Something to Read: The Teen Vogue Handbook

Though I've debatably aged out of the Teen Vogue readership demographic, I'm still a sucker for its content. I have a long history with the miniature-sized mag. It's the first one that truly turned me on to my love for anything fashiony and editorial, and I swear it has nothing (something) to do with The Hills. 

Here's some proof. When I was in 7th grade, I laboriously sketched ideas for a Teen Vogue tshirt design contest only to find out that my submission never made it into consideration because I had failed to put enough postage on the package containing my final design (the envelope was returned to sender, aka me. Brutal). I got my first whiff of a personal scent when I received a sample-size tube of J'adore Dior from Teen Vogue It Girls, of which I wore too much and thought was pronounced dye-or. My favorite pastime of collaging would be a fruitless hobby if it weren't for the pages of mix-and-matched prints and sayings like "best summer ever" found in Teen Vogue. And then there was the time in 11th grade when, in search of seats to a sold out Jonas Brothers tour, I wrote to the magazine and asked if I could cover one of the concerts as a member of the press. They never responded so I bought overpriced tickets on eBay.

And here's where I admit that as an avid fan of Laguna Beach and all of its spin-offs (Newport Harbor was rudely underrated), I became enthralled with the idea of the seemingly glamorous job of pushing samples down LA streets and writing emails on glossy Mac desktop computers cultivated by Teen Vogue's participation on The Hills. I wanted to work in fashion, and Teen Vogue was fashion, so I went to its website and devoured its career content. I learned that then-beauty editor Eva Chen went to Johns Hopkins and that most of its interns were city students fulfilling academic credit. I enrolled in Saturday sewing and draping classes at FIT because I found out that aspiring fashion design students needed to have something called portfolios. I wasn't sure what I wanted to be or do, but I knew it had something to do with fashion, and Teen Vogue's website helped educate me on the different paths of getting there.

I stopped trying to correspond with the magazine after my failed attempt to secure a JoBros press pass but it must've realized its career content was helping suburban high schoolers like me. In 2009, the first Teen Vogue Handbook, an all-encompassing guide to working in fashion, was published. I had found my way to the liberal arts by then but the book still quenched my thirst for anything fashion industry-related.

On Friday, an updated version of the book came out with all new content. Though it's meant as a career guide, it's a good read even if you don't harbor industry ambitions. It features interviews with designers, editors, photographers, bloggers, and anyone else who can confidently say they've made it in fashion. Like, how did Marc Jacobs get his start? Or what does a model scout do? The day in the life of a YouTube beauty star? It's all in there.

So... go buy now!!! It's like a giant Teen Vogue and comes with a one-year subscription to the magazine, which, on a parting note, is the gift that keeps on giving if you're into collaging (seriously, I've made like 20 collages in the past ten years using its pages.)

GIVEAWAY!! Lucky Us by Amy Bloom

Exciting news people -- the blog is entering the uncharted territories of book reviews and (wutwut) giveaways. Yah, you read that correctly, a chance to win free stuff. No it's not for a clutch or a bauble of the costume variety, but for the gift that lasts the duration of a trip to the beach: a book. Hehe. And not just any book, but a lovely tale that is part family saga, part love story and part historical fiction. Because I'm a selfless person who enjoys the simple pleasures of reading and lying on the beach, I spent last weekend in my brand spankin' new tie dyed bathing suit immersing myself in Amy Bloom's yet-to-hit-shelves novel Lucky Us so I could put my literary two cents in and give you a chance to win the book. Thank me later. Here's the skinny on the novel:

Bare bones down to it (is that a saying? It should be), Lucky Us is a story of two half-sisters, Eva and Iris. The book takes place throughout the 1940s, so not so coincidentally, the happenings of World War II are implicated in the plot. Thrilling. Eva and Iris share a dad who kind of has a Gatsby-esque chasin' the American dream one con-at-a-time type thing going on. Needless to say, he's not much to hang around the Midwest for, so the two gals hit the road for bright lights big city Hollywood, USA. The sisters' journey doesn't end in Hollywood, in fact, one might argue that's where the story begins. Throughout the book, the ladayz pick up a few new friends (who lend themselves to family members) and ultimately reinvent themselves. If you liked A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Water for Elephants, then you'll like Lucky Us. Trust me. (I trust you, Jack. You jump, I jump, am I right?)

Okay, now the fun part. You get a chance to win a copy of the book, which doesn't come out until July 29. Not the lightly-used paperback copy I read, but a new one. Oh yah. Here's how: leave a COMMENT. Seriously you guys, comments are an effing gold standard in the dog eat dog blogosphere. Tell me what's on your summer reading list and you'll be entered for a chance to win. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, so take a chance on me (if you change your mind, I'm the first in line) and enter the giveaway.

Okay bye, TGIF, and not just any Friday, but the LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR FRIDAY!!! (Forthcoming post on #PublicSchoolSummer. What's that, you ask? You think you know but you have no idea.)

UPDATE!! THE GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. Thanks to all 11 of you who entered, you wouldn't have done so had I not bombarded you with personal emails and texts, but thank you. Congratulations to a @TheVoiceTrumpet (that's a nascent viral Twitter account) for winning. Doo doo doo.

What You Reading, Gurl?

I recently had the boring realization regarding the state of my life that there isn't much I'd rather do with my time than read a book. From what I can induce (or is it deduce? I never know) reading a good book is much like falling in love. That's a fleeting thought I had on the subway once that I probably shouldn't voice aloud but hear me out. When I read a good book, it consumes my life--I stay up late, wake up early, and stand on street corners until I finish a chapter. I'm excited when the story starts and I cry when it's over. If it has a really tragically happy/sad ending (see: Me Before You and Harry Potter), I choke on my tears as I retell the plot to my family members.

I blame it on my mom. When I was in middle school, my mom decided that the house where my family spends our summers would be an Internet and cable free zone. The only modern technology we had in the house was a TV and an accompanying DVD player, but we didn't own any DVDs. It was kind of like a wholesome reality show in which everything we needed to entertain ourselves could be found at the public library--books, magazines, movies, Internet access. My sisters and I would ride our bikes to the library every couple of days and stock up on romcoms and British chick lit titles like Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married and Mr. Maybe, and I think it was the summer before 8th grade that I read the book that defines a beach read: Jemima J. Anyway, thanks to my mom and her anti-technology crusade, I discovered books to be my No. 1 source of entertainment.

Most recently, I just finished Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. V good but kind of a commitment due to its 600 plus page count. I have Edith Wharton's collection of New York stories sitting at my bedside, but I just bought The Opposite of Loneliness and I don't plan on doing much of anything else until I finish it. I had read the essay during my last week of college, a coincidence to the fact that its intended audience is soon-to-be recent college graduates. I used to go back and read the essay in the weeks following graduation when I was melodramatically mourning the end of life as I knew it, so I highly recommend it as a precursor to the book. I also borrowed The Interestings from a friend who described it to be about "hipsters before they were a thing," so that sounds promising. Anywhooze, WHAT ARE YOU READING?