Product Description

The glamorous star of Bravo's hit show The Real Housewives of New York City makes it easy to be elegant, with contemporary etiquette tips and a complete course in the art of sophisticated living.

Countess LuAnn de Lesseps knows firsthand that class is a state of mind, not a birthright. Raised in Connecticut-half French Canadian, half Native American-she worked as a nurse before she started modeling. On her first trip to Europe, she was awed by the lifestyle of the Italians and stayed, eventually becoming a television personality. At a dinner party in Gstaad, she began a fairytale romance with Alexandre Count de Lesseps, a French aristocrat of the Suez Canal dynasty, who made her a countess.

Through all of her experiences, she learned that class comes from within - and that elegance and taste can be acquired. Now she shares her savvy advice and her inspiring story in Class with the Countess, featuring:

*The Art of Being Yourself (In Any Situation): with tips for making a stellar first impression, exuding self-confidence, and dressing with style
*The Art of Making Other People Comfortable: covering dazzling opening lines, table manners, and how to entertain with ease and grace
*The Art of Seduction: brimming with ways to make yourself alluring to everyone you meet, including how to make a man feel good about himself
The twenty-first century's answer to Emily Post, the Countess gives a new generation of women a lively and incomparable guide to modern social graces.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #230506 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 5.90" w x 8.60" l, .96 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781592404681
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"Being an extremely low-born and gauche person, I rely heavily on the Countess for tips on good manners and etiquette. She has also taught me how to be more sassy and alluring."
-Simon Doonan, creative director of Barney's New York, author of Eccentric Glamour

"Forget what you think you know from television: this lady walks the walk and talks the talk. She's a real doll, comfortable in her own skin and real, and if you're thinking about buying this book, it's one you will keep for yourself and send to friends who - like you - didn't know they needed it."
-Whoopi Goldberg

"My collections are about giving opportunities to women to express their feminine side. LuAnn understands the importance of femininity and shares her savoir-faire with you in this book."
-Catherine Malandrino, fashion designer

About the Author
Countess LuAnn de Lesseps is one of the five stars of Bravo's hit reality show The Real Housewives of New York City and has appeared on morning television shows presenting segments on etiquette and manners.

Diane Reverand has spent her life in book publishing as an innovative editor, editor-in-chief, and publisher at Doubleday, Random House, and HarperCollins. Known for her ability to discover and develop major publishing franchises, she currently enjoys working on the other side of the desk as a co- author.

Customer Reviews

Disappointed
I am a huge fan of real housewives of NYC and was quite interested to read this book. Unfortunately--it has very little to do with class and etiquette, and is more like the autobiography of her life. She boasts continually on about how fantastic her life has been and how wonderful her husband is. Hello? Has anyone else read the news lately? This woman is completely delusional about her so-called 'perfect' life. I definitely would not recommend this book---quite brutal!

Say hello to the bargain bin lady
I figured I would check this book out for entertainment purposes, because watching the real housewives of NYC is a total guilty pleasure of mine. Sadly, the entire time I was reading it, I could not get over the fact that this woman seems to have NO manners in her everyday life. It made the book comical at best.

The majority was just stories of her life, as she tried to relate them to certain manners and etiquette. The most embarrassing section of course was "how to make a man fall in love with you and keep him in love with you" or some such nonsense. Clearly, she's not really the best one to be giving advice in THAT situation, being it seemed even before they separated, her and her husband lived separately, in different countries.

I find nothing wrong with people not knowing the complete catalog of manners. Some of them have gone in and out of fashion, or are no longer relevant. When manners are used, I appreciate them instead of expecting it all the time. If you don't know or were never taught that particular etiquette, how are you suppose to use said manners. No big deal. I like to think that pointing out someone's bad manners IS having bad manners. It's rude. BUT! If you promise that you are of the utmost class and manners, you best use it in your everyday life and be a good example. The "Countess" does not do that.

She's a fashion model/nurse who married into title and money. Every time she introduces herself as the Countess or reminds someone to call her Countess on the show, I feel embarrassed for her, because it's of poor class to always be pointing that out to people. She's clearly insecure and thinks telling people her title will make her more important.

One particular incident on "The Real Housewives of NYC" still bothers me to this day, though some found nothing wrong with it. One of the other ladies, Bethenny was picking her up in a chauffeured towncar. The chauffeur got out to open the door, Bethenny introduces her as "LuAnn". The woman throws a total fit because she was not introduced as the Countess de Lesseps. I can understand if you want to be called mrs. or whatever, but she went about it the wrong way. Seriously?! The chauffeur couldn't give a flying crap who he's driving around, he's just doing his job. But to keep pointing it out and making Bethenny feel bad/embarrassed for not introducing her with her title??? That shows very poor manners indeed. A real woman of class would ignore it and be easy going and secure enough with herself to not care, and maybe mention it later to her friend in private if it really bothered her.

A 'classy' woman has flair, good manners, and ease. She does not have to struggle as LuAnn does to point out her so called 'manners', or write a book on her so called etiquette. wow. say hello to the bargain bin lady.

The joke is on the Clueless Classless Countess!
So sad, save your money.

Let me summarize: I am fabulous, you are not.

Did you ever hear the saying, "Do as I say, not as I do?" Maybe she will read this and learn some manners herself.