Book Report: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

It took a Katherine Heigl movie to get me to start reading Janet Evanovich's popular Stephanie Plum series.  I like mysteries, but my taste in them runs more toward the cozy (i.e., small-town incidents resolved by kindly old ladies) than the cold-blooded.  I'd heard that the Plum books fell into the latter camp, a rumor that was confirmed early on in this colorful, streetwise story. 

Stephanie Plum is a recently laid-off lingerie buyer in serious need of some money.  Evanovich pulls no punches in describing what it's like to be unemployed in New Jersey.  Yep, Steph is a Jersey girl, a Trenton girl to be exact, right down to her big hair and turquoise eyeliner (more on that later).  There are no comfy accounts of using the free time to catch up on home improvement projects or house-sit for elderly relatives, just unvarnished reports of stale Fig Newton lunches, repossessed vehicles, and, oh yeah, the hunting down of dangerous criminals who just happen to be high school boyfriends.  That's right.  Stephanie's sought gainful employment as a bounty hunter for her sleazy cousin's bail bond business.   So maybe it is a little contrived, a little charmed.  Just not in the way that I'm used to.

I'm not going to get into the plot.  Because I'm not really a plot kind of girl, and even if I tried it would go something like this: shooting-shooting-double-cross-shooting-shooting-drug bust-double-cross-shooting-surprise ending.  I'll just say that it was suspenseful.  And creepy.  So much so that I'm going to focus on the more normal parts, i.e, the fringes.  Here are the highlights:

"I spent some time on my hair, doing the blow-drying thing, adding some gel and some spray.  When I was done I looked like Cher on a bad day.  Still, Cher on a bad day wasn't all that bad.  I was down to my last pair of spandex shorts.  I tugged on a matching sports bra that doubled as a halter top and slid a big, loose purple T-shirt with a large, droopy neck over my head.  I laced up my hightop Reeboks, crunched down my white socks, and felt pretty cool."  (152)  (I feel the need to interject that our heroine wears an alarming amount of biker shorts.  Naturally, this phenomenon led me to check the copyright of the book.  It's 1994, which kind of checks out.)

"I grabbed the ultracool black and purple Gore-Tex jacket I'd purchased when I was of the privileged working class, and I headed for the parking lot.  This was the sort of day to read comic books under a blanket tent and eat the icing from the middle of Oreos.  . . . I pumped myself up by applying fresh lipstick.  There was no great surge of power, so I deepened the blue liner and added mascara and blush.  I checked myself out in the rearview mirror.  Wonder Woman, eat your heart out." (169-170)

Fashion, with a little food and reading thrown in.  Those are where my loyalties lie.

So, will I be embarking on the car chase that inevitably marks the rest of the Plum misadventures?  Probably not.  Although I liked Stephanie 's character and appreciated Evanovich's darkly witty writing, there's just too much grisliness at play for me to comfortably settle into this series.  I might rent the movie version of One for the Money when it comes out though, if only for comparison's sake.

So, I Fell in Love With a Man Named Stephen Burrows

I was browsing the Target online clearance section looking for clothes with personality (plain white tees need not apply) and was striking out until a crop of candy-colored garments the likes of which I'd never seen exploded onto the screen. Turns out they were part of one of those special by-designers-just-for-Target lines, and the designer guest star was Stephen Burrows. Having never heard of him, I hopped onto Google to see what he was all about. A visit to his site told me all I needed to know:

"Stephen Burrows is the first African American fashion designer to achieve international acclaim. After graduating from the Fashion Institution of Technology in 1966, Burrows began making clothing for the O Boutique, opposite Max's Kansas City in New York. Stephen's window displays literally stopped traffic, and the young designer was soon besieged with orders. With friend Roz Rubenstein, he launched a ready-to-wear collection for Bonwit Teller in 1969. Later that year Joel Schumacher, Henri Bendel's visual director (now film director), introduced Burrows to Bendel's legendary fashion director Geraldine Stutz, and he was hired on the spot.

Burrows, influenced by music, dance, and the body, produced revolutionary clothing that was soft, comfortable, and chic. His innovative designs, which made use of color and technique, were revolutionary during a time when American fashion was strongly influenced by the European design houses: very structured, heavy, and lined. With the advent of stretch fabrics such as wool and rayon jersey, Burrows crafted a close fit and slim silhouette. He originated a finishing touch -- the "lettuce edge" -- that became a signature and remains in the collection today. His designs became a foundation for signature American style.

Stephen Burrows' World opened at Henri Bendel in 1970 and thrust Burrows into the limelight. It was an immediate success. His client roster included Cher, Diana Ross, Lauren Bacall, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Lauren Hutton, and Barbara Streisand. The industry took notice, and Burrows was nominated for a Coty Award, fashion's highest honor, in both 1971 and 1972.

In 1973, renowned fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert organized a benefit fashion show at Versailles, France. The show was a collaboration between the United States and France. Participants included the most influential designers of the day -- Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, and Emanuel Ungaro representing France; Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, and Stephen Burrows representing the US. An international sensation, the event brought acclaim to American fashion for the first time. Noted for his extraordinary segment, which introduced color in ways never before seen on the runway, Burrows received rave reviews.

Following this success, Burrows was recognized with Coty Awards in 1973, 1974, and again in 1977. Urged by Halston to set up shop on Seventh Avenue, Stephen soon left Henri Bendel and opened his namesake business, quickly licensing products such as fragrances, sunglasses, and furs.

On February 13, 2002, "Stephen Burrows World" reopened in Henri Bendel with an event dubbed "the party of the season" by Vogue. The collection has been applauded by the New York Times, the American, French and Japanese editions of Vogue, Essence, and New York Magazine, among others. Stephen has been welcomed back to fashion with a star on the CFDA's Fashions Walk of Fame on Seventh Avenue.

2006 marks Stephen Burrow's 40th year as a designer. In June of this year, he was honored with the CFDA's Board of Directors Special Tribute Award. Currently, Stephen Burrows is available at fine stores in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

"BURROWS IN PARIS " Stephen Burrows presented his Spring Summer 2007 collection in October of this year as part of the French Fashion Week. Suzy Menkes of The International Herald remarked "He is the Master of matte jersey and colour combinations!"

Pretty fabulous, huh? After reading up, I scrambled back to target.com to order not one but four of the Burrows pieces, including the middle dress in the picture at the top of this post (at 50% off I couldn't help myself). Sure, they were meant to be worn in the summer, but as a self-professed layering queen, I know no such seasonal bounds. In fact, if I like how everything fits, then I plan on revisiting the site to snap up the rest of my favorites.

One of the fun things about shopping Target online is reading the shopper reviews. The response for the Burrows collection was split, with half the shoppers loving the fun, vibrant colors and the other half dismissing the designs as something dreamed up by kindergartners. I sort of dress like a five-year-old, so once I read that I knew I was onto something good.

I'll let you know how it all works out. Not that you won't be seeing them in some future edition of Photo Shoot Friday. :)