Sports Stars, Vol. 2 Book

I received this book as a gift and it took me some time to get to it, but once I started reading, I couldn't stop. It reads like a mix of biography and dishy tell all and takes you deep into the glorified and narcissistic worlds of Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s.

Beautifully written, extraordinarily researched ( with over 500 interviews), you are transported back to the lavish excesses of the 70s at every turn of the page. Although the book concentrates on fashion as lived by the rival camps of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, its scope is much broader. Throughout a narrative that reads as compellingly as fiction, the author analyzes the socio-cultural events that shaped the Paris fashion world.

Despite the superficial nature of the worlds they lived in and their countless personal foibles, that included sex, drugs and a gluttonous appetite for power, you can't help but become attached to these supremely talented characters.

This book would make a wonderful gift for anyone interested in fashion, Paris or history.