ALWAYS PACK A PARTY DRESS

In Always Pack a Party Dress, Brooks recalls her early career aspirations and explores the evolution of her own personal style along with stories of successes and failures alike, as well as fashion and beauty tips and inspiring photographs. A must-read for high fashion or street style aficionados, and gorgeously produced gift book, Brooks’ shares her expertise and insider view with warm, candid and often witty prose.

In the past twenty years, Brooks has created a unique place for herself in the fashion world. She spent the early years of her career as a photo assistant for Patrick Demarchelier, a “gallerina” at the Gagosian Gallery, and at various fashion posts before finding her dream job as fashion director for Barney’s New York. Along the way—and wearing more than a few of the outfits we’ve all regretted at one point or another—Brooks discovered the key to creating her personal style, combining influences as wide-ranging as childhood prep school, Grateful Dead concerts, contemporary artists, pop culture, and her current home outside of the fashion bubble, a well-worn farmhouse she shares with her family (and a host of animals) in the English countryside.

Since settling into a quieter lifestyle in the British countryside, Brooks has nevertheless maintained a major toehold in the fashion world—her home was recently used as a background location for the J. Crew catalog, and photos of her family farm in Oxfordshire have been incredibly popular on Instagram and on her blog. Brooks has collaborated recently with Zara, Bottega Veneta and other brands as well. Brooks has ties to all the major fashion publications of the world, and is often featured in popular “Street Style” articles online. You may have seen the New York Times piece about her Barney's exit; it was on the front page of the Style section at the time:http://goo.gl/avk9jB.

Amanda Brooks is the author of I Love Your Style: How to Define and Refine Your Personal Style. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and Men's Vogue, where she wrote the popular online column "In Her Eyes." She lives in Oxfordshire, England with her husband and two children.