When fashion columnist Lacey Smithsonian learns that a new fashion museum will soon grace decidedly unfashionable D.C., it's more than a good story-it's a chance to show off her vintage Hugh Bentley suit. And it's not long before the dapper designer himself spots Lacey in the crowd. A reporter at heart, she manages to get all the juicy details about his past-including a long-unsolved mystery about a missing employee. Could it be linked to the disappearance of a Washington intern or the recent Bentley boutique robbery? Lacey sets out to unravel the murderous details in a fabric of lies, greed-and (gasp!) very bad taste...
Based on interviews with victims, investigators, and the people who sell counterfeits, "Knockoff" reveals the link between what we see as innocent fakes and organized crime.
Driven by a counterintuitive thesis that has been highlighted in both The New Yorker and The New York Times¸ The Knockoff Economy is an engrossing and highly entertaining tour through the economic sectors where piracy both rules and invigorates.
New York Times bestselling author, Melissa Michaels, will inspire you to make your house a well-loved home. Her relatable style, unique voice, and practical decorating ideas have made her highly respected blog, The Inspired Room, a haven for fans of real-life style. Step inside Melissa's home as she shares lessons learned, inspiring photos, and encouraging insights to help you embrace your authentic style through doable improvements for every room; attainable decorating, organizational, and DIY solutions; transforming tips for lighting, color, and style; motivation to reclaim and organize small spaces Best of all, you don't need a big budget or perfect DIY skills to embrace Melissa's practical home decor philosophy. You'll return to this book again and again for inspiration to fall in love with the home you have.
Good news: You don’t have to sacrifice style just to pay your electric bill. Kathryn Finney, a.k.a. the Budget Fashionista, is the expert on all things chic and cheap. Now she opens up her Prada bag of shopping and style tips to make you fashionably frugal, with change to spare. It’s as easy as 1-2-3! 1. Know your budget: Learn innovative, money-saving ways to increase your clothing funds. 2. Know your style: Get helpful hints from fashion insiders and use them to develop your own mode of self-expression. 3. Know your bargains: Discover the art of scoring exclusive friends-and- family coupons for your favorite department stores Whether you’re a homemaker from Houston, a grandma from Grand Rapids, or an M.D. from Manhattan, you don’t need to break the bank to look your best. With great cost-cutting tips, at-home spa secrets, designer discount websites, and access to exclusive deals, The Budget Fashionista is like having your own personal stylist at your beck and call. So before you go out and commit the eighth deadly sin–buying a fake Louis Vuitton–read this must-have guide and learn to be style-smart and budget-wise!
The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.
“With Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, [Dana] Thomas—who has been the cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris for 12 years—has written a crisp, witty social history that’s as entertaining as it is informative.” —New York Times From the author of Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes Once luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. It offered a history of tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience. Today, however, luxury is simply a product packaged and sold by multibillion-dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits. Award-winning journalist Dana Thomas digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci, and Burberry don't want us to know. Deluxe is an uncompromising look behind the glossy façade that will enthrall anyone interested in fashion, finance, or culture.
To be successful in business you must be able to attract the right clients and persuade them to buy. However, on the internet, people only see what the search engines direct them to and the competition for those top spots is fierce. So how do you ensure that your business is front-and-center when prospects are searching for solutions? The answer is The Findability Formula. The Findability Formula is for anyone who wants to improve results from Internet marketing. The book is specifically written for business owners who are frustrated with a website that is not showing up in search results and not generating business. The Findability Formula will help readers understand how prospects and customers search for products and services on the Internet, and will show them, step-by-step, how to optimize their findability. The book will be a non-technical guide to effectively building and implementing, from the ground up, an Internet search marketing program that gets results. The reader will learn how paid search works, and how paid and organic search can work together to create optimum web visibility and reduce paid search costs over time. The basic message of the book is that there is a formula for findability and for converting prospects to purchasers. Readers' Benefits from The Findability Formula: * A complete step-by-step approach to search engine marketing applicable to any product or service, The Findability Formula will include easy-to-follow instruction from chapter to chapter as well as launch checklists in the appendix. * The most up-to-date search research and statistics available, including uncommon ways to connect with your online buyer. * Shows the reader how to avoid common search marketing mistakes that cost big money. How to not be bullied and take control of in-house e-commerce department strategies and SEM agencies. * A small company can compete successfully in search with larger, well-established competitors. How to work smarter to get even better search engine "findability". * Maximizes the reader's investment. The reader won't waste money by needlessly paying for "clicks" from customers who have no intention of buying. The investment in this book will be repaid thousands of times over. * Saves time, money and energy in creating in-house search marketing programs and properly tracking results by keyword. Negates the need to hire outside SEM agencies
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK “A con artist story, a pop-feminist caper, a fashionable romp . . . Counterfeit is an entertaining, luxurious read—but beneath its glitz and flash, it is also a shrewd deconstruction of the American dream and the myth of the model minority. . . . Chen is up to something innovative and subversive here." — Camille Perri, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Recommended by New York Times Book Review • Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • USA Today • Time • Cosmopolitan • Today show • Harper’s Bazaar • Vogue • Good Housekeeping • Parade • New York Post • Town & Country • GMA.com • Buzzfeed • Goodreads • Oprah Daily • Popsugar • Bustle • theSkimm • The Millions • and more! For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise—an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners. Money can’t buy happiness… but it can buy a decent fake. Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home—she’s built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava’s world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn’t been used in years, and her toddler’s tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point. Enter Winnie Fang, Ava’s enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business—someone who’d never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences. Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life. "If you appreciate a good caper, you’ll want to pick up Kirstin Chen’s novel . . . Fast-paced and fun, with smart commentary on the cultural differences between Asia and America." — TIME “Propulsive and captivating . . . A provocative story of fashion, friendship, and fakes (in more ways than one).” — VOGUE
