The Power of Style, Signed to Ed Victor (The Swans)
[Signed to Literary Agent Ed Victor] Tapert, Annette. The Power of Style: The Women Who Defined the Art of Living Well. First Edition. 1994. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. This copy is inscribed, “For Carol & Ed, My favorite couple who have the greatest combination of all—style with extreme, sublime substance.” Co-written with Diana Edkins.
Truman Capote’s legendary Swans have never really been out of style, but this book, published in the mid-1990s, renewed interest in them. Babe Paley, Gloria Guinness, Slim Keith, and C.Z. Guest are covered in a special section in the book under the heading “The Swans” with a half-page quote by Truman Capote. Their inclusion was a natural progression for this book’s author, Annette Tapert, who had co-written Slim Keith’s memoirs several years earlier. The book introduced the great 20th Century tastemakers to a younger and appreciative audience. In addition to the Swans, it includes heiresses like Daisy Fellowes and Millicent Rogers. More typical, however, are the women whose beauty and style practically demanded that they marry into great fortunes—the Swans (of course) and also Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Pauline de Rothschild. Rounding out the group are those whose energy and creativity paid their own way—Diana Vreeland, Coco Chanel, and Elsie de Wolfe.
“[The Swans] have enjoyed a renewed currency as style icons. Their clothes have been copied by designs, and a great many people now know what is meant by a Babe Paley luncheon shift or the Slim Keith trouser look or a C.Z. Guest twin set.”
--Annette Tapert