Book Review: D.V.

(Bought with a gift card at Barnes and Noble) A delightful romp through the worlds of fashion and celebrity as Diana Vreeland, editor at Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and director of the costume collection at the Metropolitan Museum, reviews her storied life. This slim memoir reads like a monologue since she often addresses the reader as if we were right there in her apartment with her. You can just see her gesturing and pointing to objects. I suspect that editors George Plimpton and Christopher Hemphill sat down with her and told her to just start talking. Then they edited what she said into chapters. It reminded me of the solo play Full Gallop from 1996 in which Mary Louise Wilson played Vreeland and spoke to the audience as if we were guests. Vreeland knew everyone from Buffalo Bill to Jack Nicholson and offers enchanting anecdotes on Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (she's a bit too nice to the Nazi-sympathizing Duke), Clark Gable, Gypsy Rose Lee, the Kennedys, her boss at Harper's William Randolph Hearst, etc. She claims to have been in the same hotel when the Night of the Long Knives took place, got out of Paris just before the Nazis invaded, punched Swifty Lazar in the nose, and saw Charles Lindbergh flying over head as she picnicked. Whether these are true or not, it makes for a good story and a good read. Also advice on what to wear, how to do your nails, hair, shoes, food, etc. Like a chat with a divinely mad aunt.