TWO BIRTHDAY BOOKS

My Aerian mate Annie was given two books for her birthday. They varied hugely in size but were both about style....................

THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF STYLE

By Nina Garcia, with illustrations by Ruben Toledo. Publisher - Collins

Nina Garcia is well known to Annie as a formidable fashion judge on one of her most favourite programmes, Project Runway. She is also a fshion director at Elle magazine. Ruben Toledo is a painter, sculptor , and illustrator whose work appears in many magazines and newspapers including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and the New York Times.

This is abook for women who like to be fasghionable and care about their appearance. And Toledo's illustrations are most appealing.

The book is full of great quotes, e.g.

One is never over - or underdressed with a little black dress. Karl Lagerfeld.

I have often said that I wish I had inveted blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes. Yves Saint Laurent.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Everyone's Mother.

VOGUE LIVING-HOUSES, GARDENS, PEOPLE

KNOPF, US $75

This is a whopper of a book, weighing in at several kilos, full of stories and sumptuous photographs taken from Vogue Living. Simply stunning. The epitome of the coffee table book. And the introduction by Hamish Bowles, editor in chief of Vogue Living is an excellent one setting the scene perfectly for what follows.