Fashion Books
My list of little necessities — vintage mink, soy lattes, too-tall shoes — really begins and ends with books, brain food that fuels my fluffly fashion journalism genius.
Dig some of my fav fashion and fashion design books. Soon I’ll put up my own reviews — till then, skim over the publishers’ hype extremely informative summaries.
Want to make a recommendation? Drop me a line, doll.
The Pocket Stylist:
Behind-the-Scenes Expertise from a Fashion Pro on Creating Your Own Look
by Kendall Farr
From the publisher: A celebrity fashion stylist reveals the tricks of her trade and shows women of all sizes how to pull together their own polished, individual look.
Whether she’s petite, average, or plus size, every woman has experienced the frustration of searching for flattering clothes. In The Pocket Stylist every reader can have a consultation with her own personal stylist and use the author’s behind-the-scenes wardrobe wisdom.
Best of all, The Pocket Stylist features specifically edited shopping lists for various body types. Four “styled” looks for each silhouette—from jeans-casual to cocktails—illustrate ideal proportion and fit. The reader becomes ’s client and will learn to shop and dress herself like a pro. The Pocket Stylist delivers the behind the camera expertise of a veteran stylist in one purse-size indispensable guide.
» More information about this fashion book.
» Buy The Pocket Stylist: Behind-the-Scenes Expertise from a Fashion Pro on Creating Your Own Look now, at Amazon.
The Fashion Designer Survival Guide:
An Insider’s Look at Starting and Running Your Own Fashion Business
by Mary Gehlhar, Zac Posen (Foreword)
From Women’s Wear Daily
“Lest fashion’s neophytes get too dreamy, Gehlhar is there to ground them…”
From Margaret Hayes, President, The Fashion Group International
“Mary presents many expectations he or she will confront in the marketplace and provides excellent professional advice throughout the book.”
» More information about this fashion book.
» Buy The Fashion Designer Survival Guide: An Insider’s Look at Starting and Running Your Own Fashion Business now, at Amazon.
Unseen Vogue:
The Secret History of Fashion Photography
by by Robin Derrick, Robin Muir
From the American Library Association: Whatever happened, you might ask, to Twiggy and Bianca Jagger and Jean Shrimpton, among other supermodels of yesteryear? British Vogue creative director Derrick and sidekick Muir sifted through 1.5 million images housed in the magazine’s library to produce a multidecades-long tribute to the artists, photographers, and beauties parading through its pages.
It starts at the earliest, in the 1920s, with a black-and-white picture of three aristocratic women; all photographs, at the very least, identify the photographer, the subjects, the credits (hair, outfit, cosmetics)–and at the very best, tell some fascinating stories. Like Vivien Leigh’s sensitivity about her large hands. Or Marlene Dietrich’s amazing knowledge about lighting, printing, and photography. Even a politely heated exchange between editor Audrey Williams and Cecil Beaton about his then most current project. Fantastical, ethereal, yet a very real portrait of many ages.
People Magazine Best in Gift Books “… a stunning visual catalog of fashion as seen by some of the great photographers of our time.”
» More information about this fashion photography book.
» Buy Unseen Vogue: The Secret History of Fashion Photography now, at Amazon.
Fashion:
History from the 18th to the 20th Century, Volume 1: 18th and 19th Century
by Akiko Fukai, Tamami Suoh, Miki Iwagami, Reiko Koga, Rie Nii, Kyoto Costume Institute (Editor)
From the publisher: Founded in 1978, the Kyoto Costume Institute holds one of the world’s most extensive clothing collections and has curated many exhibitions worldwide.
Showcasing highlights from the Institute’s archives of skilled photographs depicting the clothing expertly displayed and arranged on custom-made mannequins, Fashion History is a fascinating excursion through the last three centuries of clothing trends.
» More information about this fashion book.
» Buy Fashion: History from the 18th to the 20th Century, Volume 1: 18th and 19th Century now, at Amazon.
Fashion Design Drawing Course
by Caroline Tatham, Julian Seaman (Editor)
From the publisher: A superb reference book and an ideal instructional textbook for classroom use, this beautifully illustrated guide is organized into units that reflect required courses at leading design colleges.
Twenty step-by-step exercises cover methods of finding inspiration, developing observation techniques, and creating fashion drawings in both color and black-and-white media. Separate sections are devoted to getting started and understanding figure proportions, planning and designing garments, and creating and assessing flat specification drawings.
The book also features cross-references to its various art instruction techniques, a designer’s glossary, and a helpful index. This book guides students through their first steps in fashion illustration, covering everything that is presented in the best college-level courses. It makes a fine starting point for all students of fashion, introducing them to fashion drawing as a first step toward a career as a creative costumier. More than 250 illustrations in color and black and white.
» More information about this fashion design book.
» Buy Fashion Design Drawing Course now, at Amazon.
Vice Dos and Don’ts:
10 Years of VICE Magazine’s Street Fashion Critiques
by Gavin McInnes, et al
From the publisher: From the creators of the runaway cult magazine sensation and arbiter of all that is cool comes the ultimate guide on how to be and not be a modern urban hipster.
By far one of Vice magazine’s and website’s most popular attractions is its Dos and Donts section, which features candid photographs from streets, bars and clubs of New York, London and Montreal. Accompanied by scathing, unabashedly hilarious captions commenting on the fashions and lifestyle habits of the unsuspecting models, this cllection distills the genius of Vice magazine to its essence and will keep readers laughing for years to come.
» More information about this fashion police book.
» Buy Vice Dos and Don’ts: 10 Years of VICE Magazine’s Street Fashion Critiques now, at Amazon.
Fashion Illustration Now
by Laird Borrelli, fashion historian at Fashion Institute of Technology
From the publisher: Fashion illustration is hot. More and more, the most arresting visual images seen today are not photographed, they are stylishly drawn. This smart, sophisticated, trendsetting book showcases the work of 29 of the world’s top fashion illustrators-an international galaxy of talent whose evocative illustrations often seem to define what is hip and contemporary.
The artists, who include Ruben Alterio, Mats Gustafson, Jean-Philippe Delhomme, and Jeffrey Fulvimari (the illustrator of Madonna’s The English Roses), are divided stylistically into three groups: Sensualists (who work in the fine arts tradition with paint, ink, woodblocks, and stencils, and who concentrate as much on the process of illustration as the subject); Gamines & Sophisticates (whose work is figurative and who use caricature and cartooning to create characters and comment on behavior); and Technocrats (those wizards of computer-generated art who are exploring the limits of illustration’s newest frontier). Together, these illustrators are revitalizing the marriage of art and fashion in the new millennium.
» More information about this fashion illustration book.
» Buy Fashion Illustration Now now, at Amazon.
