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O P E N  A N D
C L O T H E D
FOR THE PASSIONATE
CLOTHES LOVER

Review from Threads, October/November 2000
Article from The East Bay Express, May 1999
East Bay Monthly Interview, October 1999
Andrea Speaks Out on Fashion
Women In Aikido, Andrea's first book
Press Release, printable format

Publishers' Row
(Reprinted from THE EAST BAY EXPRESS, May 28, 1999)

One day while shopping in a Telegraph Avenue grocery store, Andrea Siegel glanced up to see a woman with a bone through her nose. "Other bones pierced other parts of her face. Her clothes were brown rags; a bottle of fluid hung from her waist...Of course, since this occurred in Berkeley, nobody except me paid any attention to her," Siegel notes in Open and Clothed (Agapanthus, $24). "When I looked at her she asked me whether I thought Rome or Granny Smith apples were better for baking."

For what she calls "the first scholarly study of wardrobe passion," Siegel interviewed dozens of Bay Area designers, retailers, color consultants, and clothes horses -- "people who are nuts about fashion." Recounting her meetings with, for instance, a Berkeley artist whose handknitted socks retail for $200 a pair, Siegel probes not just what we choose to wear but also why.

"I come from a family where there was this insanity about clothes," she notes, remembering how her father would drive from New York to Maine just to buy his favorite kind of shirt. While working on the book, Siegel spent countless hours at the University Avenue Goodwill, which she calls "paradise."

At UC Berkeley in the 80's, Siegel used to notice a dazzling student on campus. "She would wear the most wonderful outfits. She had an astounding sense of style. She would come to school dressed like Sebastian from Brideshead Revisited. One day she was wearing pajamas just like Sebastian's, and carrying a teddy bear." Siegel couldn't resist telling her "that she looked fabulous." They introduced themselves. "She was really gracious. She looked unbelievably great." Later, Siegel would hear of her again. She was Bibi Lee, whose boyfriend was convicted of murdering her in an Oakland park. Open and Clothed is available through the publisher.

- Anneli Rufus, The East By Express, May 28, 1999

Andrea Siegel is available for interviews and public speaking engagements.