Fashion Babylon

It worries me somewhat that the only thing I blog about is fashion whereas my co-bloggers always lend a more insightful look into all sorts of different topics including love, romance, trashy romance novels (by football clubs? I still do not understand), celebrities and 'fat' models... I feel like I need more interests! :o)

In any case and in keeping with my theme I thought I would tell you about this delightful book that I just finished reading which I found on the 50% sale rack at the bookshop around the corner from my work.

Titled "Fashion Babylon" this is the third book in the Babylon series by Imogen Edwards -Jones. She has previously written Air Babylon and Hotel Babylon (They made a tv show based on Hotel Babylon which I believe had Spike from Press Gang in it). This book has been around for a while (published in 2006) so I'm not sure why I had never heard of it before. Very much in the genre of fun, light chick lit e.g. anything by Candace Bushnell and Plum Sykes this was a great entertaining read which is perfect for bed-time reading after a long day at work!

The book is narrated from the perspective of an up and coming designer and her life over a 6 month period between the day after her latest fashion show in London to the showing of her next collection. Although it is really light and funny, the most interesting part of the book is how it takes you inside the business world of fashion and explains things like how a collection is put together, how a catwalk show is run, how models are cast, how the department stores mark up and how the big luxury fashion houses work.

See below for some examples:

Explaining why designers don't make large sizes

Firstly, it comes down to cost. Simply in material terms, it costs me twice as much to make a size 16 as it does to make the same garment in a size 8....Secondly there just isn't the demand for big designer clothes. Maybe it is a vicious circle: we don't make them large, therefore large girls feel too fat for fashion and aren't even tempted to go designer shopping. But all I know is that at the end of the season I am left with more 14's than any other size.

Explaining why the good fakes look so real
Cabbage is the stuff that falls off the back of a lorry, or indeed out of the factory gate, and ends up on a market stall. It comes from the leftover product that the factory hasn't used in the making of the bag/dress/shirt. It disappears out the back of the factory and ends up in a Florence or Milan market. The Gucci handbags in Florence market look just like the real ones simply because they are the real ones. We are a small company and can't really afford cabbage.

On which celebrities have the most influence on sales (granted this was published like 3 years ago)
There are really about ten women in the world who can actually shift frocks: Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Kate Moss, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sienna Miller, Uma Thurman, Scarlett Johansson and then, in a league of her own, Paris Hilton.

I definitely recommend finding this book and having a read (although Rachel a word of warning the author is not a fan of Posh!)