The dictionary Anna Wintour might keep in her desk drawer

Miuccia Prada said, “Everyone who is smart says they hate fashion. . . . I have asked many super-serious people, ‘Then why is fashion so popular?’ Nobody can answer that question.” Now the author of the popular Guardian column Ask Hadley does just that in The Meaning of Sunglasses , examining the joys, silliness, and occasional insanity of our love affair with fashion. From (B) Botox— “when fashion meets Logan’s Run ”—to the joys of (V) vanity, Hadley Freeman has written an encyclopedia of lightly philosophical and instructional mini-essays to gladden the heart of everyone with a slight-to-obsessive interest in the fashion world.

In a tone both exasperated and affectionate she dissects our love-hate relationship with the way we look (and offers some tips on how to look better). With a razor-sharp wit that lives somewhere between The Devil Wears Prada and The Devil’s Dictionary , Freeman is a versatile and exciting new voice.