts together, How to Get Dressed has hundreds of insider tips from Alison’s arsenal of tools and expertise.

This illustrated volume presents vibrant photographs of Yves Saint Laurent's most important designs and is highlighted with essays and quotations that honor his legacy.