Grace Mirabella, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for 17 years and founder of Mirabella magazine, tells (with the help of a coauthor) of her 38 years working in the fashion industry. Born to immigrant Italians and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Mirabella attended one of the finest women's colleges, ran with a society crowd, and through admirable persistence worked her way to the top of Vogue magazine. Her tale of life at Vogue is repugnant yet fascinating. While neither talent nor skill was required to land a job there in the 1950s, a pedigreed bloodline or a certain "look" could land you in the editor's chair. Mirabella tells of working under a bevy of vacuous prima donnas obsessed with their own visions, who never bothered with the day-to-day administration of the magazine and as a result nearly ran it into the ground. Interesting for its portrayal of intrigue and plotting in the dog-eat-dog world of high fashion, her book also provides a great historical perspective on society, style, and fashion. Ultimately though, this book is somewhat disappointing, for she never really condemns the industry for its shallowness. Kathleen Hughes

In this forthright, anecdotal memoir, Grace Mirabella describes her journey through the exciting and treacherous worlds of fashion, glossy magazines, and high society. Apprenticed to the outrageous Diana Vreeland, she put up with the temper tantrums and fits of pique and genius of some of the most sought-after creative minds of the era. She also saw everything she thought was wrong with fashion magazines: the distance from reality, the disinterest in real women and their lives, the disregard for money. When she succeeded Vreeland as Vogue's editor in chief in the 1970s, Mirabella redesigned and redefined the magazine. By the end of her seventeen-year term with Vogue, its readership had tripled. But in the 1980s, Grace was very publicly fired. Displaying the strength, grace, and sheer style for which she has come to be known, within months she had taken the helm of a brand-new magazine, the national award-winning Mirabella.