When you crack open a 500 page book, it better be good. This biography of Harper's Bazaar fashion editor Carmel Snow is everything a heavy tome should be: entertaining, insightful, and thouroughly researched. The writing style is a perfect match for the subject matter: Penelope Rowlands' prose is as sharply defined as a couture garment, and, as a result, reading her book is the next best thing to actually owning a Dior original.

But the most rewarding part of the book is the revelation that elegance is all about gutsiness. In fact, if you look objectively at the clothes women wore back then (the book is rife with photographic documents) all those proper little wool suits and belted silk dresses look quite frumpy in restrospect. But what poise those girls had! Where did their get their attitude? Reading A Dash of Daring is a lesson in real coolness.

This beautifully produced and perceptive biography of Carmel Snow, arguably the greatest fashion editor who ever lived, is a sheer delight to read. The author focuses our gaze on both the biographical subject and the milieu in which Snow lived and worked. Penelope Rowland's impressive research and extensive interviews, combined with her sure touch as a storyteller, have yielded an engaging and compelling story.

I have bought many copies of this book to give to friends. I think it is a very special. It is a fascinating story, beautifully told. It is not just for those interested in fashion. It is a masterpiece of biography.

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