Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me

From the acclaimed author of Stuffed comes an intimate memoir, written with charm and panache, that juxtaposes two fascinating lives-the iconoclastic designer Elsa Schiaparelli and the author's own mother-to explore how a girl fashions herself into a woman.

Audrey Morgen Volk, an upper-middle-class New Yorker, was a great beauty and the polished hostess at her family's garment district restaurant. Elsa Schiaparelli-"Schiap"-the haute couture designer whose creations shocked the world, blurre...