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CHLOE LIEBERMAN (SOMETIMES WONG)
Carrie Rosten
3 STARS
Doubleday, $15.95
IF you've ever wondered how fashionistas are bred, this novel about a high-school senior with a self-diagnosed "fashion disorder" clears it up. Structured as an application to the Central Saint Martin's design school in London, Chloe tells a story of growing up as a half-Chinese, half-Jewish teen in a West Coast McMansion. Like "Pretty in Pink" for what one day may become known as the "aught set," left-of-center Chloe can't help but rebel against her parents' desire that she attend a respectable college with the rest of her WASPy classmates. In doing so, she spends her time sneaking out to meet her rocker boyfriend, daydreaming about fixing the unstylish in "Red Carpetosis" moments (check the "Chloe Glossary") and meeting up with a countess who counsels her through the design of her pice-de-rsistance prom dress. It's a fun tale of how a girl obsessed with vintage Lilly Pulitzer, plastic bangles and black Chuck Taylors takes the avant-garde route to adulthood.
- Amy Spencer
Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
