For our February meeting, my book club is reading The Marriage Plot, one of the most buzzed-about books of 2011. FSG even rented a billboard in Times Square, an unprecedented move in the world of literary fiction. I’m just about three-quarters of the way through the book, so I’ll reserve my judgment for when I’m finished, but so far, I’m enjoying the book. It’s not Middlesex, but what is? I guess the only problem with writing a modern American masterpiece is that then you have to follow it up.

In Eugenides’ latest, Madeleine Hanna, Leonard Bankhead, and Mitchell Grammaticus graduate from college at Rhode Island’s Brown University and find themselves confronted with that age-old question: what now?  The book glides from perspective to perspective as the three do their best to figure out how to be adults.

This Fashion Book very nearly wrote itself: I was struck by the following passage, and could immediate picture Madeleine’s outfit–summer, 1982, Cape Cod.

“To meet her mother, Madeleine put on a pair of khaki linen shorts, a white blouse, and a navy sweater with a white striped V-neck. One good thing about being out of college–and living on Cape Cod, not far from Hyannisport–was that nothing now prevented Madeleine from dressing in the Kennedy-esque style in which she felt most comfortable. She’d always been a failed bohemian, anyway.”

Have you read The Marriage Plot? What did you think?

Anyway, perhaps I can use trying to accomplish one of my other goals, spending more time reading, as an excuse for my lack of blogging. My daily reading routine usually consists of reading on the train to and from work, which adds up to roughly an hour or more every day, but reading on the train is a different experience from reading at home, and I’d like to spend more of my downtime at home reading. Right now, I’m working my way through a 750 page novel calledWinter’s Tale. Written by Mark Helprin in 1983, the book meanders through a kind of alternate reality, where time isn’t linear and New York City only barely resembles the city we know today.

Though Helprin claims he hates magical realism, the book is bursting with it–there’s a horse that can fly, a secret village on a lake only accessible to a chosen few, and a massive cloud wall that swallows up anything in its path and causes it to disappear in both space and time. The narrative shifts from the beginnings of the 20th century to shortly before the year 2000. Though the “future” of the story is a city of televisions and skyscrapers, nothing else resembles the modern world we live in today. It gives a weird and haunting quality to the story, which centers on a thief named Peter Lake who falls in love with Beverly, the consumptive daughter of a newspaper mogul. Their love is enduring, and turns out to have properties that surpass the common boundaries of life and death, time and space.

Helprin’s writing is beautiful and expansive, and in his world, winter is a truly gorgeous season, where everything sparkles and sings. It almost makes me want it to snow! ALMOST.

I initially wanted to create a look based on the book’s qualities of loveliness and dreaminess, but I decided instead to put together a look that will keep you warm in any winter. Cozy’s the word.

What’s your favorite season? Are you longing for snow?

In Talking to Girls about Duran Duran we see Sheffield during his adolescence, growing up worshiping New Wave and MTV in a Boston suburb. Each chapter functions as an essay with a different 80s song as the focus. The essays are funny, heartfelt, and poignant. It’s clear that Sheffield is passionate about music, but the wonderful thing about this book is that there is just enough music geek without coming across as pretentious or creepy. He’s not afraid to admit he loved Debbie Gibson or write an essay about the New Kids on the Block phenomenon. More respectable bands like the Smiths and the Replacements are here too, but the book is at its most fun when waxing poetic about the cassingle, Flock of Seagulls hair, or the thrill of sitting in an ice cream truck in traffic on Rt. 93, rocking out to 80s pop.

Though I spent my critical “coming-of-age” years in the 90s, I remember the 80s fondly, and was even inspired to put together an 80s playlist on Spotify. Sheffield is gifted at reminding us that music is meant to be loved, no matter the format or genre. There is no such thing as a “guilty pleasure.” You love what you love, and that’s okay. So you love Debbie Gibson? Dance to it, belt it out at karaoke, embrace it.

For fun, I put together a look inspired by the bright colors and excess of the 80s–just add hairspray.

I love the hat and the asymmetry of the pants, and that top with the peter pan collar–amazing.

I decided to start with Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. If you haven’t read the book, you’re probably familiar with the movie, which is also really good. Here’s how Idgie, played by Mary Stuart Masterson, appears in the film version:

Idgie Threadgoode is the quintessential tomboy, so I created an updated look for her that is comfortable, cozy, and functional. In fact, I kind of want to steal it for myself for every winter weekend going forward.

Stay tuned for next week, when I’ll create a look for Ruth, Idgie’s partner-in-crime and the cafe.

The below look wasn’t created specifically with Marie in mind–she’s only 17, and her style is decidedly more sexy and young. I decided instead to put something together inspired by that paragon of chic–the French woman. I chose slim black cords, a Breton striped top, ballet flats, Ray Ban Wayfarers, a classic Chanel handbag, a cozy hat, simple jewelry, and a sophisticated cape.

What was the last new book you read on a whim and loved?

We’re told it’s the “not too distant” future as soon as the book opens and it soon becomes clear that our protagonist, Lenny Abramov, lives in a New York that is at once familiar and a kind of weird shell of its former self. To begin with, everyone is attached to devices called apparats, which basically function like an omniscient iPhone–point it at anyone to access their “data,” everything from their family history to their credit scores. Lenny works for Post-Human Services, a company committed to finding the secret to immortality, and while he is doing client research in Rome he meets and becomes infatuated with Eunice Park, a young Korean-American woman. The couple’s relationship is as real and complicated and confusing as anything in anyone’s day-to-day life: Eunice is young and beautiful and shops at places like “AssLuxury,” while Lenny lives in an elderly housing apartment complex and reads books. Lenny is one of the last people living to actually READ printed books–most people simply “stream” texts, not fully absorbing the words. The two are an uneven match, but they find unlikely solace from the turmoil of their world in each other.

Shteyngart’s twisted vision of the future is terrifying in the subtleties–we can already see glimpses in the Occupy Wall Street movement and the increasing dependence on mobile devices. Eunice is an embodiment of the materialism of the culture, though she refuses to wear the sheer “onionskin” jeans that are in fashion for most women. She favors colorful cocktail dresses that show off her figure and is glued to shopping on her aparrat and in the retail corridors installed in Union Square and The United Nations. I wanted to put together a look that was bright, futuristic, and luxe. How do you think style will evolve in the future? Have you read this book? What did you think?

Anne Shirley has become a literary icon for women all over the world. She’s imaginative, brave, smart, and knows what she wants. But more than that, she’s absent-minded, a little vain, and more than a little quirky. She struggles with what the “right thing” to do is, and she sometimes acts out of spite. In other words, she’s not perfect. But she’s a damn good heroine for young girls to read about, especially in an age where t-shirts tell girls they’re “too pretty for homework.” 

Because Anne was an orphan, she dressed in pretty shabby clothes, but she dreamed big. One of her biggest loves was dresses with puffed sleeves. I think modern Anne would definitely rock the outfit below–what do you think? Were you a fan of the Anne books growing up?

I’m just about halfway through the book and I’m eager to read about Liberman’s tenure at Vogue as well as Tatiana’s hat business. The book is packed with biographical details about the couple and their families, and it’s fascinating to see how all of the different characters intersect.

For this look for Tatiana, I tried to recreate an Old World glamour of the 1950s. She was known for being imposing and was never without flashy jewelry and finery.

Have you read any good biographies lately?

Eli is the more introspective of the Sisters Brothers; Charlie, his older brother, the more callous and malicious. The two embark on a mission to kill Hermann Kermit Warm, an impish inventor who’s managed to upset the wrong man: the Commondore, Eli and Charlie’s employer, and the wealthiest man in town. Along the way, Eli and Charlie meet with many characters and misadventures as they travel from Oregon, through a bustling San Francisco, to the gold-filled streams of the California countryside. It’s a touching, funny, and surprising book in many ways, and it’s a fast read full of good old-fashioned story-telling.

Because there aren’t any hugely significant women characters in the book, I thought I would create a kind of archetypal Old Western-inspired look, using cowboy boots, a pretty maxi skirt, turquoise jewelry, and some leather accessories. Would you wear something Western-inspired?