Miss leader issue 1

worked. This is very much what the Net-a-Porter headquarters look like today and Natalie often gives credit to Shakti Gawain’s book, Creative Visualization for teaching her this ability to look ahead and consciously picture what her idea of a fulfilled life looks like. The book is filled with advice on how to use visualization and positive thinking to achieve everything you have dreamt for yourself, teaching you patience, gratitude and to believe in the power within you, to achieve your goals. It goes without saying that it’s worth trying to learn from something that has proved valuable to someone as visionary as Natalie Massenet.

THE LIGHT-HEARTED READ: HOW TO BE PARISIAN, WHEREVER YOU ARE, BY CAROLINE DE MAIGRET For years women all around the world have been fascinated by Parisians; there’s just something about their ability to eat baguettes and still fit into minuscule Isabel Marant leather trousers or their unapologetic attitude towards their bad habits like smoking and drinking a little too much red wine. The appeal of Parisian chic is most definitely no big news. However, the fact that a book has been written by the most Parisian woman of them all, in an attempt to dissect that ‘je ne sais quoi’ of her and her peers’ style, most definitely is. Caroline de Maigret is the music producer and model you will often find on Chanel runways, who embodies everything we love about Parisians, with her perfectly messy hair and unquestionable sex appeal, even if you’ll mostly find her in mannish brogues and slouchy pants. Her recently launched book offers an inside into the intimate side of a Parisian woman’s life: how she seduces a man, her soft spot for sitting on benches, her disapproval of women who fish for compliments and get lip augmentation and her open embracing of snobbisms, like making sure to leave a party when it’s in full swing. A light read that will make you smile, as well as get an insight of fashion’s favourite myth.

THE OLDIES BUT GOODIES: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

BY JANE AUSTEN Jane Austen is the quintessentially British female writer whose novels might at a first glance just revolve around marriage, yet if you read between the lines you’ll find that what this visionary woman was really doing was using a subject that was socially acceptable for her to write about as a means through which to critique her society. Pride and Prejudice is one of the most known Austen novels where amidst all the superficialities of society that the author presents and pokes fun of, she gives you an idea of what real love and romance should be about with the now-famous story of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. The book should be part of every twenty-something’s library of classics, not only because it satisfies our cravings for romance and happy endings but also, because it does so in an intelligent, tongue-in-cheek way.

A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN BY VIRGINIA WOOLF Another literary piece that should be in every young woman’s must-read list is Virginia Woolf ’s extended essay, A Room of One’s Own. This work was revolutionary when it was first published in the 1930s because Woolf was one of the first female writers to point out the need for a woman to be financially independent, as well as to have her own space, as the title explicitly suggests, in order to thrive creatively. Even though we have come a long way since the 30s, particularly in the Western world, it is important to sometimes be reminded where we came from and who these brave, revolutionary women who fought for the rights we now enjoy, were. At the end of the day, these iconic literary figures are the ones who paved the way for today’s wave of influential women, like Lena Dunham or #Girlboss Sophia Amoruso, to be able to thrive and continue their own feminist revolution, not only on paper but on screen and in boardrooms too.

A 21ST CENTURY WRITER TO TAKE NOTE OF: THE GAZE BY ELIF SHAFAK Elif Shafak is a Turkish-born writer whose novels deal with some of today’s most prominent social and political issues and characteristically blend Eastern and Western storytelling traditions to explore topics like national identity, motherhood, subculture and religion. Her novel, The Gaze, is one of her most noteworthy pieces of work which puts som ething as simple as a mere look into the forefront, highlighting the power it can have and the damage it can create.

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