Just in time for Christmas. Essential (and not-s0-essential) reading for the holidays. Send it to Santa and wish for the best.
1. The Fashion Designer Survival Guide: An Insider's Look at Starting and Running Your Own Business by Mary Gehlhar
Industry consultant Mary Gehlar dishes up advice on everything to start-up costs to production information. Oh yah - forward by Zac Posen!? Might be worth it for that alone?2. 100 Years of Fashion Illustration by Cally Blackman
Fashion illustrator lover that I am - this already has a reserved spot on my bookshelf...3. The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia
Elle's Fashion Director serves up advice on style including a concise list of her 10 fashion essentials. Number one and two are the LBD and a men's white shirt....perhaps the reading is a little dry but still worth a peruse? Extra bonus: illustrations by Ruben Toledo.4. Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People by Hamish Bowles
Who doesn't want to see inside Madonna's rural retreat, Oscar de la Renta's mansion, Christian Louboutin's enchanting house-boat on the Nile, or any number of Karl's palatial homes? Added bonus - all pictures shot by legendary photog's like Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino and others.5. First Gossip Girl Collection by Cecily von Ziegesar
If you're missing Serena and crew over the holidays - curl up and catch up with the complete first collection. Warning: brains may turn to mush if read in one sitting.