Stacy London, on Books That Are Always in Style
By Elizabeth Devereaux, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 10/18/2007
Stacy London, the sartorially savvy co-host of TV’s What Not to Wear, briefly modeled a stuffed pink poodle atop her head—in public. One of the celebrity readers at the [New York Times Great Children’s Read] on Oct. 14, London was thronged by would-be stylists, like the poodle-wielder, and other fashionistas from the sandbox set when she took the stage to read from Sara Pennypacker’s novel Clementine.
“Everything is new and wonderful to children,” said London, in the 10 minutes between the end of her reading and her scheduled departure to tape an episode of her show. “I am at a hectic stage in my life now, and being among children—I do not have any—is grounding.”
Stacy London reading Clementine.
Her smile intensifies as she brings up the child with the pink poodle. “I didn’t know Clementine before I was invited to read,” she continued, “but it reminded me of my favorite book from childhood, which is out of print: The Wonderful Adventures of Suzuki Beane { by Sandra Scoppettone, with drawings by Harriet the Spy creator Louise Fitzhugh].The girl in the story lives on Bleecker Street, and the language has a beat jive—there’s a thesaurus at the back for all the phrases. But the book is a lot like Clementine: it’s about a girl who’s having a terrible time, and making a mess—and she’s just trying to make her way in the world.”
Children’s books often assure readers that it’s what’s inside that counts; meanwhile, London emphasizes on her show that people may never discover what’s inside someone who doesn’t know how to present himself. If London could play fairy godmother à la Cinderella to a children’s book character, whose wardrobe might she pick to renovate?
London paused for only a moment before answering, as rapidly and authoritatively as if she were steering someone on WNTW out of Birkenstocks and into a pair of slingbacks. “Actually, children are much better at dressing themselves than adults are. Children choose their clothes according to their desires—look at the kids in the audience [for the Clementine reading}: kids wearing six patterns at once, dressed up in cowboy boots, even a girl in a little bouclé Chanel suit. They don’t filter themselves the way adults do, they don’t worry about whether they’ll be cold or whether something is too expensive. Kids just do a better job of being instinctual. So, no, I wouldn’t change the clothing of any children in any books—maybe the adults’.”
But what about the nondescript appearance of Harriet the Spy or Claudia, of E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler? “They’re not nondescript—look at Harriet,” London answered. “She has a very strong style, a ’70s style: there’s that great bowl cut, those super-high finely ribbed turtlenecks. She may not be concentrating on style, but she creates it—she has her own syntax with it.”
London expands on the notion, and brings it full-circle. “You don’t need quite as much visual sense, but part of being a writer is being a costume designer. Clothing does help to create character—this is why style matters.”
