Gunn’s Golden Rules | A

It is incredibly easy to fall in love with fashion – the glitz, glam, and the gurus. Speaking of loveable gurus, Tim Gunn is back with his second book, Gunn's Golden Rules: Life Little Lessons for Making it Work. Gunn, who is most famous for his didactic role on Project Runway, instructs his readers in the rules of etiquette and success while simultaneously revealing what is behind the red velvet curtains of the fashion world and his personal life. Chapters discuss varying topics from dining decorum and Diane von Furstenberg to nasal-hair maintenance and his nosy mother. Tim reveals what goes on off-camera on the Project Runway set, his experiences at Parsons and Liz Claiborne Inc., and stories of divas and super divas. A particularly delicious tale recounts how Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, who notoriously despises riding elevators with mere mortals, instead chose to descend five flights of stairs via human palanquin.

Tim Gunn is a true rarity in the fashion world: He is down-to-earth, honest and light-hearted. His book is just the same. It's part autobiography, part gossip and part self-help. If not for the scandalous stories, Gunn's Golden Rules is read-worthy for its message that calls for a return to kindness and decency — holding doors open for others, sending thank-you cards and believing the good in people. He urges us to rally against a world in which people are lazy, self-absorbed and ill-mannered. His guidelines, embedded within tales both silly and serious, outline how to live a happy life of dignity and character.