A thoroughly engaging glimpse into a colorful life well lived.
The supermodel’s sunlit path through life and fame’s peaks and valleys.
In her vibrant memoir, Brinkley recounts her ascent from being discovered by Elle photographer Errol Sawyer outside a Paris phone booth to becoming an icon during the dawn of “supermodels.” Her luminous career spans covers of Glamour, Sports Illustrated, and Vogue, alongside an unprecedented 25-year CoverGirl contract—a remarkable longevity that outlasted many contemporaries whose careers faded in their 30s. She offers a shrewd insider’s perspective on the evolving industry landscape, respectfully acknowledging her peers and detailing the challenges of the actual work of modeling, while revealing the fierce competition among agencies fighting for exclusive representation. Throughout, Brinkley maintains the sunny optimism that became her signature across five decades in the public eye. This optimism has guided her through an often tumultuous personal life. “There are many things in my life I can’t explain, and for that, I feel incredibly fortunate,” she writes. “It’s part of the magic and mystery of being alive. And I’d much rather live in the magic than dwell on the misery.” Brinkley candidly addresses childhood abuse by her biological father (she was later adopted by Don Brinkley) and her four marriages, including to rock star Billy Joel, and a brief union with Richard Taubman, who repeatedly “asked to ‘borrow’ money.” She recounts tragedies—a near-fatal helicopter crash and the sudden death of former lover Oliver Chandon de Brailles in a racing accident. While not necessarily forthcoming about her own potential shortcomings in these relationships, she nevertheless balances her assessment of Joel, Taubman, and others with an understanding of each individual’s complexity. This isn’t a tell-all. Brinkley’s likability remains infectious throughout. Despite advantages from her beauty, fame, and wealth, she demonstrates awareness of how her platform can advance causes from human and animal rights to environmental protection.
A thoroughly engaging glimpse into a colorful life well lived.Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780063385757
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper Influence/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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