I'll Drink to That: A Life in Style, With a Twist - Hardcover

Halbreich, Betty

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594205701 ISBN 13: 9781594205705

Publisher: Penguin Pr, 2014

Synopsis

Eighty-six-year-old Betty Halbreich is a true original. A tough broad who could have stepped straight out of Stephen Sondheim’s repertoire, she has spent nearly forty years as the legendary personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman, where she works with socialites, stars, and ordinary women off the street. She has helped many find their true selves through clothes, frank advice, and her own brand of wisdom. She is trusted by the most discriminating persons?including Hollywood’s top stylists?to tell them what looks best. But Halbreich’s personal transformation from a cosseted young girl to a fearless truth teller is the greatest makeover of her career.

A Chicago native, Halbreich moved to Manhattan at twenty after marrying the dashing Sonny Halbreich, a true character right out of Damon Runyon who liked the nightlife of New York in the fifties. On the surface, they were a great match, but looks can be deceiving; an unfaithful Sonny was emotionally distant while Halbreich became increasingly anguished. After two decades, the fraying marriage finally came undone. Bereft without Sonny and her identity as his wife, she hit rock bottom.

After she began the frightening process of reclaiming herself and started therapy, Halbreich was offered a lifeline in the form of a job at the legendary luxury store Bergdorf Goodman. Soon, she was asked to run the store’s first personal shopping service. It was a perfect fit.

Meticulous, impeccable, hardworking, elegant, and?most of all?delightfully funny, Halbreich has never been afraid to tell it to her clients straight. She won’t sell something just to sell it. If an outfit or shoe or purse is too expensive, she’ll dissuade you from buying it. As Halbreich says, ?There are two things nobody wants to face: their closet and their mirror.” She helps women do both, every day.

About this title

Review:

Meet Betty Halbreich, fashion fixer of Fifth Avenue (Daily Mail)

Sartorial style becomes a philosophy of life in this spirited memoir ... Halbreich comes across as sage and gracious as she narrates a life full of incident, taking us inside the fashion industry and one of its great institutions (Publisher's Weekly)

In this superbly entertaining, surprisingly poignant memoir, Halbreich proves that fashion is about so much more than clothes: it's a reflection of personal identity and self-worth, whether you buy your outfits at Walmart or Bergdorf (BookPage)

Halbreich has much wisdom to impart in I'll Drink to That (Independent)

Book Description:

The amazing life story of legendary New York stylist and personal shopper Betty Halbreich, the inspiration for a forthcoming HBO television series in development by Lena Dunham.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Pr
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1594205701
• ISBN 13: 9781594205705
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272