Kelly Cutrone’s first book ‘If you have to cry go outside, and other things your mother never told you’ had, I’m ashamed to admit, been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while before I finally got round to reading it this weekend.Don’t get me wrong, I adore the woman and think she’s fantastically fierce (when I met her at TEDx I didn’t know whether to cry out in excitement and ask her for a job or run away and hide) so the fact that I simply hadn’t got round to sitting down and devoting myself to it for a day had been really getting to me – that’s what an Oxford reading list full of Shakespeare, Milton and Byron does to you I’m afraid – you start to prioritise your reading, and when you don’t have to, you find you don’t really want to read anymore but in fact go out and do something.

So imagine how great it was for me this Saturday to find myself well and truly immersed in a book, to the point where I actually forgot that I had a million and one other things to be doing (and most likely reading) that day. I’d bought both of Cutrone’s books for my sister last Christmas so, as a cheeky bonus, it was also a nice little affirmation of my gift too. The book is a kind of autobiography/self-help/careeradvice/fashionista bible, and if you haven’t guessed it already, I loved it. Cutrone’s writing style is blunt and to the point, colloquial but not overly so, whilst her sense of humour is truly wicked. A girl-power billboard her book gives advice in all the right places and doesn’t smack too much of ‘I’m great and here’s why’ but rather is a take-no-prisoners approach to life, including both its ups and its downs. The autobiographical side of things is fascinating in itself, from her time as a nurse to her time as a tarot card reader on Venice Beach, to her current position as head of one of the biggest fashion PR companies in the world, but its all the extra elements that really bring it together. She doesn’t shy away from expressing her own opinions on everything from how to ‘give good phone’ to even picking, or moulding, your own religion and even if you don’t necessarily agree with it all, there’s something to be gained. In fact, if anything, it made me want to ask her for a job once more!  If you’re looking for a sugar-coated version of the PR and fashion world I recommend you look elsewhere, but if you want to really learn something about an industry that’s cut-throat, or about how to get on in almost industry for that matter, this book is for you.

Liv xxx