Summer Watch List

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC

It’s hard to believe I only just saw this 2009 movie for the first time.  In my defense I will say that it takes a little convincing to get Mr. Pretty Little Shopper to watch a rom-com sometimes.  We both ended up enjoying this loveable film about a shopaholic journalist who struggles to find romance in the midst of dealing with her massive shopping debts.  Isla Fischer is quirky and charming in the lead and an awesome supporting cast includes Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, John Goodman, Joan Cusack, John Lithgow and Leslie Bibb.  Okay, admittedly, I probably enjoyed it more than Mr. Pretty Little Shopper, but I must confess, that I can’t wait to see this movie again very soon!

UGLY BETTY

I watched the entire four seasons of this show when it first aired, but recently revisited the first season upon suggestion of a friend who thought it might be inspirational for a writing project I have been working on this summer.  I ordered the season one DVD on Amazon and couldn’t believe how mesmerized I was from the enchanting and dysfunctional world of Betty Suarez and her crazy co-workers at Mode Magazine.  Delicious performances from the entire cast and if you love fashion as much as I do, I’m sure you will be immediately drawn in to this heightened NYC one hour comedy series.

COCO BEFORE CHANEL

This is another 2009 movie that I can’t believe took me so long to see!  I decided to throw a Girl’s Night (dinner and a movie in my home theatre) and asked my guests to RSVP with movie suggestions.  Only one of my guests took the challenge seriously.  She made me an entire list, but we all thought this one would be perfect.  Audrey Tautou stars as Coco Chanel from her childhood growing up in an orphanage to her beginnings as a fashion empress.  The film covers her life Pre World War II and is a fascinating look at the creativity, stubbornness and genius behind a fashion revolutionary.

MR. SELFRIDGE

This PBS series was first released in the UK and Mr. Pretty Little Shopper and I zipped through the first two seasons as soon as we discovered it.  Jeremy Piven stars as Henry Gordon Selfridge, the American business man who brought the department store to London at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.  It’s hard to believe that shopping as we know it today didn’t exist in London a hundred years ago, but was really limited to The United States and Paris.  At the beginning of the series we learn how women and men would custom order clothing and if, for example, they wanted a pair of gloves they would go to a store where items were kept locked up and taken out one at a time.  The series reminds me quite a bit of another favorite show, Downton Abbey, as it goes back and forth between the compelling story lines of the wealthy Selfridge family, and the working class lives of the stores staff.  Highly addictive and a must see for anyone obsessed with the art of shopping!

Thank you for stopping by!

xoxo,

Lisa