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the daily review, mon., june 20

Kelly Cutrone in Toronto in 2010Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail

Lady Gaga did not become a worldwide phenomenon because she's normal. Her popularity is built on theatrically fetishistic fashion statements, showing up to awards shows in egg-shaped vessels carried by half-naked men and insisting that all her fans embrace their inner freak.

Even if extreme, Lady Gaga's persona could be used as evidence to support the notion that "normal gets you nowhere," which also happens to be the catchy name of the second book by Kelly Cutrone, the grande dame of straight-up girl talk.

In her introduction, the outspoken über-fashion-publicist-turned-unlikely-guru reveals that her editor nudged her toward rewriting the Ten Commandments. Thankfully, she refused.

But there's no doubt she takes a didactic approach to sharing her unconventional and largely uncensored words of wisdom.

Cutrone believes that aspiring to be normal is not only irrelevant today but also misguided. Citing the definition of normal in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, she makes the argument that few people would want to be described as having average intelligence or conforming to a type or standard.

Fair enough. But then what is the opposite of normal, because abnormal doesn't quite work. Apparently, and in a context that straddles the grey area between self-help and memoir lite, not normal means being compassionate, well informed, sexually aware, angry (when appropriate), spiritual, civically active and fiercely independent.

Cutrone, a.k.a. Mama Wolf, was already famous - at least among a certain group of fashion-obsessed young women and gay men - for being all these things thanks to her recurring roles on reality shows The Hills, The City and Kell on Earth in addition to her debut book from last year, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside.

She remains the same tough cookie with a soft, melty centre; a successful businesswoman and single mother who somehow neither teaches nor preaches, yet manages to impart life lessons about sex ed in one chapter (comically dubbed the Kella-Sutra) and human rights in the next (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is printed in its entirety). This part comes about after she develops a massive girl crush on Eleanor Roosevelt, whose legacy for championing civil rights is as enduring as her role as U.S. first lady.

Toronto actually makes a brief appearance in Chapter 4 when Cutrone flies from her home in New York to join Amma, known around the world as "the hugging saint," as she bestows prayers upon thousands of followers at the Sheraton Hotel in Richmond Hill, Ont., last summer. Here, Cutrone describes a revelatory evening that might come across as too loopy and borderline delusional for some readers. It's definitely not normal. Yet even this can be reduced to the simple but imperative goal to live consciously and in harmony with each other.

There is significantly less focus on fashion in this book than Cutrone's first, and in some ways, it seems that she's gradually distancing herself from the narrow world of PR. No doubt this helps broaden her reach. In the past year, she has become a regular correspondent on Dr. Phil.

Perhaps Mama Wolf is just applying her PR mojo differently, spreading the gospel of idiosyncrasy rather than getting her designer clients placed on the pages of Vogue. Cutrone invites us to join her on this new journey; and only an apathetic person would refuse. The final destination will be different for everyone, but at least we can be confident we'll end up somewhere.

Amy Verner is The Globe and Mail's style reporter. She has never aspired to be normal.

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