Books
“There is more to Color Stories than makeup. There are stories about women’s complex interactions with other women and surprising observations about how the top cosmetics companies market their products. Gavenas shows us that what a woman wants from makeup can’t always be quantified.” — Ruth P. Rubinstein, Ph.D., author of Dress Codes: Meaning and Messages in American Culture
“Color Stories: Behind the Scenes of America's Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry forgoes the tips in the interest of straightforward reporting, and though the reader comes away with no strategies for plumper lips or perfect brows, the result is fascinating for those whose interest in beauty goes beyond their own appearance. . . . Gavenas is a graceful writer and a reliable witness, portraying each stage of the pipeline in terms that are at once absurd and poignant.” — Holly Brubach, T Magazine, The New York Times
“. . .a warts-and-all account of the less comely side of the makeup business. . . . Color Stories exposes the wrinkles behind the beauty industry’s airbrushed visage.” — Entertainment Weekly
“Mary Lisa Gavenas studies how they compel women to spend billions on stuff they don’t need and already have.” — U.S. News & World Report
“Ms. Gavenas, who is no cheerleader for her chosen industry but a dry, wry commentator, makes some nice points. ‘Seventy years before Naomi Wolf came along to decry the cultlike techniques of cosmetics sales in The Beauty Myth, suffragists and their immediate successors wore lipstick as a badge of liberation,’ she writes. ‘Painting your face meant writing your own story. Makeup was a hard-won privilege, like voting or holding a job. Besides, seeing makeup on a 'nice' girl irritated the hell out of most men.’” — Penelope Green, “Books of Style,” The New York Times
“. . . a billion-dollar industry both remarkably creative and incredibly corrupt. This book is a delicious portrayal of the beauty business." — Paco Underhill, “What They’re Reading, ” Business Day, The New York Times
“Authoritative” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Comprehensive reference to what men wear and why they wear it” — Esquire.com
“Surprisingly unstuffy. Mary Lisa Gavenas seeks to dispel fashion fables and replace them with 2,200 witty but exhaustively researched entries.” — Selvedge
select REPORTING and REVIEWS
“Gaslit, Gatekept Girlbosses,” Air Mail, 2026
“Who Decides the Color of the Season?” chapter in Bright Modernity, Regina L. Blaszczyk and Uwe Spiekermann, eds. Worlds of Consumption series, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017
“Elegance in an Age of Crisis: Fashions of the 1930s at the Fashion Institute of Technology,” exhibition review, Aesthetica, 2014
“Dudley Williams,” African American National Biography. Henry Louis Gates Jr., ed. Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University and Oxford University Press, 2013
“Fast Talk: Beauty on the Inside,” Fast Company, 2008
“Great Scot: 007 or not, Connery was always a killer,” column, Menswear, 2007
“Wheeler Dealer: How Didier Ludot, vintage vendor par excellence, makes the old new again,” retail profile, WWD/DNR, 2007
“Report from Première Vision,” news, WWD/DNR, 2007
“BUSTED! How one brand battles—and wins—against Chinese counterfeiters,” newsfeature, WWD/DNR, 2006
“Somethin’ Else: Miles Davis and the Commandments of Cool,” column, Menswear, 2006
“The Man in the Red Suit,” Salon, 2006
“Defining Calvin: How Italo Zucchelli keeps the meaning of the brand,” designer profile, WWD/DNR, 2006
“Man About Town: In Two Dandy Debuts, Actor and Author Ian Kelly Brings Beau Brummell to the Big Apple,” book review, WWD/DNR, 2006
“The Big Three: How Three on the Bund markets high-end fashion—and the lifestyle to match,” retail profile, WWD/DNR, 2006
“Works on Canvas: Textiles and the Art of Henri Matisse,” exhibition review, WWD/DNR, 2005
“Dressed to Kill,” exhibition review, The Chronicle of the Horse, 2005
“Being Frank: 4 Ways You Can Sing It Like Sinatra,” column, Menswear, 2005
“Gen Art: Opposites Attract,” runway review, WWD, 2005
“Be Cool: 5 Things You Can Learn From Steve McQueen,” column, Menswear, 2005
“Dandy Reading,” book brief, Menswear, 2005
“Masterclass: 5 Things You Can Learn From Cary Grant,” column, Menswear, 2005
“Adventures in Journalism: The Princess Diaries,” guest column, Mediabistro, 2004
“Great Finnish: How Marimekko changed the way the rest of us dress,” book review, WWD/DNR, 2004
“Skirting the Issues,” book review, WWD/DNR, 2003
“Got Malk? In Hollywood, John Malkovich may be a major star, but in the world of fashion his name is Mudd,” designer profile, Menswear, 2003
“Going by the Book: Alan Flusser has a few opinions—302 oversized pages worth—on how a man should dress,” book review, WWD/DNR, 2002