Bringing Home the Birkin

Author: Michael Tonello
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061734217
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Book Description
An insider's hilarious, whirlwind account of his years spent globe-trotting in search of the holy grail of handbags: the Birkin For more than twenty years, the Hermès Birkin bag has been the iconic symbol of fashion, luxury, and wealth. Though the bag is often seen dangling from the arms of celebrities, there is a fabled waiting list of more than two years to buy one from Hermès, and the average fashionista has a better chance of climbing Mount Everest in Prada pumps than of possessing one of these coveted carryalls. Unless, of course, she happens to know Michael Tonello . . . Michael's newfound career started with an impulsive move to Barcelona, a vanished job assignment, no work visa, and an Hermès scarf sold on eBay to generate some quick cash. But soon the resourceful Michael discovered the truth about the waiting list and figured out the secret to getting Hermès to part with one of these precious bags. Millions of dollars worth of Birkins later, Michael had become one of eBay's most successful entrepreneurs—and a Robin Hood to thousands of desperate rich women. With down-to-earth wit, Michael chronicles the unusual ventures that took him to nearly every continent, from eBay to Paris auction house and into the lives of celebrities and poseurs. Flirting with danger, Michael recounts the heady rush of hand delivering his first big score to famed songwriter Carole Bayer Sager in Paris; how he had to hire thugs to rescue a bag that one of his "shoppers" held for ransom; and the story of the Oscar-worthy performances that allowed him to snag "reserved" bags from other, less dogged Birkin seekers. Whether he's relating his wining and dining, buying and selling, dodging and weaving, laughing and crying, or schmoozing and stammering, Michael is a master raconteur who weaves together tales of hunting Birkins in the world's most posh locales, memories of meals that would make any gastronome salivate, anecdotes of obsessed collectors with insatiable desires, and sweetly intimate stories about his family, friends, and finding true love. The result is a memoir that is distinctive, fun, page-turning, and as addictive as its namesake.

Bags & Purses

Author: Ida Tomshinsky
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 151445713X
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
The Bags and Purses: The Story of Chic and Practicality, is the seventh book in the popular HISTORY OF FASHION ACCESSORIES series. This is the story about handbag, an accessory that is carried and that is worn over the shoulders. Modern day workbags are like jobs, they come with benefits, qualifications, and compensations.

Pretty in Plaid

Author: Jen Lancaster
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101050713
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
Jen Lancaster's cultural inferiority complex had to come from somewhere...and now fans can find out where in this hilarious New York Times bestselling memoir from the author of Bitter is the New Black. Before she was bitter, before she was lazy, Jen Lancaster was a badge-hungry Junior Girl Scout with a knack for extortion, an aspiring sorority girl who didn't know her Coach from her Louis Vuitton, and a budding executive who found herself bewildered by her first encounter with a fax machine. In this hilarious and touching memoir, Jen Lancaster looks back on her life—and wardrobe—and reveals a young woman not so different from the rest of us. Prepare to take a long walk in her (drool-worthy) shoes in this humorous and heartwarming trip down memory lane.

Building Brand Authenticity

Author: M. Beverland
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230250807
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
The projection of authenticity is one of the key pillars of marketing. Research reveals that consumers seek authenticity through the brands they choose. Based on extensive research with consumers and brand managers this book offers seven guiding principles for building brand authenticity.

Marketing

Author: Paul Baines
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019957961X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 792

Book Description
What is it that excites and interests your students? Reading first hand what skills top marketers really look for in graduates? Debating the benefits of using shock and fear appeals in advertising? Determining how to use social networking sites to successfully market a product? Marketing, Second Edition, presents marketing examples and issues from exciting real-life situations. Packed full of case studies from international organizations including Innocent, Orange, HMV, and Oxfam, it enables students to see first hand what top marketers actually do and how they tackle the decisions they have to make. The text also discusses the theory that supports those skills vital to marketing success across all areas of society, from dealing with skeptical consumers, selling products to the government, and deciding which pricing approach to adopt to the ethical implications of marketing to children and the best ways to use social networking sites in marketing efforts. Employing a lively writing style, the authors encourage students to explore beyond classical marketing perspectives and provoke them into thinking critically about how they would approach marketing issues. Links to seminal papers throughout each chapter also present the opportunity to take this learning further.

Retail Hell

Author: Freeman Hall
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1440508763
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Book Description
From Act I: "I think you left these behind," I said, handing them to her. This happens all the time when women try to return bags they've used. Tampons, lipstick, coins, Tic Tacs, and condoms are the top treasures found. "Greasy" let out a sigh as if I were the problem. "I really don't see what the problem is here. It's none of your business what I keep in my handbag." It is when my commission is at stake! I'm not your Designer Handbag Rental Service! My name is not BagBorrowOrSteal.com! This is a place Freeman Hall, a twenty-year veteran "on the floor," knows well. While delivering side-splitting stories alongside brutally cynical commentary, Freeman recounts his most shocking experiences in Retail Hell. From the time he was attacked by a customer's four-year-old, who grabbed onto his leg like a poodle and wouldn't let go, to the day he found the fitting room walls covered in s**t, Freeman has seen and heard (smelled and felt) it all! Horrifying and hilarious, this behind-the-scenes look at what really goes on at the Big Fancy Stores is rollicking, ready-to-wear wisdom for readers everywhere.

Ethics, Theory and the Novel

Author: David Parker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521452830
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
An exploration of the consequences for literature of the suppression of ethical traditions.

Poetics of Politics

Author: Sebastian M. Herrmann
Publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter
ISBN: 382536447X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
This volume proposes the ‘poetics of politics’ as an analytic angle to interrogate contemporary cultural production in the United States. As recent scholarship has observed, American literature and culture around the turn of the millennium, while still deeply informed by the textual self-consciousness of postmodernism, are marked by a rekindled interest in matters of social concern. This revived interest in politics is frequently read as a ‘grand epochal transition.’ Sidestepping such a logic of periodization, this book points to the interplay between the textual and the political as a dynamic – always locally specific – that affords unique insights into the characteristics of the contemporary moment. The sixteen case studies in this book explore this interplay across a wide range of media, genres, and modes. Together, they make visible a broad cultural concern with negotiating social relevance and textual self-awareness that permeates and structures contemporary US (popular) culture.

Bargain Fever

Author: Mark Ellwood
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1591847052
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
Almost half of everything sold in America is listed at some kind of promotional price. People don't only want a deep discount, they expect it - and won't settle for anything less. In this playful, deeply researched book, journalist Mark Ellwood takes a trip into this new landscape. From the floor of upscale department store Sergdorf Goodman to the bustling aisles of a Turkish bazaar, from the outlet Disneyworld of rural Pennsylvania to a town in Florida that can claim to be couponing's spiritual capital, Ellwood shows how some people are, quite literally, born to be bargain junkies thanks to a quirk of their DNA. He also uncovers the dark side of discounting: the sales-driven sleights of hand that sellers employ to hoodwink unsuspecting buyers. Bargain Feveris a manual for thriving in this new era, when deal hunting has gone from being a sign of indigence to one of intelligence. There's never been a better time to be a buyer - at least if you know how the game works. 'This book is a bargain hunter's bible.' Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home the Birkin'Bargain Fever is just as fierce, funny, tenacious, and tantalizing as its author. I love this book.' Kelly Cutrone, founder, People's Revolution, and author of Normal Gets You Nowhere'A book after my own heart. Bargain Fever lifts the veils off the sales, ensuring even more that you'll never pay retail again.' Carmen Wong Ulrich, financial contributor, CBS This Morning, and author of Generation Debt'Highly informative and entertaining.' Booklist

Pantone on Fashion

Author: Pantone, LLC
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452130523
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 131

Book Description
Follow global color authority Pantone on this vivid journey through the rich history of color in fashion. Favorite hues and their appearances across the decades are profiled in informative text and copiously illustrated by runway photos and archival images. Track Bright Marigold from its heyday in the 1940s as Hermès' identifying hue to its showstopping appearance in Carolina Herrera's Spring/Summer 2013 collection, and trace Cyber Yellow from 1960s mod style to Anna Sui's 1990s punk-inspired looks. Complete with a survey of the industry-defining PANTONE Color of the Year, PANTONE on Fashion is the ultimate guide to the timeless shades the fashion world loves to love.