Betty Halbreich reigns as New York's most famous personal shopper, expertly dressing generations of well-heeled women and celebrities during her four-decade career at Bergdorf Goodman. Her keen eye and her unwillingness to suffer fools (or foolish fashion trends) have endeared her to countless clients - whom she has dressed and counseled through marriage, pregnancy, job changes, divorce, illness, even death - as well as to renowned designers. In this brisk memoir, eighty-six-year-old Halbreich charts the rise of her sartorial star from her childhood in 1930s Chicago, where she grew up the beloved but lonely only child of a department-store president and his stylish wife; through her doomed marriage to a handsome hotelier (complete with two children, a twelve-closet Park Avenue apartment, and an emotional breakdown); and eventually her foray into the retail world. Along the way, Halbreich's sense of style and love for fashion have been her anchor, fortifying her through heartache, self-doubt, and the many seasons of a long life.