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A belated Instagram October, and a very meagre one. Work has been taking all my energy lately and you may have noticed I haven’t blogged much either. I didn’t even have the energy to make a Halloween costume! Though I did have grand plans which will have to wait until next year.

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The Lovely Pose Doll by Ayumi Uyama

About Japanese “pose dolls”, also known as Bradley dolls, from the 60s and 70s. Some information (in both Japanese and English) and lots of beautiful photos.

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It’s been a long time since I wrote about a book here, but I recently read Forties Fashion: From Siren Suits to the New Look by Jonathan Walford, and just have to recommend it!

I’d had this book on my wishlist for a while, and after briefly leafing through it in Brighton I eventually decided it was time to buy it. I had expected a pretty book with lovely photos (and it is such a pretty book), but it’s so much more! Even though the book concerns only fashion, it manages to tell so much about the time before, during and after World War II, and what life was like in the 40s. There are so many interesting ways in which the war affected the fashion, most of which I didn’t know about!

The book is both obviously well researched and extremely entertaining. I think it would be of interest to anyone at all interested in the 40s or World War II, even if they’re not interested in fashion. And as someone who is usually not interested in reading about war and politics, filtered through fashion is a very entertaining way to do it.

The Bombshell Manual of Style by Laren Stover is one of my favourites. It’s so much fun to read and very glamorous. It’s not actually a manual, I probably wouldn’t have liked it if it was, but rather describes the characteristics and habits of the typical bombshell, with some famous bombshell examples. It covers everything from what perfumes bombshells wear to where they go on vacation and has lots of little tidbits of information about famous bombshells of the past and present. The illustrations are very cute but I kind of wish there were photos in it as well, especially when a photo or a scene from a movie is mentioned and there is nothing to illustrate it. I got this book last Christmas and I’ve already read it through two or three times, and I’m always picking it up to read a passage here and there.

It’s almost perfect, but I have some small problems with it. I don’t like how sometimes it will state something as a truth without elaborating at all on why, like why wouldn’t a bombshell carry a quilted Chanel bag or wear vanilla perfume? I would like to know. Several times they also write about things bombshells supposedly don’t do or wear, when I can instantly think of at least one of the bombshells used as examples in the book who does or wears exactly that. It’s all very tongue in cheek but I still find these things a bit annoying and wish they would have just written “most bombshells don’t do this”. Another silly little thing I just can’t get over is that in one chapter it says that when and if bombshells hike, they do it in heels. Perhaps Jayne Mansfield would have done something like it for one of her publicity stunts but otherwise I can’t believe any of the famous bombshells mentioned would ever do anything so stupid.

Apart from this it’s just a fantastic book and I wish I could find more like it. If you have read it and have any tips on books with a similar feel I’d love to hear about them!

I though I’d do a series of posts on my favourite books with glamourous subjects. Starting with Liz Goldwyn’s Pretty Things.

This is just one of the best books ever. It’s a big book about “the last generation of American burlesque queens” and contains tons of photos, and many costume sketches. Although the main attraction for me are the pictures the text is great as well. It’s an absolutely gorgeous book, inside and out. The cover is pink, white and gold and the photos inside are huge and beautifully laid out.

I had this book on my Amazon wishlist forever but found my copy in a used bookstore in San Francisco a couple of years ago, and I’m so pleased to own it.