Rating: 
Summary: Funny quick read with some loose ends
Review: Lynn Messina's takes on the fashion magazine industry are witty, clever and insightful. I love Vig's cynical look into the work dynamic at Fashionista magazine -- a publication not unlike In Style magazine. Vig agrees to help three fellow associate editors bring down the magazine's egomaniac editor-in-chief. And that's when the fun begins...The writing is sharp and clever, but there are some loose ends throughout the book. For instance, Alex Keller, Vig's object of desire, isn't properly developed. There is no mounting of tension between them -- this subplot is so minuscule that it shouldn't have been there in the first place. It appears that the relationship bit is thrown in there for good measure. The story centers on office politics and, aside from a few drinking excursions with her best friend, there isn't much insight on Vig's personal life. Other than that, Fashionistas is a delightful reading experience. You don't read this for mental stimulation, but for sheer enjoyment it can't be beaten. Fashionistas is fun, feisty and easy to read -- just like a glossy magazine.
Rating:
Summary: I am fashion editor, hear me roar
Review: "Fashionista" is little more and little less than your average fluffy chick-lit book. Your single smart woman in a job-from-hell, some quirky coworkers and plenty of witty little observations. It's a guilty pleasure with a literate twist and a likably wry main character. Glossy magazine Fashionista is like "Seinfeld" -- it's about nothing. All they do is retread celebrity fashion of the moment, check out celebrity fashion of the past, and just about anything vapid involving celebrities. (Seeing a trend here?) Vig Morgan got involved in this magazine for the glamour, but finds that it's sadly lacking. Iron-rod editor-in-chief Jane McNeill is intent on keeping it vapid and celebrity-driven, even though her staff yearns to give the mag a little substance. Then a rebellion starts brewing in the ranks. Vig finds herself turned into the linchpin of a conspiracy to get controversial fashion artist Gavin Marshall and his Gilding the Lily (or, to be blunter, "Jesus in Drag" -- Jesus statues in designer women's garb) exhibit into the magazine. But will the uproar be enough to overturn Jane? Ever since the publication of "The Nanny Diaries," there have been a slew of my-job-is-hell-and-my-boss-is-a-demon books. "Fashionistas" manages to avoid the pitfalls of most books like that. The biggest pit that it DOES fall into is the not-a-relationship that Vig has with the mysterious Alex Keller -- it really adds nothing to the book, and just seems to take up pages that could be devoted to catty power struggles. Those catty power struggles are what make "Fashionista" so delicious at times. Vig's deadpan recounting of the quirky workplace characters is fun to read. While their oddities sometimes strain believability, they always manage to seem like people who could actually exist. And Messina does a decent job of lampooning the art world (Jesus statues with women's designer clothes), the fashion world, and magazines in general. Since she herself writes for magazines, it somehow doesn't seem surprising. Vig actually seems like a smart, interesting female lead. She doesn't whine constantly about her weight, her boyfriend, and grimly takes it in stride when she has to cover Cate Blanchett's "curly" phase. Sort-of-boyfriend Alex is a nonentity, and so are quite a few of Vig's coworkers. Maya is a good sidekick for Vig: She's an emotional mess with unpublished novels, a nasty ex, and many stages of grief. It's a nice beach-read. Or if you don't have a beach handy, then "Fashionista" is merely a pleasant light read with plenty of cattiness, fashion and inter-magazine power struggles.
Rating: 
Summary: Some potential- but little
Review: It's funny reading some of these negative reviews for chick-lit- often the complaints are "too predictable" or "shallow characters" etc- & all I can say is what do you expect? But if you're willing to overlook these things, then chick-lit is for you. I've read a handful of RDI novels & have not been impressed. This one, while not a good novel- has some potential. The characters are underdeveloped and the situations predictable and forced, but there are some nice moments & comments that Vig makes that seperates this novel from the other RDI novels, even if that thing is only one star more on my scale. This novel is better than say the confessional drippings of "The Lovely Bones"-mainly because Fashionistas is not trying to pass itself off for literature, while TLB is. Given the choice, I'd rather read this in a language I cannot understand than read terrible books like "The Lovely Bones" or "White Oleander" that take themselves seriously. Fashionistas is fluff and knows it. To rip into it too harshly would be like criticizing a soap opera for not being Othello. I say if you're gonna go after the chick-lit thing- this would be the one to go for. It is satirical in the beginning & I almost thought I'd pass it for a good book, but the last 100 pages drag on and the situations become boring without rich characters to pull them along. This novel would have worked better if it was shortened by half. This is just another example of how 99% of the novels are just WAY TOO LONG!
Rating: 
Summary: Cute little book...
Review: Kind of "The Devil Wears Prada"-lite. I love these behind-the-scenes books that go inside magazines or fashion houses. Yes, they're probably highly exaggerated, but they're definitely entertaining. Not as good as "Devil" in my opinion, but still a good, quick read.
Rating:
Summary: ok book
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book and was let down by it. I thought the character of "Maya" was completely unnessary and slowed things down. If her part was eliminated then there could have been more development of other characters. I would have liked to have found out what happened to Allison the psycho and to see if Deila ever got her raise. Not to mention, what happened with Alex and his degree. The plot that the girls have going is interesting and I find myself hoping that it will really work, then you get the bombshell about Marguarite (which is great) so you don't know how to cheer. And, the twist with Jane completely hit me by surprise! I would think the book would have moved faster if, like I said before, the character of Maya were eliminated. The author could have stretched out the "plot" against Jane a little more. It also would have been interesting to see what other things Deila dug up on people.
Rating:
Summary: Cute little book...
Review: Kind of "The Devil Wears Prada"-lite. I love these behind-the-scenes books that go inside magazines or fashion houses. Yes, they're probably highly exaggerated, but they're definitely entertaining. Not as good as "Devil" in my opinion, but still a good, quick read.
Rating:
Summary: ok book
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book and was let down by it. I thought the character of "Maya" was completely unnessary and slowed things down. If her part was eliminated then there could have been more development of other characters. I would have liked to have found out what happened to Allison the psycho and to see if Deila ever got her raise. Not to mention, what happened with Alex and his degree. The plot that the girls have going is interesting and I find myself hoping that it will really work, then you get the bombshell about Marguarite (which is great) so you don't know how to cheer. And, the twist with Jane completely hit me by surprise! I would think the book would have moved faster if, like I said before, the character of Maya were eliminated. The author could have stretched out the "plot" against Jane a little more. It also would have been interesting to see what other things Deila dug up on people.
Rating:
Summary: I am fashion editor, hear me roar
Review: "Fashionista" is little more and little less than your average fluffy chick-lit book. Your single smart woman in a job-from-hell, some quirky coworkers and plenty of witty little observations. It's a guilty pleasure with a literate twist and a likably wry main character. Glossy magazine Fashionista is like "Seinfeld" -- it's about nothing. All they do is retread celebrity fashion of the moment, check out celebrity fashion of the past, and just about anything vapid involving celebrities. (Seeing a trend here?) Vig Morgan got involved in this magazine for the glamour, but finds that it's sadly lacking. Iron-rod editor-in-chief Jane McNeill is intent on keeping it vapid and celebrity-driven, even though her staff yearns to give the mag a little substance. Then a rebellion starts brewing in the ranks. Vig finds herself turned into the linchpin of a conspiracy to get controversial fashion artist Gavin Marshall and his Gilding the Lily (or, to be blunter, "Jesus in Drag" -- Jesus statues in designer women's garb) exhibit into the magazine. But will the uproar be enough to overturn Jane? Ever since the publication of "The Nanny Diaries," there have been a slew of my-job-is-hell-and-my-boss-is-a-demon books. "Fashionistas" manages to avoid the pitfalls of most books like that. The biggest pit that it DOES fall into is the not-a-relationship that Vig has with the mysterious Alex Keller -- it really adds nothing to the book, and just seems to take up pages that could be devoted to catty power struggles. Those catty power struggles are what make "Fashionista" so delicious at times. Vig's deadpan recounting of the quirky workplace characters is fun to read. While their oddities sometimes strain believability, they always manage to seem like people who could actually exist. And Messina does a decent job of lampooning the art world (Jesus statues with women's designer clothes), the fashion world, and magazines in general. Since she herself writes for magazines, it somehow doesn't seem surprising. Vig actually seems like a smart, interesting female lead. She doesn't whine constantly about her weight, her boyfriend, and grimly takes it in stride when she has to cover Cate Blanchett's "curly" phase. Sort-of-boyfriend Alex is a nonentity, and so are quite a few of Vig's coworkers. Maya is a good sidekick for Vig: She's an emotional mess with unpublished novels, a nasty ex, and many stages of grief. It's a nice beach-read. Or if you don't have a beach handy, then "Fashionista" is merely a pleasant light read with plenty of cattiness, fashion and inter-magazine power struggles.
Rating:
Summary: Some potential- but little
Review: It's funny reading some of these negative reviews for chick-lit- often the complaints are "too predictable" or "shallow characters" etc- & all I can say is what do you expect? But if you're willing to overlook these things, then chick-lit is for you. I've read a handful of RDI novels & have not been impressed. This one, while not a good novel- has some potential. The characters are underdeveloped and the situations predictable and forced, but there are some nice moments & comments that Vig makes that seperates this novel from the other RDI novels, even if that thing is only one star more on my scale. This novel is better than say the confessional drippings of "The Lovely Bones"-mainly because Fashionistas is not trying to pass itself off for literature, while TLB is. Given the choice, I'd rather read this in a language I cannot understand than read terrible books like "The Lovely Bones" or "White Oleander" that take themselves seriously. Fashionistas is fluff and knows it. To rip into it too harshly would be like criticizing a soap opera for not being Othello. I say if you're gonna go after the chick-lit thing- this would be the one to go for. It is satirical in the beginning & I almost thought I'd pass it for a good book, but the last 100 pages drag on and the situations become boring without rich characters to pull them along. This novel would have worked better if it was shortened by half. This is just another example of how 99% of the novels are just WAY TOO LONG!
Rating:
Summary: All is Fair in Fashion & War!
Review: Vig Morgan finally worked her way out of the assistant-for-the-...-from-hell position for the chief editor, Jane McNeill, only to find herself one of many associate editors with no power and no hope of a promotion. Vig isn't like the other editors anyway. For one thing, she really could care less about who wore what where and what the latest trend is. She knows that the readers of Fashionista, the magazine where she works, are ready for something with a little more edge, a little more meat, but Jane is just not interested in new and fresh ideas. Vig was hopelessly stuck in what she thought would be her dream job with no real future until Marguerite, a new editor arrived. Turns out Jane and Marguerite are bitter enemies from back in the day when they were both underlings at their first major magazine job. Vig quickly takes a shine to Marguerite and her more progressive thinking and cannot stop herself from wondering what working at Fashionista would be like if Marguerite was the chief editor instead of Jane. Then the plot thickens... Vig's neighbor in the next cubicle over has developed a plan to depose Jane, which would ensure Marguerite's chief editor status. All they need to do is persuade Alex Keller, the mysterious events editor, to run a huge spread on Gavin Marshall, the new artist who dresses statues of Jesus in Christian Dior. There will be a public outcry over Fashionista's bad taste in running the story and Jane McNeill will be fired. And Vig is the lynchpin. The other girls need her to make sure this plan goes through. And crazily enough, Vig finds herself drawn into the game... I thought that this was an absolute riot. I loved reading this book! It was so funny and was really fast paced so that you felt like you were on this breakneck pace and would never be able to slow down again. In fact, sometimes it was so fast paced that I missed out on little details and personalities, but its not like this was meant to be a character study or anything. Vig is a great heroine who finds herself swept up in something bigger than herself and discovers that things are not always what they seem. The ending was a real surprise and just leaves you stunned at the end. This book was almost five stars, but it was just a little too short on personality development and ended just a little too abruptly. Still, this is a fun, fast "chick flick in a book" read that I think almost everyone would enjoy.
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