Why Watching Evil Wears Prada is Good for your Business Ego

As a woman with my own business ambitions and with quite a diverse and complex experience in the field of publishing industry - not fashion-related though - I've learned a lot from wathing last evening The Devil Wears Prada. In addition to being greatly played by Meryl Streep, this movie has a lot of good lessons learned about the power of luxury fashion, balancing relationships and success and the hardship of women in power, regardless the industry or social status.

Compared to the book, which I've read many many years ago, the movie seems to be more focused on the sensitive aspects of business women leadership, and I really loved this shift. The terrible editor-in-chief would have survive if not being so bitchy? She would have been still on the top, if not learned to fight like a lioness for her rights of being there? Being nice is really good for your business, especially if you are in the highly competitive fashion industry? Women are used to be seen on the catwalk, but when they are the decision-makers, they shall do anything but glowing nicely. 

This movie is also about relationships between women and coming to age, the moment when you have to grow up from the carefree college life to a world of challenges and painful decisions. Again, especially as a woman, it seems that you are still expected to not change too fast, if ever, to go the beaten path, and eventually accept modest relationships instead of independently creating your own version of success. You may be lonely there on the top, but it is your right to live the best version of yourself. 

This movie is a recommendation for both women looking their way to power or ready to get the fresh shock of the first jobs. It is not only about fashion, and not only about bitchy bosses, but it tells a bit about the condition of being a woman at work nowadays.  

3 Hobby Books to make your weekends more creative

Either if you work full or part time, if you are a parent with one or more children or just single, life is not easy and the working week means very often a lot of stress. As winter and the cold weather decide to stay for longer in some unhappy parts of the world, weekends can be just grey and not-eventful, without too much to do outside. Instead of staying in the front of the TV most of the time, what about learning some new skills that can save your mind for something better during the exhausting days of the week? Here there are three books that can bring a pintch of creativity into your life:

Simple Calligraphy. A Beginner's Guide to Elegant Lettering, by Judy Detrick

In the age of digital writing, hand writing is greatly neglected. I used to study calligraphy in primary school and I still do a lot of handwriting every day, but the art of elegant lettering is not so widespread as it used to be. Judy Detrick, a calligraphy teacher and professional, offers an introduction into this precious art, with the help of a couple of exercises and various advices about the best materials to use. The exercises for acquiring basic skills for Italic hand writing, are designated for specific letters - including capitals and punctuation. 

For the beginning, it requires an investment of maximum 40-50 EUR. You can practice 10 insightful minutes the day and use this new skill for creating various 'Thank you' notes or invitations for events.  

The book will be available for sale starting with 19 April.

Wonderland. A Colouring Book inspired by Alice's Adventures, by Amely Shen

I am a big supporter of colouring books for adults and I own myself a couple of them. This one is a bit special though, because besides the beautiful graphics it features a story that I love even more as I love colouring books: Alice in Wonderland, celebrating 150 years since making the world a better place. Besides the colouring patterns, it also has some little story and an invitation to quizzes. The only regret is that there are not as many patterns to keep you creative at least for a couple of months. 

The title will be released on April 5.

The Flower Workshop, by Ariella Chezar with Julie Michaels

I spent most of my childhood in a house with a wild garden and I love flowers wherever they are. I am doing once in a while flower arrangements, but not that much as I want to do and not always with a plan. This book is meant to bring inspiration for creating insightful flower projects but also brings the personal story of the author, of growing up in a creative familly in love with nature. First and foremost it has beautiful pictures, but it is also well written and gives many ideas for the beginner or advanced flower designer. The learning is based on the author's workshops all over the world that I will be very tempted to attend at least once.

The book will be released the March 1.

Disclaimer: I was offered these books via Netgalley.com, but the opinions are, as usual, my own