Book picks similar to
True Style: The History and Principles of Classic Menswear by G. Bruce Boyer
fashion
non-fiction
menswear
history
The Sartorialist
Scott Schuman - 2009
His now-famous and much-loved blog, thesartorialist.com, is his showcase for the wonderful and varied sartorial tastes of real people across the globe. This book is a beautiful anthology of Scott?s favorite images, accompanied by his insightful commentary. It includes photographs of well-known fashion figures alongside people encountered on the street whose personal style and taste demand a closer look. From the streets of New York to the parks of Florence, from Stockholm to Paris, from London to Moscow and Milan, these are the men and women who have inspired Scott and the many diverse and fashionable readers of his blog. After fifteen years in the fashion business, Scott Schuman felt a growing disconnect between what he saw on the runways and in magazines, and what real people were wearing. The Sartorialist was his attempt to redress the balance. Since its beginning, the blog has become hugely admired and influential in the fashion industry and beyond. Thesartorialist.com is consistently named one of the top blogs in the world. A self-taught photographer, Schuman shoots for publications including French Vogue, American GQ, Fantastic Man and Elle, and a growing list of advertising clients. Scott has also shown his work at the New York photo gallery The Danziger Projects and appeared in the GAP Style Icon campaign in the fall of 2008. He has been named the number one fashion photography trend by American Photo magazine, as well as one of Time magazine?s top 100 design influencers.
The Style Checklist: The Ultimate Wardrobe Essentials for You
Lloyd Boston - 2010
His style philosophy is: Less is Modern.The good news is: the most stylish clothes you can have are probably already in your closet. But savvy women are on a perpetual quest to find the perfect addition to their wardrobe: the perfect bathing suit, a traffic-stopping pair of jeans, that classic little black dress. While the editorial pages of high fashion magazines can offer inspiration, they can’t help you find what works for your looks and lifestyle. But Lloyd Boston’s The Style Checklist offers basic guidance to help make your everyday commute your runway. With solutions to common fashion problems and a lot of how-to advice, this book simplifies and demystifies how to achieve style.
The Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish
Linda Przybyszewski - 2014
We lack the fashion know-how we need to dress professionally and beautifully. In The Lost Art of Dress, historian and dressmaker Linda Przybyszewski reveals that this wasn't always true.In the first half of the twentieth century, a remarkable group of women -- the so-called Dress Doctors -- taught American women that knowledge, not money, was key to a beautiful wardrobe. They empowered women to design, make, and choose clothing for both the workplace and the home. Armed with the Dress Doctors' simple design principles -- harmony, proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis -- modern American women from all classes learned to dress for all occasions in ways that made them confident, engaged members of society. A captivating and beautifully illustrated look at the world of the Dress Doctors, The Lost Art of Dress introduces a new audience to their timeless rules of fashion and beauty -- rules which, with a little help, we can certainly learn again.
Fashion: The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute - A History from the 18th to the 20th Century
Akiko Fukai - 2002
A person's clothing, whether it's a sari, kimono, or business suit, is an essential key to his or her culture, class, personality, or even religion. The Kyoto Costume Institute recognizes the importance of understanding clothing sociologically, historically, and artistically. Founded in 1978, the KCI holds one of the world's most extensive clothing collections and has curated many exhibitions worldwide. With an emphasis on Western women's clothing, the KCI has amassed a wide range of historical garments, underwear, shoes, and fashion accessories dating from the 18th century to the present day. Showcasing a vast selection of skilled photographs from the Institute's archives, depicting the clothing expertly displayed and arranged on custom-made mannequins, Fashion is a fascinating excursion through the last three centuries of clothing trends.From a rare treasure such as a 17th century iron corset with embroidered bodice to modern-day outfits by such designers as Yves Saint Laurent and Calvin Klein, the collection provides an extensive overview of the evolution of women's fashion. The KCI believes that "clothing is an essential manifestation of our very being" and their passion and dedication positively radiate from every page of this book. It offers an opportunity to see how our ancestors dressed, to consider the amazing accomplishments of contemporary fashion, and to imagine how our descendants may dress in the distant future as clothing design continues on its tireless evolutionary path.
I Love Your Style: How to Define and Refine Your Personal Style
Amanda Brooks - 2009
Smart, glamorous, media-savvy and remarkably practical, Amanda has spent her entire life constructing a unique, eclectic and intimately personal sense of style. With classic roots, bohemian flair, a taste for designer luxuries, and a love for bargains everywhere, Amanda has looked to every imaginable source of fashion inspiration-from high-fashion runways and magazines, to thrift stores and classic movies, to her neighbors in downtown New York and old family photo albums. In I Love Your Style, Amanda helps women of all ages begin to cull through the frighteningly vast world of fashion, from its staid basics to its trendiest moments. I Love Your Style is a sumptuous full-color look-book and style bible, complete with more than 400 classic and modern photographs, that will both empower and inspire women to dive into the challenge of defining, or refining, their personal style. With fully illustrated chapters, sidebars, shopping lists, and personal stories devoted to a range diverse styles and shopping techniques-Classic, Bohemian, Minimalist, Street, High-Fashion, Cheap Chic, Vintage-Brooks walks readers through every angle of the fashion world, from the basic pieces and accessories that define a style, to the small details, combinations, and adaptations that can make it your own. With its focus on embracing creativity, personal history, originality, and the freedom to pick and choose aspects from any distinct "style"-and with no "rules," "commandments," or lengthy lists of "don′ts" in sight-I Love Your Style is a must-read for budding fashionistas, or anyone who finds herself frustrated in front of the mirror each morning.
The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style
Nicholas Antongiavanni - 2006
With The Suit, Nicholas Antongiavanni provides a masterly manual on what it takes to succeed: advice on how to dress with style, flair, and an eye toward gaining power. That's because "business casual" has proved itself a one-way ticket to a lifetime in the corporate dungeon. But if you apply the sartorial advice proffered in The Suit to your clothes, you will project elegance, bravado, and success.Drawing inspiration from Machiavelli's The Prince, Antongiavanni has crafted an essential handbook for the ambitious man who recognizes that smart and stylish appearance is a lever to power. From neckties to footwear, belts to suspenders, lapels to handkerchiefs, The Suit leaves no garment or accessory untouched and will inject a dose of good taste into your closet. The debates over double-breasted vs. single, two-buttons vs. three, English vs. Italian, and many others are settled with wit by Antongiavanni's wealth of knowledge in the art of dress.The Suit is much more than a simple how-to manual -- Antongiavanni packs these pages with insightful and sometimes stinging commentary on celebrities and the clothes they wear. Leading public figures from David Letterman to Donald Rumsfeld are picked apart at the seams. Antongiavanni uses powerful men in the public eye as entertaining examples of how to dress properly and what garish mistakes to avoid. Whether you are already a corporate Prince -- or if you are a Joe Cubicle aspiring to be something greater -- The Suit will teach you how to make your clothes work for you. No matter what your physical build or your status in the workplace, let Nicholas Antongiavanni be your fashion consultant.
How To Be a Man: A Guide To Style and Behavior For The Modern Gentleman
Glenn O'Brien - 2011
By turns witty, sardonic, and always insightful, Glenn O’Brien’s advice column has been a must-read for several generations of men (and their spouses and girlfriends). Having cut his teeth as a contributor at Andy Warhol’s Interview in its heyday, O’Brien sharpened them as the creative director of advertising at the hip department store Barneys New York for ten years before starting his advice column at Details magazine in 1996. Eventually his column, "The Style Guy," migrated to its permanent home at GQ magazine, where O’Brien dispenses well-honed knowledge on matters ranging from how to throw a cocktail party (a diverse guest list is a must), putting together a wardrobe for a trip to Bermuda (pack more clothes for less dressing), or when it is appropriate to wear flip-flops in public (never). How To Be a Man is the culmination of O’Brien’s thirty years of accumulated style and etiquette wisdom, distilled through his gimlet eye and droll prose. With over forty chapters on style and fashion (and the difference), on dandies and dudes, grooming and decorating, on how to dress age-appropriately and how to age gracefully, this guide is the new essential read for men of all ages.
Off the Cuff
Carson Kressley - 2004
The fashion expert of the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy team shares the secrets of men's style, in a guide that explains how to create a fashionable approach that takes into consideration one's unique personality and physique.
Isms: Understanding Fashion
Mairi MacKenzie - 2010
The latest in the best-selling Isms series, which includes Isms: Understanding Art, Isms: Understanding Architectural Styles and Isms: Understanding Religion, is Isms: Understanding Fashion. Concisely written, this book packs loads of detail into a handy small format, tracing the evolution of costume history and fashion through a series of interconnected trends and movements (a.k.a. "isms") from the Greco-Roman toga and the antebellum hoop skirt to the latest from the runway. This guide is organized chronologically and covers the evolution of costume, the beginning of haute couture, and the rise of fashion as we know it— documented throughout with a combination of line drawings, costume illustration, and fashion photography. It includes an overview of designers from the classic—Coco Chanel, Dior—to the contemporary design greats, such as Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs. While the book traces the influences and links between designers, it also includes patrons, from Marie-Antoinette to Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana, as well as fashion muses from Sarah Bernhardt to Sarah Jessica Parker. Related topics such as accessories and accoutrements are included as well. Anyone interested in costume and fashion will delight in this book.
Parisian Chic: A Style Guide
Inès de La Fressange - 2010
Inès de la Fressange—France’s icon of chic—shares her personal tips for living with style and charm, gleaned from decades in the fashion industry. She offers specific pointers on how to dress like a Parisian, including how to mix affordable basics with high-fashion touches, and how to accessorize. Her step-by-step do’s and don’ts are accompanied by fashion photography, and the book is personalized with her charming drawings. Inès also shares how to bring Parisian chic into your home, and how to insert your signature style into any space—even the office. The ultrachic volume is wrapped with a three-quarter-height removable jacket and features offset aquarelle paper and a ribbon page marker. Complete with her favorite addresses for finding the ultimate fashion and decorating items, this is a must-have for any woman who wants to add a touch of Paris to her own style.
Subculture: The Meaning of Style
Dick Hebdige - 1979
Hebdige [...] is concerned with the UK's postwar, music-centred, white working-class subcultures, from teddy boys to mods and rockers to skinheads and punks.' - Rolling StoneWith enviable precision and wit Hebdige has addressed himself to a complex topic - the meanings behind the fashionable exteriors of working-class youth subcultures - approaching them with a sophisticated theoretical apparatus that combines semiotics, the sociology of devience and Marxism and come up with a very stimulating short book - Time OutThis book is an attempt to subject the various youth-protest movements of Britain in the last 15 years to the sort of Marxist, structuralist, semiotic analytical techniques propagated by, above all, Roland Barthes. The book is recommended whole-heartedly to anyone who would like fresh ideas about some of the most stimulating music of the rock era - The New York Times
The Craftsman
Richard Sennett - 2008
The computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen all engage in a craftsman’s work. In this thought-provoking book, Sennett explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in today’s world. The Craftsman engages the many dimensions of skill—from the technical demands to the obsessive energy required to do good work. Craftsmanship leads Sennett across time and space, from ancient Roman brickmakers to Renaissance goldsmiths to the printing presses of Enlightenment Paris and the factories of industrial London; in the modern world he explores what experiences of good work are shared by computer programmers, nurses and doctors, musicians, glassblowers, and cooks. Unique in the scope of his thinking, Sennett expands previous notions of crafts and craftsmen and apprises us of the surprising extent to which we can learn about ourselves through the labor of making physical things.
Making Faces
Kevyn Aucoin - 1997
Kevin Aucoin shares his secrets, explaining not only the basics of makeup application and technique but also how to use the fundamentals to create a wide range of different looks.
Fashion Now 2
Terry Jones - 2005
"Fashion Now 2" is illustrated with the very best fashion photography and styling, extracted from the archives of the magazine that celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2008.
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work
Matthew B. Crawford - 2009
On both economic and psychological grounds, author Matthew B. Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a "knowledge worker," based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing. Using his own experience as an electrician and mechanic, Crawford presents a wonderfully articulated call for self-reliance and a moving reflection on how we can live concretely in an ever more abstract world.