FALLING OUT OF FASHION starts with the worst and goes
backward. When we
meet future media darling Jill White, its right as she's
beginning to lose
creative control of the eponymous magazine that started out
as her baby. The
story then travels backward to show how the foundation by
which Jill
eventually became the sassy editorial genius who we'll
eventually meet.
Yampolsky goes back to Jill's upbringing on a Georgia
commune with hippie
parents and a love of fishing, to her prep school days in
New England where
she sticks out like a sore thumb, to a decision to move to
New York and work
in publishing that eventually leads to the social and
industry connections that
make Jill a household name. Sensing a gap in the women's
publishing market,
Jill decides to form a magazine that will focus on the other
side of women's
issues: instead of how to lose weight, the magazine will
focus on rich
desserts and enjoying food; rather than telling how to keep
your man happy,
Jill will tell you how to lose a loser.
By the time the story catches up to the near present, Jill
White is definitely
living the glamorous life. Jill Magazine is doing well, Jill
herself is married to a
great guy, and her position as a media wunderkind and
fashionista is
solidified by her industry connections, killer wardrobe, and
reputation as a
savvy media expert. But when her magazine's parent company
is swallowed
by a media giant, Nestrom, things start to come apart at the
seams.
Nestrom's new publisher and CEO have an entirely different
vision than the
one Jill originally imagined for Jill magazine, and as their
ambition slowly
begins to take over, Jill begins to wonder if she's being
pushed out of the
niche publication that she helped to found. At the same
time, Jill's home life
begins to suffer as she dedicates more and more time to the
magazine, and
has less time to focus on her marriage and efforts to have a
child using in
vitro fertilization.
The professional tell-all novel seems to be all the rage
these days, and
FALLING OUT OF FASHION is at the top of its game in an
otherwise
oversaturated market. As the former assistant to Jane
editor-in-chief Jane
Pratt, Karen Yampolsky tells a story that, while obviously
semibiographical, is
entertaining, fun to read, and interesting to boot. Along
with that, there's
also plenty of good celebrity dish for those who read these
books simply to
catch the celebrity references. For those in the know,
several thinly veiled
characters from Pratt's life at the top of the celebrity
food chain are included,
such as Drew Barrymore, JFK Jr, Pamela Anderson, Kate Moss,
and Lindsay
Lohan... all of whom are easily recognizable if you take the
time to read
between the lines. However, unlike The Devil Wears
Prada or Because She
Can, I actually found this book to be relatable and down
to earth. Yampolsky
portrayed the character of Jill White as a flawed heroine
who struggled with
personal battles as well as professional ones, but
persevered on both sides to
become a woman who girls and women alike could emulate and
admire. While
tell-all novels are a dime a dozen these days, FALLING OUT
OF FASHION is at
the top of its class.
Flash forward several years and a couple of giant leaps up
the career ladder, and Jill has it all. Jill magazine is a
huge hit, and her fabulous life comes complete with free
designer clothes, an abundance of celeb friends, a
shamelessly huge salary, and a framed Time magazine cover
in her office featuring her beaming face over the
legend, “Jill White, Media Wunderkind.” Now that mega-
successful Nestrom Media has taken over Jill’s parent
company, its future should be assured. Jill shares the
fifteenth floor of the Nestrom building with illustrious
Fashionista magazine, and the Nestrom suits are panting
with admiration for both Jill and Jill.
But the ashes from the postcoital cigarette have barely hit
the floor before Jill’s new bosses start barking about
getting ad revenue up and toning down articles like “His
penis is not a toy…or is it?” in favor of fluff pieces with
the reality star du jour. What smelled like team spirit
devolves into a bitter game of manipulation and
backstabbing. With Ellen Cutter, the blond, bland,
Bergdorfed CEO of Nestrom Media, and Liz Alexander, Jill’s
publisher (and Ellen’s conniving sidekick) suddenly aligned
against Jill, plus a paranoid new managing editor with an
addiction to spying, the situation is as grim as the
magazine’s decidedly unfabulous new offices. Reluctant to
jump ship, and equally reluctant to watch as her baby
morphs into yet another cheesy rag, Jill fights back, even
as Ellen and Liz plot her next move for her. With her name,
her creation, and her future all on the line, Jill realizes
mean girls don’t get left behind in high school—they grow
up and work in publishing…
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