Halpern, Adena

PERSONAL:

Education: New York University, B.F.A., 1991; American Film Institute, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Los Angeles, CA.

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown: Notes from a Single Girl's Closet (memoir), Gotham Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Essayist, "Haute Life," Marie Claire; contributing writer, Daily Variety; contributor, New York Times.

SIDELIGHTS:

In Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown: Notes from a Single Girl's Closet, Adena Halpern describes her life in clothes. "She takes readers through her various wardrobe choices, from the unfortunate to the invaluable," explained an interviewer for the Gothamist, "weaving her jobs and relationships into the fabric of her tales, including the title garments." "1982," for instance, declared Barbara Jacobs in her Booklist review, "is the year of LaCoste polo shirts; the tenth grade, an infatuation with Madonna; the makeshift prom dress."

Halpern earned her reputation as a fashion writer, and she is passionate about her devotion to garments that both look and feel good, ranging from shoes with six-inch heels to Gillian & O'Malley brand cotton underwear. "Prone to shopping benders," stated a Publishers Weekly reviewer, "Halpern fixates on clothes to a frightening degree; her biggest romantic challenge is never to repeat a date outfit." Even the Vera Wang gown of the title is worn, not to look good in but to feel good in; she bought it, the Publishers Weekly contributor explained, as part of her recovery following a painful breakup. But "rather than a rundown of endless outfit changes," the Gothamist interviewer concluded, "hers is a fun account of just how far one woman will go for the perfect pair of underwear."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 2006, Barbara Jacobs, review of Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown: Notes from a Single Girl's Closet, p. 8.

Entertainment Weekly, July 21, 2006, Jennifer Armstrong and Leah Greenblatt, "Clothes to Your Heart," p. 73.

Publishers Weekly, May 1, 2006, review of Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown, p. 49.

ONLINE

Adena Halpern Home Page,http://www.adenahalpern.com (February 27, 2007), author biography.

Gothamist, October 5, 2006, http://www.gothamist.com/ (February 27, 2007), "Adena Halpern, Author, Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown," author interview.