God help me; a little bit of this goes a LONG way. I quit halfway through this book. What is kinda cute at first in terms of character quirks quickly becomes obnoxious and over the top. Are there really people out there who are this shallow and pointless? These women's lives are not to be envied at all. How little and empty your life must be to only live on the surface.

I don't mind girly books about fashion, dating, etc. But part of the fun of that is getting to live through the characters, but these characters, I couldn't wait to get away from. Nothing appealing about their thoughts, lives or personalities.

Pada tahun 2004, seorang penulis fashion dari Inggris yang bekerja di majalah Vogue New York, Plum Sykes, melahirkan novel debutnya yang berjudul "The Bergdorf Blondes" (Gadis-gadis Bergdorf). Buku novel yang bergenre chicklit ini telah menuai sukses besar dan diterbitkan di banyak negara, termasuk Indonesia (Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2004).

Yang membuat novel ini sangat populer tidak lain adalah alur ceritanya yang merupakan cerminan dari kehidupan sang penulis itu sendiri. Plum Sykes telah berkecimpung di dunia fashion dan menyelami kehidupan di Manhattan, New York, sebagai salah seorang putri sosialita dari Inggris. Kehidupan sosialita Park Avenue dituangkan dalam bentuk kisah yang menarik dan bertabur kemewahan dalam buku novel yang menjadi salah satu bacaan favorit Paris Hilton ini.

Kisah The Bergdorf Blondes menceritakan tentang kehidupan seorang penulis fashion (sebagai tokoh utama yang menyebut dirinya "moi") dan sahabatnya, Julie Bergdorf, sang pewaris tunggal pemilik department store terbesar di New York, Bergdorf Goodman. Sebagai seorang gadis yang memiliki hampir segalanya, Julie selalu mendapatkan apa yang ia inginkan, termasuk seorang calon suami. Namun ternyata kehidupan sosial kelas atas di New York tidaklah semudah menghamburkan uang, sang tokoh utama harus memperjuangkan cintanya seperti ia mempertahankan persahabatan dan karirnya.

Dihiasi oleh beragam deskripsi tentang gaun-gaun rancangan terkenal, hotel-hotel mewah di dunia, pesawat private jet, Plum Sykes membawa pembacanya masuk ke dunia sosialita New York yang glamor dan penuh sensasi. Kisah cinta bisa dialami siapa saja, di mana saja, tanpa memandang harta maupun kedudukan. Namun persahabatan dan sisterhood juga tidak mudah dipisahkan, bahkan dapat mengiringi kisah percintaan. Novel chicklit yang ringan ini sangat menghibur dan sangat menggoda setiap perempuan yang selalu ingin tampil amazing and charming. Seperti moi dan Julie Bergdorf yang selalu mempesona, setiap perempuan berhak untuk mempercantik dan membahagiakan dirinya sendiri dan sahabatnya. The BFF (Best Friend Forever) is the best thing every girl should have!

-chib-

A 2004 absolute time capsule from a Vogue fashion reporter working under Anna Wintour … funny, and a lottttt has changed in 20 years
This was published by Harvey Weinstein…?!?

The Summer of 2020 is not conducive to being amused by Park Avenue Princesses, and, in any event, a lighter hand is required.

Further holiday read, have now properly rotted my brain to the extent I’ve had to delete Instagram and now move on to nonfiction. Perfect for that purpose!

je trouve les commentaires durs, le livre est pas si terrible mais la « blague » qui compare une vente privée Chanel au genocide à Gaza m’oblige à ne pas mettre plus de 1 étoile : c’est pas drôle du tout

If you think Brazilian is a nationality, that PJ's are pyjamas and that Beyond is somewhere far away, then you have never met a Bergdorf Blonde. Plum Syke's heroine is British but has moved to America, working for a glossy magazine. She takes us with her into the glamorous world of Park Avenue Princesses who careen through New York in search of the ever elusive 'Fiance,' the perfect fake tan and that Chanel from the sample sale. In a fabulously witty style, Plum Sykes makes us root for her glorious heroine all the way from New York to the South of France and back by PJ (private jet.) She will get her Harry Winston and her Vera Wang wedding dress yet!

My opinion
Bergdorf Blondes was a pleasant chick lit read that combined three of my favorite things - New York City, traveling to various exotic locations (including England) and a relatable protagonist who enjoyed shopping, beauty rituals and writing Story line was not amazing, but the writing made me laugh out
The book flows so well you can finish it in an hour.
Sykes gives you somewhat of a first-hand account of the ditz and glamour. All too entertaining characters, dialogue and tres exclusive terms.
Oh and it's a nice little love story too.
Definitely recommended for a quick, fun read. A fun no brainer book to keep you totally amused especially when you don't want to think to hard reading. It is quite entertaining.

One of the worst books I've read in a long time. The name is indicative to how shallow the characters are. I was half expecting this and only picked it up b/c it looked like a quick and painless read. But frankly, I found the characters ridiculously obnoxious and the story line lacking any real substance. Other reviewers found this book funny. I found it mind-numbing and pointless.

this one i like ...

So I'll start with the negatives of this book since I was so shocked at how much I hated it. Chick lit is a genre I like to indulge in every now and then despite the very fluffy content. However, I have never met a book from this genre that I didn't like; one that was so superficial and lacking in a story that I couldn't stand it. The main character and really every other character is so unlikable that you can't relate to them at all. This book fails to be sweet and charming in the way the author presents the characters and the story unlike other successful chick lit books like the Shopaholic series. Instead, we're forced to endure a story with no obvious plot, since it just seems like we aimlessly follow the main character through a couple of days in her life, and some completely annoying characters that do not seem realistic at all. And then there's the silly use of acronyms that the author uses because she must think it makes her story endearing. But when you're using that many different acronyms to talk about F.R.Gs who enjoy their P.J.s and are constantly searching for a P.H. (confused yet?) it gets to be a bit much. And I don't think I need to waste anymore precious review space on what I think about the narrator's name or how many times she uses the word tres in the book. You can probably figure out how fun that is to read.

The only part I actually enjoyed (barely) was the twist at the end that brings our narrator the happily ever after she's been wishing for in regards to her love life. Frankly, I was surprised after all the disappointments in the rest of the book that the author had this little twist in her back pocket. Still, the ending and this twist are not nearly enough to save this book.

If name dropping a few fashion designers was all a chick lit author had to do to write award-winning literature, Plum Sykes would've nabbed that honor with this book. But in reality, that's not enough to make a good chick lit book. They might not be the most respected genre, but the stories still require the same creativity and effort in storytelling as any other. Don't let the playful cover and spunky title fool you. This is one chick lit book you don't want to pick up.

4 stars. Okay so going into this book, I didn't have many expectations, mainly that I wanted a nice and fluffy, funny feel good story. Sometimes it's nice for things (like this book) to meet your expectations.

Before I read this book, I had looked at other reviews and people complained that it wasn't written well or didn't have much substance to it. But in my point of view, if you had those expectations for this book in the first place you really shouldn't have read it. It was meant for the happy-go-lucky and feel good viewers who simply wanted some escapist literature on a dreary day.

I loved the way Sykes wrote this book because it felt like it was written from the prospective of a Park Ave princess. Had it been written better or more precise (without abbreviations, etc) it wouldn't have had that same personal quality. I sometimes love to read books with characters that are insanely rich and famous because it's fun to imagine worlds like that sometimes. This book was a great fun, no hassle read and I especially loved the ending, it was SUPER cute and romantic.

My only criticism of the book was it felt a bit inappropriate at times. I know it felt more real that way and it probably wouldn't have been as great without it, but had a hard time expecting the fact that she kept calling sex "Brazil", I thought a better word probably would have made it feel better and less weird and sketchy the whole time. Other than that it was a great quick read in my view and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is the dumbest, most shallow book ever. Thought it'd be a fun beach read. The only reason I finished it was because after I read the Frontier Airlines catering menu, this was the only reading material I had available. And the Frontier Airlines catering menu was entirely more interesting. Did you know they serve Evol burritos and cheese and cracker plates and give you some excellent cocktail mix recipes? There's also a new beer, Colorado Native. Looks good. I'll definitely try one of those before I EVER TRY A PLUM SYKES BOOK AGAIN.