War Paint: Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden- Their Lives, their Times, their Rivalry - Hardcover

Woodhead, Lindy

3.68

509 ratings by Goodreads

9781860499746: War Paint: Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden- Their Lives, their Times, their Rivalry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1860499740 ISBN 13: 9781860499746

Publisher: Virago, 2003

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War Paint is the story of two remarkable women - Miss Elizabeth Arden and Madame Helena Rubinstein. Between them they left an extraordinary legacy which touches the lives of virtually all women today: the creation of the modern cosmetics and beauty industry.
War Paint will trace the humble beginnings of both Arden and Rubinstein and examine the forces and influences that drove them. The book will also look at the period in which they lived, without which their phenomenal achievement cannot be truly appreciated.
The similarities between the two are intriguing: dedicated to beauty, neither were great beauties themselves. They were both diminutive in size, if not in the size of their ego. They were both born into genteel poverty and were motivated by money and the creation of their businesses, to the exclusion of almost everything else. They were both avid social climbers and desperately thrifty. They also hated each other.
This is the story of an industry, of a social movement and of a great rivalry. Gripping, glamorous and totally absorbing, this is social history at its best.

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Review:

Glamorous Battleaxes make good copy. Feuding ones are better still. Given a title like WAR PAINT . . . one is all set for a tale of glamour-dripping hissy fits (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)

fantastically rich in its detailing of 20th century cultural and social history. . . Beautiful illustrated endpapers add the final luxury touch (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)

what a relief it is to read so detailed, well researched and competent a book. . . Woodhead knows her stuff and takes it seriously (SUNDAY TIMES)

Woodhead tells the reader that her publisher called her research 'breathtaking (and I quite agree.')

Book Description:

* A fascinating and glamorous linked biography of the two movers and shakers of the modern beauty industry - Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein
* Drawing on new sources including personal correspondence

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