The Virago Book of The Joy of Shopping

Hey Brits... buy this book!

The Virago Book of The Joy of Shopping by Jill Foulston.

I have to say, I LOVE the company I keep in the first paragraph of the description...

Jane Austen found her sister Cassandra a locket. Joan Didion bought nail enamel and a toaster on impulse. Karyn Bosnak charged $20,000 on credit cards, and Elizabeth Wurtzel got caught shoplifting. George Eliot, for some reason, hated shopping.

As people began to shop more, novelists imagined them doing it. Jane Eyre cringes at Mr Rochester's pre-wedding excess, while Undine Spragg's spending drives her husband to despair. The Girl with a Pearl Earring turns up her nose at some stale meat, Tom Ripley lusts after Venetian leather, and Mrs Dalloway chooses flowers on Bond Street.

The darker side of shopping is here in the letters, diaries and memoirs of those who remember blackmarkets and rations. There are even records from the Old Bailey of audacious and desperate five-finger discounts, and a recent account of brawling at IKEA.

The Virago Book of Shopping revels in the lists, the etiquette and the thrills of finding just the right thing.

This is it. Buy it.

The Virago Book of Shopping is now available in the UK. It will be released in the US in April 2008.

PS - I found out that I was in this book by Googling myself. You'd think the author or publicist would've emailed to let me know so I could write about it on my blog and give them a little publicity, but they didn't.

BCBG Dress/Shirt

I bought this BCBG dress at Bloomingdale's in September and wore it to death this past season. I put it over skinny jeans or leggings and always got a hundred compliments on it. It's one of those things that you can throw on and run out of the house in, or dress up for a night out.

It's on sale at Bluefly right now for $82... so snatch one up if you are so inclined!

BCBG Charcoal Stretch Banded Short Dress @ Bluefly

I was wearing it in this picture taken on my birthday. (It was taken at 4 AM; forgive the smeared makeup.)

Attention Serial Shoppers

Is your life one BIG fashion emergency? Are you stumped on where to find the most sought-after styles, suffering from withdrawal or simply clothes-minded? Then you need a dose of FashionJunkie.com (FJ) — your shopping chaperon cluing you in on what to buy and where to buy it... before it’s passé.

FJ is the brainchild of Dara Fleischer, a self-confessed shopaholic. A few years back I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Fleischer at a book-signing of mine. Click here to see how fabulous she is.

Dara initially created FJ as a fun and frivolous diversion while she pursued a career in fashion and beauty publishing. Within weeks of launching, she quickly realized she was filling a void for the fashion challenged from across the globe, as she was inundated with emails requesting her advice for every conceivable quandary, from where to find discontinued lip-gloss to uplifting lingerie. After a series of high-profile jobs in PR and editorial, Dara inevitably followed her true calling by turning her passion for fashion into a full-time business. FashionJunkie’s mission is simple: to make the world a better-dressed place, one person at a time.

Dara currently shares an apartment in Manhattan along with her 107 pairs of shoes (each stored and labeled in their own plastic bin) and 68 handbags. She could be my idol.

Click here to sign up for FashionJunkie’s free email newsletter, published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Everyone, Please Meet Fashion Public

Bored with mainstream fashion that's produced for the masses?

So is my beautiful and brilliant friend Jill, the brains behind what will soon be every fashionista's favorite shopping website... fashionpublic.com.

Fashion Public is an online marketplace where customers can purchase boutique apparel and accessories directly from the designers who create them.

They're having a SAMPLE SALE in LONDON this Saturday, May 11th. Click the flier below for details and to RSVP.

PS... Jill was featured in an article in The Observor a couple weeks ago about female entrepreneurs.

THE E-RETAILER, JILL SIMON, ONLINE FASHION RETAILER -- American-born entrepreneur Jill Simon will launch fashionpublic.com, an online marketplace for independent fashion brands, in Britain this autumn... The retailer will target trendy individuals who don't follow the fashion pack.

'It's not Gucci, Pucci or Prada we'll be selling,' she says. 'This is for women who reject mass-market fashion.'

The website will provide designers with a route to market, without the overheads, in exchange for a commission on goods sold. Simon has been working with Sally Heale, an experienced fashion scout who has worked with store s such as Henri Bendel and Saks in the US. So far 150 brands have signed up. Simon says 80% of them have a proven track record, while the remainder will be newcomers breaking through.

BBC Radio Scotland Interview

I was recently interviewed by Damian Barr for his new series for BBC Radio Scotland called "Fortune Tellers." About "Fortune Tellers"... "Damian Barr hears the first of six extraordinary stories from people whose life has been turned around by great financial success or ruin." Click here to listen.

Damian writes for The Times and is the author of the book Get It Together: Surviving Your Quarterlife Crisis. (Click here for the US Version.) Isn't he cute?