Fashion Babylon

I am back from India - yes, yet again - and all ready for Christmas. The lovely weather is helping, the phones have become less busy and work hours less gruelling. Not shopped much this year - a bit down as my brother cancelled his visit to England rather last minute and since I have made no other plans, I am in for a rather boring christmas sitting at home. However, I recovered my reading habits, and made a pre-mature new year pledge not to lose it again.

What I just read is 'Fashion Babylon' - a story by Imogen Edward-Jones about a woman fashion designer based in London. Well, whatever the critics say about it, I found it engrossing - not just because I read it cover to cover in two days after such a long time. Not also because it has lots of stories, gossips, about the Fashion Industry and the assorted celebrities [I must admit that one take-away for me is a kinder view of Kate Moss], which probably is the reason lots of people will read it. I liked the human story, the entrepreneur's story, which is embedded into it.

The book starts with a London Fashion Week and ends with New York Fashion Week next year. It describes Paris but skips Milan - and takes the tale through a successful period in the narrator's life. It describes the pressures, the aspirations and the disappointments of the narrator. Also, this is a very London tale - with its pubs, streets, people and lingo wrapped all around, which is fascinating. The gays, the nudity, the drugs are all around - as expected - and this is the sweat-and-dirt view of fashion, as against the glossiness of the more successful 'The Devil Wears Prada' variety.

Overall, a good book to read. And, I am on the next one.