Do you have a library card?

When I was in college at NDSU for Apparel & Textiles, I used to love going to the library. I would often do research through books and text instead of online. Having a book in my hands made it feel like the information was somehow better. I could spend hours at the library looking at new books. It's a good thing that my dorm, my first year was within a block of the library.

I headed to the public library today. But unlike my college days, I brought my 3 boys with me. After playing eenie, meanie, minee, moe with the children's books, we finally decided on 3 that we would bring home. In addition to those 3, I grabbed 3 fashion books for myself.

The Big Book of Fashion Illustration. The painting on the cover of a woman in a bumblebee dress stuck out to me and made me want to open it. Who says we don't judge a book by the cover? It had pages and pages of drawings. Women, men, children and accessories. Some had me more interested than others. Here are a few that drew me in.

Man Repeller: Seeking Love. Finding Overalls. When I worked as an intern for a brand showroom, I got familiar with the Man Repeller (Leandra Medine). She would frequently give press for the brands we sold and so I started following her on several social media outlets. She's quite influential in the fashion industry. She's interviewed and sat with Sarah Jessica Parker, Iris Apfel and Betsey Johnson. She is all about flaunting your own style. If you want to wear a bra outside your shirt or carry a pom-pom handbag, it's your style so own it.

Man Repeller

Barbie: The Icon. I still have my first Barbie. I remember the day I got it, as a Christmas present in 1993. She has long brown hair and a short red Lee jeans dress. I'd dress and accessorize them in outfits for any event. It's easy to see now that I was always meant to love fashion. Fashion and singing. I always thought I had a talent for both, I'm not 9 anymore. I know singing into a vacuum handle will never make me a star.

I'll be starting the Man Repeller book just as soon as I finish Wildflower by Drew Barrymore. Check it out!