Alexa Chung Archives - shell chic'd

Oh coffee table books, I love you so. I promise I will one day grow up a bit and purchase an actual coffee table to display you on.

Here are a few titles currently on my radar…!

Lessons from Madame Chic:: I find French style so incredible… how do they make it look so effortless? There are tons of books out there on how to master the Parisian closet, but I’ve heard the best things about this title.

Preppy:: Despite not being fond of its rather stuck-up subtitle [Cultivating Ivy Style], I’ve been eager to get my hands on this book… I can’t resist vintage preppy photography and love hearing about how brands like Lilly and Ralph Lauren became what they are today.

Kate’s Style:: I have an actual folder full of my magazine clippings of Kate Middleton’s outfits, and there are probably hundreds of images littering my Pinterest boards as well. To have a scrapbook of my style icon’s best looks all in one place, well, that would be a delight.

It:: Already have this Alexa Chung masterpiece. Still keep picking it up for daily inspiration. Read my review here.

American Fashion Cookbook:: But honestly, why didn’t I publish this first?

The Fashion Insider’s Guide: New York:: Mama got me this for Christmas, and I cannot WAIT to revisit NYC with this sweet little guide!

Just Being Audrey: I may or may not already have an extensive collection of Audrey Hepburn titles, but this children’s book about my girl Aud has yet to make it to my shelves.

American Fashion Travel:: I love-love-love fashion books that more resemble a scrapbook than anything else.

Grace: A Memoir:: Shamefully, I have not yet read Grace Coddington’s recent memoir. Next on my list, you better believe.

Have you read any of these titles? What are your favorite fashion books?

I can’t even begin to tell you how fun this book is. Fashion–literally–it girl Alexa Chung’s part memoir//part scrapbook//part style guide is exactly the sort of piece I would want to put together if I ever had the chance to be published. I could hardly put it down over the course of a weekend, and now I’m constantly grabbing it for inspiration.

I don’t think it was until I read this book that I realized what an impact the Spice Girls, Britney Spears circa Baby One More Time, and even Wednesday Addams had on the female world. Chung is hysterically honest in her analysis of the past few decades of fashion and the effect they had on her career in the industry. And at the same time, she makes you stop and think, huh, where did my flair for flannel come from?**