Gift Guide: Sick of Stupid Movie-Star Gowns? Greta Garbo: The Mystery of Style Is for You

Movie-star style is an enduring source of fascination, though today it seems to find its greatest expression in mostly run-of-the-mill (if jaw-droppingly expensive) red-carpet gowns: When you've seen one exquisitely draped Marchesa confection, you've seen them all. If you're as sick of stupid gowns as I am, you'll love Greta Garbo: The Mystery of Style, a coffee-table extravaganza filled with pictures of a woman who, off-duty and on-, really knew how to dress -- and there's not an overpriced, overdesigned Louboutin in sight.

Perhaps only Garbo could get away with some of the outfits documented so lovingly in The Mystery of Style, including one shown in a late-1920s photograph: She wears what looks like a man's flannel bathrobe, accessorized with a big floral parasol and that mysterious half-smile. I guess that might look weird for a Saturday jaunt to the Farmer's Market, but don't you wish someone would try it? And it's true that Garbo loved her shoes: This book grew out of a museum exhibition in Milan last spring, put together by Salvatore Ferragamo -- the company's shoes were a Garbo favorite. (She once ordered 70 pairs in a single day.)

The exquisite, well-kept garments and accessories catalogued in the back of the book include a selection of Ferragamo flats, lovingly packed into a specially compartmented trunk. There's nothing flashy about them, and yet in their simplicity and their utilitarian elegance, they're far more beautiful than any four-figure, four-inch-heeled monstrosity. Take that, Carrie Bradshaw.

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