Black Coffee and Red Lipstick: Notes on living

A new collection of thought-provoking and engaging memoir-based essays from columnist, commentator and Sunday Times-bestselling author, Alexandra Shulman, the longest serving Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue.

Praise for Alexandra Shulman:

"Self-deprecating and stylish, this is sure to become a classic." — Vanity Fair

"Alexandra Shulman's style is unaffected, immediate and hilariously dry. She's brilliant at observing everyday feelings in a joy-sparking turn of phrase." — Helena Bonham Carter

Roast Chicken and Red Lipstick is a collection of essays that weave ideas about our domestic and daily life — hence the roast chicken — with thoughts on style and the way we present ourselves — hence the red lipstick.

It combines anecdotes and observations from Alexandra Shulman's 25 years spent editing British Vogue and her current life as a freelance writer and commentator. She draws on her experiences as a magazine editor but also a mother, daughter, sibling, girlfriend, housekeeper and lover of shopping.

Alexandra left her job at Vogue in 2017 to embark on a different way of life and while this is in no way a book of self-discovery it does touch on the question of things or patterns of behavior that make us who we are?

The essays will be a mixture of ideas from her quest for the perfect eyeliner, to why picnics are so delightful. How it is that men and women see different things in the home — is there male pattern blindness? — to why our hair matters so much to us. Friendship, siblings, gardening and grey hair will also be explored with Alexandra's characteristic wit and incisiveness.