New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. First edition - A memoir which contrasts the lives of two women - the author's mother, .
Audrey Morgen Volk, an upper-middle-class New Yorker, a great beauty and the polished hostess at her familyÕs garment district restaurant - and Elsa SchiaparelliÑÒSchiapÓÑthe haute couture designer whose creations shocked the world and blurred the line between fashion and art. . . . Moving seamlessly between the VolksÕ Manhattan and Florida milieux and SchiapÕs life in Rome and Paris (among friends such as Dal’, Duchamp, and Picasso), this contrasts AudreyÕs traditional notions of domesticity with SchiaparelliÕs often outrageous ideas into a marvel-filled, meditation on beauty and show how both influenced Patricia. Illustrated throughout with photographs. Bibliography. 280 pp plus a final section of 8 photographs.