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DEC
2007 06
Books

Manolo’s Holiday Gift Books for Him

Manolo says, it is Christmas time, and you have already bought your man the tasteful, Manolo-approved tie, and the slippers, and the power drill, but you also wish to entertain and please him with the gift of reading.

Allow the Manolo to be your guide by suggesting for you three books your man would enjoy.

The Perfect Book for the Man Who Would Be Well Dressed

Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion by Alan Flusser

This book, Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion is the Bible of fashion for the man. If your husband, or boyfriend, or your man of other significance does not have this book on his dressing table, you must buy it for him. It gives clear, practical advice, from which any man who wishes to know about clothes will benefit.

The Funniest Historical Novels Ever Written

Flashman

Politically incorrect, sexist, cavalier, ribald, but also historically accurate (sort of) and absolutely hilarious, these are The Flashman Papers. Start your man with the first book and he will buy the rest of the series himself, thanking you profusely for introducing him to this brilliant series.

The Rippingest of Yarns

The Places In Between by Rory Stewart

Here is the challenge: grab the dog and the back pack, put on some tribal costumery, and hike across the length of war-torn, Taliban-ridden Afghanistan…in the middle of winter. Later produce the smart and beautifully written account of your unlikely survival. This is The Places In Between.

DEC
2007 06
Manolo's Internet Friends

The Big Question

Manolo says, the Big Girls ask, what is your signature scent?

For the Manolo, his signature scent is the heady combination of bay rum, old leather, rendered beef suet, and bourgeois self-satisfaction.

DEC
2007 06
Project Runway

Project Runway 4, Episode Four

Manolo says, ayyyy! Poor Chris, the Manolo was not ready for you to leave. Indeed, he found you to be among the most tolerable of this season’s personalities, especially when compared to the perpetually weepy/bitchy/whiney/annoying/moderately- untalented Ricky.

Chris, you were the sweet and charmingly funny grown-up person, and the Manolo devoutly wishes you had done better. Your outfit was not great, but it was by no means the worst, and your challenge (to make shoulder pads acceptable) was among the most difficult of all. The mistake in this case was to decide in favor of the 80s evening wear shoulder pads, instead of the much more trendy, 1940’s pencil skirt and shoulder pads. You went for Alexis Carrington when you should have aimed at Jane Russell and Barbara Stanwyk.

And so you were frog-marched off stage by Heidi, with the mocking jackal’s voice of Donna Karan (with her phoney-baloney, fake sincere smile) ringing in your ears.

Oh, how the Manolo wept bitter tears for 3.6 milliseconds, the exact amount of time he devoted to your made-for-television plight, before he returned to loathing Ricky.

As for the contest, this has the orange-stained hands of Michael Kors all over. Take three outdated and awful trends and revamp them in something anodyne that can be sold to the unsuspecting masses of fashion dunderheads. Brilliant!

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