The Power of Glamour
With over one hundred photos, Virginia Postrel, a well-known author, distinguishes glamour from glitter, describing what characteristics make a person, an object, a place, or an event beautiful. What causes that pleasurable aching of desire—that "if only" sensation? If only I could look like that, join that club, drive that vehicle, live in that house, and be (or be with) that person. Postrel discusses the three fundamental characteristics of glamour and shows how they work together to generate a distinct sensation of projection and desire in all varieties of glamour.
The Power of Glamour is the first book to define glamour as a phenomenon that reveals our inner selves and impacts our major and tiny behaviors, rather than merely a fashion trend or a personal feature. Glamour inspires ambition and optimism by evoking the possibility of a new and better self in different and better circumstances, even if it might lead to harmful fantasies.
From holiday brochures to military recruitment advertisements, from the Chrysler Building to the iPad, from political utopias to action heroes, Postrel claims that beauty is a powerful cultural force. Its attraction extends beyond the worlds of fashion and film, affecting our purchase decisions as well as where we live, what jobs we pursue, where we invest, and how we vote.
The result is a paradigm-shifting concept explaining how glamour developed into a powerful sort of nonverbal persuasion that taps into our deepest wants and secrets to influence our daily decisions.
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