PositiveThe Times (UK)Middleton has quotes from a vast array of sources, from Lagerfeld’s butler to Anna Wintour ... I’m not convinced we needed quite so much about his research into French intellectual life in the 17th century, or that a particular marquee was \'more like a medium-sized auditorium\', or the square footage of all his various homes. There’s a lot in this book that will only be of interest to the most dedicated Lagerfeld fans. But there’s much to enjoy, and it explains a lot about his life and times that he consciously modelled them on an 18th-century painting of Frederick the Great entertaining intellectuals and artists at a Prussian palace.
Matthew Perry
PositiveThe Times (UK)Funny, fascinating, compelling ... There are some lovely stories ... I’d have liked a few more stories about the Friends years, and a few less about the work that came later. He goes a bit LA woowoo at times, and the words \'creative process\' and \'brilliant source material\' start to crop up. He thinks that his future will be about helping other addicts and hopes that this unflinching chronicle might play its part. You can’t not love this twinkly, sad, funny, broken man who right to the very end makes you laugh.
Edward Enninful
PositiveThe Times (UK)Enninful...relaxes and settles into his remarkable story ... Enninful, like many fashionistas, does tend to lack perspective. Being on a fashion shoot at midnight with a tired model and three looks to shoot is still not brain surgery ... By and large, though, the book rattles along, with a jolly selection of anecdotes about going clubbing in New York ... His book is better than his interviews.
Imogen Hermes Gowar
RaveThe Times (UK)\"With its richly imagined Georgian London setting, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock is a cracking historical novel, with a twinge of the surreal, about passion and obsession, dreams and reality. Imogen Hermes Gowar may be a first-time author, but she has a distinctive voice so assured and so readable that she could be a veteran. The novel immerses you in a world in a way that reminds me of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ... The story is by turns intriguing, touching, funny, sad and heartwarming. It will make you laugh and it may make you cry. Mostly, though, the cast of endlessly engaging characters will keep you turning the pages until you get to the wholly satisfying ending.\
