Book picks similar to
Fashion Muse: The Inspiration Behind Iconic Design by Debra Mancoff


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D.V.


Diana Vreeland - 1984
    In this glittering autobiography she takes us around the world with her, revealing her obsession with fashion high and low--pink plastic poodles, for example--and dropping timeless sayings like, "As you know, the French like the French very much." A fabulous, witty read.

Grace: A Memoir


Grace Coddington - 2012
    Willful. Charming. Blunt. Grace Coddington’s extraordinary talent and fierce dedication to her work as creative director of Vogue have made her an international icon. Known through much of her career only to those behind the scenes, she might have remained fashion’s best-kept secret were it not for The September Issue, the acclaimed 2009 documentary that turned publicity-averse Grace into a sudden, reluctant celebrity. Grace’s palpable engagement with her work brought a rare insight into the passion that produces many of the magazine’s most memorable shoots.   With the witty, forthright voice that has endeared her to her colleagues and peers for more than forty years, Grace now creatively directs the reader through the storied narrative of her life so far. Evoking the time when models had to tote their own bags and props to shoots, Grace describes her early career as a model, working with such world-class photographers as David Bailey and Norman Parkinson, before she stepped behind the camera to become a fashion editor at British Vogue in the late 1960s. Here she began creating the fantasy “travelogues” that would become her trademark. In 1988 she joined American Vogue, where her breathtakingly romantic and imaginative fashion features, a sampling of which appear in this book, have become instant classics.   Delightfully underscored by Grace’s pen-and-ink illustrations, Grace will introduce readers to the colorful designers, hairstylists, makeup artists, photographers, models, and celebrities with whom Grace has created her signature images. Grace reveals her private world with equal candor—the car accident that almost derailed her modeling career, her two marriages, the untimely death of her sister, Rosemary, her friendship with Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Liz Tilberis, and her thirty-year romance with Didier Malige. Finally, Grace describes her abiding relationship with Anna Wintour, and the evolving mastery by which she has come to define the height of fashion.  NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FINANCIAL TIMES“If Wintour is the Pope . . . Coddington is Michelangelo, trying to paint a fresh version of the Sistine Chapel twelve times a year.”—Time

One + One: Scarves, Shawls Shrugs: 25+ Projects from Just Two Skeins


Iris Schreier - 2012
    Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs is the first in a new series by renowned designer Iris Schreier that showcases the many possibilities of working with just two skeins of yarn. Mixing yarn types, weights, and colors, she presents a dazzling array of stylish and sophisticated wraps. Schreier created about half the projects herself, while other prominent designers provided the rest.  The projects range from easy to unique and offer new ideas for blending yarns and creating pieces with high appeal, beautiful drape, and practical functionality.

Contemporary Fashion Illustration Techniques


Naoki Watanabe - 2009
    The impression given to the viewer depends on whether the fashion design drawings are good. Contemporary Fashion Illustration Techniques thoroughly describes the basics of fashion illustration, and covers the latest trends such as vivid images, sprightly movement, and garment material texture. After all, fashion drawing is not simply about sketching a body and face; only when you accurately reproduce the garments and their colors can the designs truly come to life.

Miss-Match


Erica Lawson - 2013
    According to her aunt, she is as good as dead. Minerva Goldberg has used all her matchmaking wiles to make a conventional match for Clancy. Now it is time to use an unconventional one. Fashion editor, Carmen Pratka does Minerva a favor by going on a blind date with Clancy. Clancy refuses to acknowledge what the rest of the world knows. Carmen makes it her personal mission to not only convince Clancy that she is a lesbian and she, is the right woman for her.A not to be missed romantic comedy by award winners Erica Lawson and A.C. Henley.

Orchids and Diamonds


Rosalind Laker - 1995
    The glamour of Paris and the world of haute coutere before and after World War I is the setting for this story - a tale of glamour, romance and a passionate love lost and found again.

John T. Molloy's New Dress for Success


John T. Molloy - 1988
    Contains 30 percent new information and a four-color, four-page illustration insert.

In Vogue: An Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine


Norberto Angeletti - 2006
    The complete compendium is illustrated with hundreds of covers and archival interiors of past Vogue editions, featuring the work of some of the twentieth century's most respected artists, cover illustrators, and photographers—from Edward Steichen, Toni Frissell, and Erwin Blumenfeld to Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Steven Klein, Bruce Webber, and Herb Ritts. In 1909, an entrepreneurial New Yorker named Condé Nast took charge of a struggling society journal and transformed it into the most glamorous fashion magazine of the twentieth century. In Vogue traces the history, development and influence of this media colossus—from its beginning as a social gazette in the late nineteenth century, to the exploration of modern fashion photography and new visuals in the mid-twentieth century, to its status as the top style magazine today. The book explains the makings of the magazine—from runways, to editorial meetings, to the pages of Vogue.The thoroughly researched story incorporates first-person accounts, interviews with editors and photographers, and excerpts from stories written in the magazine by many world-renowned writers, including Truman Capote, Aldous Huxley, Richard Burton, Federico Fellini, and Marcello Mastroianni. Unparalleled in its scope and exceptionally illustrated, In Vogue is sure to be among the most important publications on the subjects of culture, art, fashion, photography, and media.

Alexander McQueen: Evolution


Katherine A. Gleason - 2012
    McQueen found inspiration for his avant-garde collections everywhere: his Scottish ancestry, Alfred Hitchcock movies, Yoruba mythology, the destruction of the environment—even the fashion industry itself. Whatever his inspiration, however, McQueen’s concept for his runway show came first and was crucial to the development of the collection. Every show had a narrative and was staged with his characteristic dramatic flair. Highland Rape featured disheveled models smeared with “blood” staggering down the runway in town clothes. In Scanners, two robots sprayed paint on a model trapped on a spinning platform. In Widows of Culloden, a hologram of supermodel Kate Moss held center stage. Other McQueen shows staged models walking through water, drifting snowflakes, rain, and wind tunnels; pole-dancing in garish makeup at a carnival, playing living pieces in a bizarre chess game, and performing with trained dancers in a Depression-era-style marathon. Illustrated throughout with stunning photography and liberally sprinkled with quotations from McQueen and those who knew him best, Alexander McQueen: Evolution is the story of the designer’s thirty-five runway shows and the genius behind them.

Figure Drawing for Fashion Design


Elisabetta Drudi - 2002
    To give an accurate impression of what is in a designer's mind it is vital to have complete mastery of the rules of figure drawing. Here, realism and anatomical precision are the chief values, whereas for costume and fashion, stylization and exaggeration are ways of adding individuality and verve to a plate, and of focusing attention on specific elements. FIGURE DRAWING FOR FASHION DESIGN offers a concise, topic by topic guide to acquiring and perfecting these skills, concentrating on the female form. The coverage provided means that this book is ideal both for those who want to apply themselves professionally to fashion design, and for all enthusiasts of drawing the human body.

Vogue: The Covers


Dodie Kazanjian - 2011
    Vogue: The Covers chronicles the extraordinary images that have reflected—and transformed—the world of style for more than 120 years. More than 300 of the most beautiful, provocative, and fashion-forward covers ever produced are highlighted alongside the history and stories behind the covers themselves. Organized in chronological order by decade, Vogue: The Covers begins with the illustrated covers from the magazine’s inception in 1892 and spans the 20th century to the present day, charting the evolution of fashion, art, culture, and photography for the past 120 years. Featuring the work of influential artists—Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, Steven Meisel, Annie Leibovitz, and Mario Testino—the book is a stunning celebration of the magazine and its unparalleled influence.

Paparazzi Princesses


Bria Williams - 2013
    Welcome to the world of the Paparazzi Princesses.Step inside the lives of Kayla Jones and Promise Walker. As the daughters of two legends of rap music, trips, cash, designer labels and famous friends are just business as usual for Kayla and Promise. But so are the high expectations of super-successful parents, the drama of having two-faced friends, the not-always welcome glare of constant media attention and the hurt of nasty gossip. Add to that the ugly reality that some people would do anything to take their parents down—and Kayla and Promise face a daily struggle to figure out who to trust when every one of them is blinded by their dad’s power. To make matters worse, sometimes, they’re not even sure of each other!

Advanced Style


Ari Seth Cohen - 2012
    It is a collection of street fashion unlike any seen before—focused on the over-60 set in the world’s most stylish locales. The (mostly) ladies of Advanced Style are enjoying their later years with grace and panache, marching to the beat of their own drummer. These timeless images and words of wisdom provide fashion inspiration for all ages and prove that age is nothing but a state of mind.Ari Seth Cohen started his blog inspired by his own grandmother’s unique personal style and his lifelong interest in the put-together fashion of vibrant seniors. Each of his subjects sparkles like a diamond after long years spent refining and perfecting their individual look and approach to life. The Advanced Style book will showcase, in luscious full-color, the best of the blog, but will also act as a true guidebook with all-new material featuring wardrobes, interviews, stories, and advice from a cadre of his most chic subjects, along with a large selection of never-before-seen photography—fresh off of sidewalk catwalks around the world!

Men and Manners: Essays, Advice, and Considerations


David Coggins - 2018
    Though the rules of civility have changed as the world has, David Coggins believes in the enduring importance of manners and a generous temperament even in the age of the iPhone. This timely book doesn’t tell you which fork to use or how to tie a bow tie. Rather, it reminds you of basic, respectful guidelines you may have forgotten or chosen to ignore. With essays, interviews and expert insight, Coggins makes the case for being the modern man who tips well, offers his seat, picks up the tab and who remembers to do what’s right even if it isn’t always rewarded.

The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-Inch Heels and Faux Pas


Melissa de la Cruz - 2004
    A fashionista can tell her Pucci from her Gucci and her Blahniks from her Choos, but she’s as comfortable in Kmart as she is in Chanel. She wears what she likes and always looks fantastic. She’s a clothing chameleon: a sharp tweed suit and ladylike driving gloves one moment, a punk rock T-shirt and studded belt the next. She’s a gypsy, a princess, and a diva. She’s fashion-forward, shopping-addicted, and full of fun. And you can be her, no matter your size, style, or budget.Authors Melissa de la Cruz and Karen Robinovitz are fashionistas who share a love for impractical shoes, small dogs that fit in designer handbags, and wearing white after Labor Day. They eat, sleep, and breathe fashion. And they’ll teach you how to• Make a whole new wardrobe out of the awful duds that lurk in the back of your closet• Use the words “postmodern” and “ironic” to fake your way through pseudo-intellectual cocktail conversation (really–it’s easy, and so postmodern and ironic!)• Score big with chic and cheap finds at thrift stores, consignment shops, and discount designer outlets• Live like a socialite on a shoestring budgetIn two weeks or less, you’ll be living the lush life, from the brim of your Eugenia Kim fedora to the tip of your pointy Christian Louboutin pumps!