Praise for TALES FROM THE BACK ROW:
“The most commonly asked question of a fashion writer is ‘What’s it like to go to all those fashion shows?’ It is a question laden with deeply held fantasies. Amy Odell’s ‘Tales From the Back Row’ is the closest thing anyone will get in writing to an honest answer….she writes about New York fashion weeks with delightful observations, sharing one cringe moment after another.” — Wall Street Journal, included in Year's Best Fashion Books
“Self-deprecating and funny.” — New York Times Book Review
“A light-hearted, cocktail-hour confession from someone who is at once part of the fashion industry but sober enough to recognize insanity for what it is.” — Washington Post
“A funny, insightful debut.”— Harper’s Bazaar
“Such is Amy Odell’s comic talent: through her eyes, fashion shows, photoshoots, and paparazzi make us laugh out loud. Odell’s collection of essays is a brave and funny commentary on our desire to belong.” — Bustle
“…A witty and candid ‘outsider’s view from inside the fashion industry’.” — In Touch
“The fashion editor gives a backstage pass to the intimidating, backbiting industry.” — US Weekly
“TALES FROM THE BACK ROW takes you from the hottest fashion shows to the coolest after parties, along the decidedly unglamorous roads Amy Odell travels to get there. Don’t miss this terrific debut. It’s better than landing the most coveted seat at fashion week.” — Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears Prada
“Amy is one of my favorite people in the fashion industry. She’s smart, stylish and simply not a dick.” — Grace Helbig
“Hilarious, insightful and smart. A must-read for anyone who wears clothes.” — Chelsea Handler
“TALES FROM THE BACK ROW is a delicious peek behind the curtain of fame and fashion. Amy Odell doesn't pull any punches—not at the industry, the celebrities circling it, or even at herself—and her insider dish will make you laugh out loud.” — The Fug Girls
“…with a self-deprecating, biting wit. While this memoir certainly isn’t short on voyeurism, it also offers a balanced account of what it’s really like to work in (and write about) the fashion industry.” — StyleCaster
“Whether you're interested in pursuing a career in publishing, public relations or design, or you're just fascinated with what really goes on behind-the-scenes without the usual sugarcoating, we'd say this is required reading.” — Fashionista
“This delightful book of essays... pulls back the curtain and shows that it’s not always so fabulous climbing the fashion ladder.” — Refinery29
“If you haven’t snagged any invites (to NYFW), let TALES FROM THE BACK ROW, Cosmopolitan.com Editor Amy Odell’s first book, out now, transport you.” — Trending NY
“Funny, insightful and relatable to pretty much anyone who works in media.” — AM NY
“Amy Odell cuts through a lot of the bull in the fashion business and the fashion media in her witty new memoir, ‘Tales from the Back Row’… The book covers an amazing amount of ground without ever coming across as a fashion lecture. Odell keeps herself front and center as our guide and we learn what’s what through her eyes and ears….Odell is refreshingly down to earth and honest...” — Connecticut Post
In TALES FROM THE BACK ROW: An Outsider’s View from Inside the Fashion Industry (Simon & Schuster), Amy Odell gives readers a behind-the-runway look at one of New York’s most secretive, sometimes absurd, and ever alluring industries: Fashion.
In this playful and fearless debut, which is now available in paperback and has been optioned by Sony, Amy is a girl after our own hearts. A journalist who prefers wearing jeans with t-shirts, Amy’s day job has her teetering into Fashion Week in sky-high designer glitter booties (that may secretly double as devices of self-torture), practically risking her life in the middle of Fifth Avenue traffic to pose for the perfect street-style shot, and is seemingly always flinging herself into celebrities’ personal space to ask them important questions like “what do you smell like?”
From her vantage point in the back row, Amy has the perfect perspective on both the industry, and its prominent figures. From Alexander Wang’s runway show to Karl Lagerfeld’s photography exhibition; from an intense job interview with Anna Wintour to a tipsy lunch with Chelsea Handler, Amy tells it straight and funny. Her sharp observations, combined with her dry and self-deprecating sense of humor make for a uproarious read about what it’s really like to be a normal twentysomething woman writing about one of the world’s most cut-throat and intriguing industries.
But as she moves from journalism novice to editor, from outsider to (almost) insider, Amy begins to understand how these larger-than-life characters have come to define the fashion world. As humorous a reading experience as it is, TALES FROM THE BACK ROW ultimately is an examination of a powerful social hierarchy, as well as the desire to climb it. This is a book about our longing to make a mark, to be included, to belong.
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