I have been seeking a little fashion inspiration in this transition from the rainiest, muggiest summer ever to a (hopefully) crisp, bright, and cheerful fall and winter. And since the modern fashion magazines are atrocious, offering nothing realistic or in the least bit inspiring, "The Power of Style" became a viable substitute. This book is based on 14 of the most influential women in “the art of living well” up until the mid 1990s.

Included in this elite list of women are Elsie De Wolfe, Coco Chanel, Pauline De Rothschild, The Duchess of Windsor, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, The Countess of Bismarck, and Diana Vreeland, among a few others with less familiar names.

The amazing thing is that each of these women came from extremely diverse backgrounds, and had different physical features - from titled, wealthy, beautiful women, to homely, shy, orphans. The one thing they all had in common was a passionate desire to live a life of beauty and style. Most of them either inherited money or married a man with enormous wealth. The exception is Coco - she was an orphan, never married, and amassed her own fortune. However all these women worked hard creating their own clothing designs and sewing, decorating (as a profession), editing for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar (Diana Vreeland), doing volunteer work, and entertaining lavishly.

With visions of living in beauty and comfort they all spent their entire lives devoted to achieving those goals - at any cost: multiple marriages, infidelities, hard work, creative talent, unwavering dedication and perseverance.

The author compares Mona Williams, the “lovely” Countess of Bismarck to the fictional character in Sinclair Lewis’s novel "Dodsworth". Fran Dodsworth was a narcissistic social climbing opportunist. It appears several of these famous women had narcissistic personalities - however, I would venture to say, not quite as vulgar or dependent on constant public attention as some of the more current social media “self proclaimed” icons. And in contrast, a few of these powerful women preferred a life of privacy and seclusion.

After recently seeing an article on Yahoo suggesting a list of things that “date” a woman, I didn’t know whether to cringe or laugh. The trend towards “no fashion” seems to be in vogue. "The Power of Style" is an entertaining coffee table book - loaded with nostalgic photographs and tidbits of information about these extraordinary women whose collective achievements were life changing in women’s fashion and decorating. Let’s not abandon fashion!

Rated 5 Stars August 2023 ( )