Garance Dore Love x Style x Life ( Book review and recommendation / Ogled i preporuka knjige)

When you title your blog post ‘book review and recommendation’, you’re basically inserting a spoiler in your title. If you’re recommending the book, then you must have liked it. Yes, I can’t argue with that. To tell you the truth, when I’m writing book reviews, I don’t like to keep my readers in suspense. Hence I will tell you right away that I really enjoyed reading this book. What motivates me to me write any book review is the fact that I want to talk about it and share that (preferably positive) experience. Very rarely will I be motivated to write in length about some book that I didn’t fancy because well that just doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? There would have to be some specific reason to prompt me to do something like that.

Now that is settled, let’s talk about this book. First of all, it is visually stunning. The design is fantastic, the layout is gorgeous and the pages are very thick. You visual tipes will love it for all those lovely illustrations and photographs it contains. You don’t need a book holder for this book and by that I mean that it is the kind of book that is really easy to hold open while reading. If you want  to read a book that will rest on your lap while you’re sprawled on a sofa, search no further. This is the book for you. I do really like the format of this book. When carried in hand, it feels a bit heavy but in a good way because you know there is a lot in there. Just owning this book will probably make you feel at least a bit more stylish. That would be all about design of the book itself. Now, we’re going to talk about the content.

Kada stavite za naslov svoje objave "Ogled i preporuka knjige", onda u stvari stavljate spoiler u sami naslov. Preporučujete li neku knjigu, onda vam se sigurno svidjela. Da, to je tako, ako ćemo iskreno kada pišem oglede knjige, onda ne volim držati čitatelje u nekom iščekivanju tako da ću vam odmah reći da mi se doista svidjelo čitanje ove knjige. Ono što me motivira za pisanje bilo kojeg ogleda knjiga je činjenica da želim pričati o njemu i podijeliti svoje (poželjno bi bilo ugodno) iskustvo. Doista rijetko ću nešto duže napisati o nekoj knjizi koja mi se nije svidjela zato jer to baš i nije nešto što nam se da, zar ne? Za to bi trebao postojati neki poseban razlog.

Sada kada smo to riješili, idemo pričati o ovoj knjizi. Za početak je vizualno predivna. Dizajn i raspored je fantastičan, a stranice nisu tanke. Vi koji ste vizualni tipovi ćete je zavoljeti zbog njenih divnih ilustracija i fotografija.  Ne treba vam držač za knjige za obu knjigu i pri tome mislim da je to onakva knjiga koju je lako držati otvorenom dok čitate. Tražite li za čitanje knjigu koja je vam ležati u krilu dok ste izvaljeni na kauču, onda ne tražite dalje. Ovo je knjiga za vas. Doista mi se sviđa format ove knjige. Kada se nosi u ruci, malo je teža, ali na dobar način jer znate da unutra ima puno dobrih stvari. Sama činjenica da imate ovu knjigu će vjerojatno učiniti da se osjećate kao da imate stila. To bi bilo sve o samom dizajnu knjigu, sada ćemo pričati o sadržaju.

 

What is this book by Garance Dore about? What is its content? This book is, as its title would imply, about love, style and life. Content of this book is a fascinating mixture of something that seems to have fallen out of blog posts, fashion and art magazines, style guides, those ‘How to be Parisian?’ books (that have been all the rave lately) and autobiography. Did I mention that it also contains interviews with stars?  Say what? Interviews, autobiography, fashion illustrations, New York and Paris comparisons, …how does it all tie up together? Well, the surprising thing is that it all ties up nicely.  Nothing feels out of place. Every chapter feels like it belongs in there.  What does Garance talk about in this book? Hm, she talks about just about anything. Garance narrates her life story, right from her childhood on Corsica to her success in the fashion world. She does it in a very candid and humours way. Moreover, she gives lessons in style, shares her beauty and fashion secrets and many anecdotes from her life. She talks about women who inspire her. I always love to hear and see women being appreciative of other women.

O čemu je ova knjiga Garance Dore? Što je njen sadržaj? Knjiga je kao što bi njen naslov dao navjestiti, o ljubavi, stilu i životu. Njen sadržaj je fascinatna mješavina nećega što izgleda kao da je ispalo iz objava, modnih i umjetničkih časopisa, stilskih vodiča, onih kako biti Parižanka knjiga koje su toliko popularne u zadnje vrijeme i autobiografije. Jesam li spomenula da su ti i razgovori s zvijezdama? Što? Razgovori, autobiografija, modne ilustracije, usporedbe Pariza i New Yorka....kako se to sve povezuje? Iznenađujuće je da se sve dobro povezuje. Ništa nije nezgrapno, sve se čini na svom mjestu, svako poglavlje pripada u knjigu. O čemu Garance priča u svojoj knjizi? Pa priča skoro o svemu. Priča svoju životnu priču, od svoga djetinjstva na Corsici do uspjeha u modnom svijetu i to čini na vrlo iskren i humorističan način. Nadalje, ona nam daje stilske lekcije, svoje modne i kozmetičke tajne i puno anegdota iz svoga života. Govori o ženama koje je nadahnjuju. Uvijek volim vidjeti i čuti žene koje cijene druge žene.

I ventured into reading this book blindly, without any expectations. I think it goes without saying that I didn't have any prejudices. It is not like I think that people who love fashion are shallow ( I mean I sort of have my own fashion blog so....). Nevertheless, the dept of some parts of  this book took me a bit by surprise....and what a pleasent surprise it was! Before reading this book, I haven’t really known who Garance Dore was. When I really really think about it, I remember reading about her and seeing her photograph in newspapers at least once, but it is not like it stayed with me. That all obviously changed when I read this book. Having loved the book so much, it is no surprise that now I’m a reader of her blog as well.

Krenula sam u čitanje ove knjige bez očekivanja. Mislim da se podrazumijeva da nisam imala predrasude i da ne mislim da su ljudi koji vole modu plitki (ipak na neki način imam i sama modni blog). No, svejedno me ugodno iznenadila dubina nekih dijelova ove knjige. Prije nego što sam pročitala knjigu, nisam znala tko je Garance Dore. Sada kada malo razmislim, sjećam se da sam čitala o njoj i vidjela njenu fotografiju u novinama barem jednom, ali nije mi baš ostala u glavi. To sve sve očito promijenilo kada sam pročitala ovu knjigu. Naravno s obzirom koliko mi se svidjela, nije ništa neobično što sam sada čitatelj i njenoga bloga.

I have a feeling that everyone could find something they like in this book. It feels very universal and I'm sure that even someone who isn't particularly interested in fashion or style could find it very interesting. In fact, what I liked most about this book is that there are so many different elements to it but it still feels very personal.  There are very deep passages in this book, for example when the author speaks about the elegance of the heart. For me personally, that was the best part of the book. There is wisdom to be found in this book, I kid you not. What does reading of this book feels like? It feels like holding a blog in your hand, or at least if such a thing was possible I think it would feel like this. There is a sense of a proper ending as well as that of a proper start....and what comes in between is lots of fun but at the same time also food for the thought. I can't really compare it with other books, not only because it is an unique mix  but also because I don't usually read books about fashion. However, if there are more fashion books like this one, I have been missing out! Have you read any books about fashion? Have you read any good books recently?

Imam osjećaj da svatko može pronaći nešto što će mu se svidjeti u ovoj knjizi. Čini se dosta široko primjenjivom i sigurna sam da će se i nekome koga ne zanima posebno moda i stil biti zanimljiva. Zapravo, što mi se jako sviđa kod ove knjige je da u njoj ima jako puno različitih elemenata, a opet se čini osobnom. Ima jako dubokih dijelova u ovoj knjizi, na primjer kada autorica govori o eleganciji srca. Za mene osobno to je najbolji dio. Kakav je osjećaj čitati ovu knjigu? Pa kao da imate blog u rukama, doista kada bi to bilo moguće, mislim da bi imalo takav osjećaj. Postoji osjećaj pravoga kraja, ali i početka...a ono između je jako zabavno, ali u isto vrijeme i vrijedno razmišljanja. Ne mogu je usporediti s drugim knjigama  , ne samo zato što je jer je dosta posebna, već i zato što baš i ne čitam knjige o modi. No, ako ima još ovakvih, onda sam puno toga propustila! Jeste li pročitali neku knjigu o modi? Jeste li u zadnje vrijeme pročitali neku dobru knjigu?

To conclude, this is an amazingly uplifting and positive book. It is a fascinating mix of many themes  and somehow it manages to be both light and deep. I can't set a finger to what genre it belongs to, it seems to exist somewhere between autobiography, style guide and illustration book. That all being said, I love it for its uniqueness so I couldn't care less for how it is going to be labelled. I immensely enjoyed reading it. If you buy it, you probably won’t regret it. If you don’t want to buy it, consider borrowing it from the library. It’s packed with tons of useful advice, it is well written and it really shows the personality of the author. Garance really shines through in this book. So, if you are fan of hers, you'll love this book! The only way you could not like this book is that you happen to dislike the author on a personal level, but that's almost impossible, she's so darn adorable. You'd have to be crazy not to find her loveable.

Da zaključim, ovo je nevjerojatno pozitivna knjiga koje vas može i oraspoložoti. Zanimljiva je mješavina puno različitih tema i nekako uspijeva biti i lagana i duboka. Ne mogu je žanrovski odrediti. čini mi se da postoji u nekom prostoru između autobiografije, stilskoga vodiča i knjige ilustracija. Što se toga tiča, volim je baš takvu kakva jest i briga me kako bi je trebalo definirati. Jako sam uživala u samom čitanju. Kupite li je, vjerojatno nećete požaliti, no ako je ne mislite kupite, razmislite o tome da je posudite iz knjižnice. U njoj ima puno korisnih savjeta, dobro je napisana i doista pokazuje osobnost autorice. Garance doista sjaji sa svake stranice pa tako ako ste obožavatelj sigurno će vam se svidjeti. Jedini način da vam se ne svidi ova knjiga je da nju osobno ne volite, ali to je skoro pa nemoguće kada je tako slatka. Morali biste biti ludi da vam ne bude simpatična. 

This book was a gift from Lera. Check out her blog here. I received this book last February and read it the same day it arrived. I've picked it up a few more times after that, most recently this May when I needed something to cheer me up during those rainy days. Thank you Lera for sending this book to me. It was such an expected and precious gift. I truly appreciate it. 

Ova knjiga je Lerin poklon. Pogledajte njen blog ovdje. Ova knjiga mi je stigla prošle veljače, a pročitala sam je istoga dana. Nekoliko puta sam je ponovo uzela u ruke, posljednji put ove veljače kada mi je trebalo nešto da me oraspoloži tijekom onih kišnih dana. Hvala ti Lera na ovoj knjizi. Bio je to neočekivan i divan poklon i doista ga cijenim.