Curation + Inspiration

Looking for a fun beach read to keep you company?

Gretchen Berg’s I Have Iraq In My Shoe: Misadventures of a Soldier of Fashion will have you laughing out loud while you bake under the hot sun and thank your lucky bikini that you’re sweating in the good ol’ USA and that your vehicle didn’t undergo a bomb inspection when you entered the beach parking lot.

Gretchen’s witty, chatty voice is like reading a letter sent home from a friend working at a summer camp — if that friend was a liberal American girl teaching English in black Gucci pumps to conservative Muslim Iraquis.

No stranger to travel, Gretchen arrived in Iraq hoping to pay off her credit card debt, make a difference in a few students’ lives and perhaps even find love.

She returned with a deep appreciation for the region and its people while somehow also managing to purchase 20 new pairs of designer shoes.

Her quests for Diet Coke, her discovery of Virginity Soap and quips like “You Can’t Hide the Sexy!” will endear you to this talented young author who may be the first gal ever to claim the title of Iraqonista.

Currently, Gretchen is confining herself to domestic travel while she promotes her book and works on two new tomes, one that’s travel-y and one that’s so hush-hush even the promise of Christian Louboutins couldn’t pry it out of her.

But she happily agreed to chat with me about her dual adventures of living in Iraq AND writing her first book.

I love puns and word play so I love the book’s title. Do you remember where you were when you came up with it or was it an editorial brainstorm?

I had been playing around with other horrible puns for “Iraq”, then one day my coworker Steve and I were walking out of the bank in Suli and I literally got a rock in my shoe and was like “AHA!” One of the first things my agent said to me was “Okay, let’s start thinking of alternate titles”, and I was like “NOOOOOOOOO!”

You’ve visited 45 countries and have traveled to all seven continents. All seven! That’s quite an achievement. And while you do share your unique packing technique in the book, are there other tips you can share with me and other women who hope to travel the world someday?

Oh God, please don’t follow my packing philosophy! I feel like so much of my book was more of a “What Not To Do”.

I would say the most important tip, if you really want to travel, is to just make it a priority. You may have to make sacrifices in other areas of your life if you want that trip to Greece – like getting your hair done at a training salon for 6 months (I always get $12-$18 haircuts), or asking yourself if you really NEED the latest iPhone upgrade, or whatever (I still use a flip phone – cue laughter here). Stop saying “Oh I really want to go there, someday”, and say “I’m going to go there next summer” and make it happen.

It’s pretty clear you LOVE shoes and you advise “Don’t give girls fashion magazines in their formative years if you expect them to wear sensible shoes.”

Do you have any other thoughts or words of wisdom for how to deal with the cultural pressure to be thin, beautiful and well-dressed at all times?

It’s funny – the fashion magazines never gave me body issues at all. I was more likely to compare myself to my friends or other people around me (still not a great idea – never compare yourself to anyone else).

I have so much fun playing dress-up, but once I’m dressed and walk out the door I kind of forget about how I look. It’s like “Okay, you get ten minutes of fashion-posey time in front of the mirror, but then you’re done”. No one likes to hang out with the girl who’s obsessing about how her butt looks in those jeans, or her hair looking perfect, or her face being too shiny.

But do please help a sister out if she’s got lipstick on her teeth. Or a visible booger.

At one point, you’re clothes shopping in Iraq and you call yourself a style savant.  Does that mean you have some kind of shopping super-powers?

YES! Oh, now look what you’ve done. On my “To Buy” list I just added “Cape”.

I loved the nods you give to Gone With the Wind throughout the book. How are you and Scarlett O’Hara most alike and how are you most different?

I think we’re both sort of unsympathetic heroines. Self-sufficient scrappiness can often rub people the wrong way.

And we’re complete opposites when it comes to men. Scarlett had no qualms about going after other women’s beaus, or men she wasn’t really attracted to. I find that a little gross.

It’s pretty obvious you are a HUGE fan of YOOX. What are some of your other favorite online shopping destinations?

I almost regret putting that in writing, because now everyone else is going to be competing with me for The Stuff! But that’s okay. Sharing is good (sharing is good – whispers repeatedly to self).

I also love The Outnet, ShopBop and Zappos (unreal with that whole return policy! Love them!)

My favorite moment was when you wanted to donate nine pairs of shoes to a refugee camp before coming back to the US.

You rightfully wonder if they’ll even want your grommet stilettos and espadrille wedges. And when you discover they do, you note that “just because people are displaced doesn’t mean they don’t want pretty footwear.”

It speaks to how we’re are all more alike than different regardless of where we live. Were there other big takeaways from your Iraq adventure?

That was really the major one, and the most important. We are all just people. We all have friends, families, stresses, successes, etc. Everything else is pretty unimportant.

Finally, what book are YOU reading right now?

I just finished “Peyton Place”, which was written in 1954 (I think?) and was wildly controversial at the time. I loved it. From what my mom told me, it was passed around her high school the same way we passed around Judy Blume’s “Wifey” in junior high. Awesomely salacious, if maybe a bit tamer by today’s standards.

Well, I haven’t read either of those myself so I’ll add’em to my list. Thanks for much and I’ll look forward to your new books!

P.S. I’m going to pass along my review copy of the book to a lucky reader. Just leave a comment below or share this post on Twitter or Facebook. I’ll pick a random winner from all participants next Friday at noon PST. Or you can grab your own copy on Amazon right now.

(Disclosure: Zuburbia received a review copy of this book and is an Amazon Associates affiliate. Photo Credits: Gretchen Berg. Used with permission.)

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