I have a very good boyfriend – who indulges my need for coffee table books. Big thick impressive books that pretty much take up my entire front room. All glossy and crisp and wonderful. Sometime’s he’ll have a flick through them (one on new romantic fashion…where he pouted and moaned about David Sylvian’s absense..”the epitome of new romantic style” he waxed – my boyfriend the secret fashionista) while sometimes he will support my habbit by buying me lovely lovely books. The latest one to my collection thanks to the bo was “Celebrating Wasp Style: A Privileged Life” by Susanna Salk. It is pretty much the perfect book on preppy culture ever. It’s no “Take Ivy” (60’s ivy league chaps in boat shoes being dead handsome) nor is it the “The Preppy Handbook” but it features double spread pages of ladies in twin sets and men in coloured blazers, and horse riding and recipes for Bloody Mary’s. Sports uniforms and polo shirts and cashmere and pearls and yeah…it’s pretty lovely.
I loved it…and sure the big old glossy pics are lovely but it’s also a good jumping off point for finding out more about the whole culture behind it – lifestyle, homes, icons and fashion. It’s available on amazon just now for just shy of £20 so if you’re feeling flush and fancy spending a bit of dollar on prime coffee table material you can’t really go wrong.
Anyway I’m off for a weekend of boyfriend birthday celebrations, drinking far too much tea and reading Moran’s How to be a Woman (yes Glasgow, I am the mad woman cackling on your stairway at the chapter about vaginas.) Another one of my essential reads, not for the glossies but for the lols. Have a fancy weekend lovelies!