A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters by Penelope Rowlands

A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters Reviews

• 
  Karen Christino

  I read this bio of Harper's Bazaar editor Carmel Snow for research, so only completed about a third. But I'd recommend it to those interested in fashion in the first part of the 20th century, particularly in New York City and the magazine world. Great research, a compelling story, and the times are recreated with much thought and care. My only reservation were the author's personal asides which I found slightly intrusive. And the hardcover is a BIG book and not relaxing to handle.
• 
  Catherine Jeffrey

  A brilliantly researched and illustrated book about the life of Carmel Snow.
• 
  Asli Ozbek

  There are not so many books that bring together so many personalities of fashion world and make you discover different eras while reading a life story. A dash of daring" by Penelope Rowlands is one of them, a really good fashion read and long one, but it’s definitely worth the time. This book is not only the biography of one of the most important names in fashion history but it is also a mirror to the life and battle of an ambitious woman in the cruel publishing industry. The woman who said "Oh this is such a new look Christian” and changed the course of fashion history with one word is definitely someone interesting and the book testifies that there is a lot of hard work, behind a phrase that can be so simple. Understanding fashion, foreseeing fashion and influencing a whole industry is a business, but a business which requires a sensibility to style, beauty and to life. Carmel Snow was able to blend all this.
  The reader can say that the book has been written with a lot of research and evidence. Thanks to Penelope Rowlands for that. I believe anyone reading this book should also read the life of Diana Vreeland, and the story will be complete. For more info on the book visit
  www.fashiononbookshelves.com
  
• 
  Renee

  I absolutely loved this book. Not only was the topic interesting, but the writing was spot-on. The author mostly stayed objective and was able to show both the positive and negatives of Carmel's life story, but occasionally she would sneak in bits of humor and her own thoughts in a subtle and amusing way. I was very impressed by the author's way of combining so many stories and quotes into a narrative that really flowed and felt natural.
  
  As for the story, I found it unique as I realized I read a lot of books about people who struggled and "made it," but these characters were always well-off. It was fascinating to read about people in this world and how they lived and what they thought about and cared about. Carmel's dedication to fashion was incredible and exhausting, and completely focused. She was ruthless in many ways, and sometimes that served her well and sometimes it didn't. Very real. A marriage that was such in name only, and relationships that were often temporary, were very interesting to watch. I learned so much about fashion and history -- so much about Paris during the war, and so many fashion names that I've heard of but couldn't overlap before. I feel this book painted in many gaps in my awareness of culture and history while being just plain fascinating.
• 
  Elise

  About halfway through this book, I kind of started to wonder why I should care at all about this woman - sure, she had contact with lots of different important cultural figures throughout the middle of the 20th century, and she seemed to have a real handle on how to run a magazine, but in the end she seems like a pathetic alcoholic workhorse who isn't really doing anything important in society. She didn't write anything, sew anything, paint anything, take any pictures; she just edited the people who did. There were some interesting things about the progression of popular styles, but there weren't even close to enough photo examples of anything to really get a feel of how these new styles looked in context. Yawn.
• 
  JodiP

  I just loved this! What an interesting life Snow had, creating HB to the great magazine it was, and getting to meet and promote so many literary and artistic talents! The only way it could have been imporved is color photographs of some of the photos described in the text, as well as of designs by the different courture houses. Rowlands does an amazing job describing them, but pictures would have added a great deal more.
• 
  ₵oincidental Ðandy

  The keen fashion historian, the social history enthusiast, the fashion journalism student will all enjoy this tome on one of the twentieth century's great fashion editors (the first to emerge in a long line of memorable editors of fashion magazines since). A compelling biography not only of the woman herself, but the rivalry between Harper's Bazaar & Vogue and the constellation of personalities & happenings of her times.
• 
  Rebecca McKinney

  I had a hard time getting through this biography. As much as I love fashion magazines and history related to that industry, this book went into borderline excrutiating detail, even for me.
• 
  Rita

  Illuminating and engaging, but I wished for a more personal portrait of Miss Snow.