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!

Warriors of Legend: Reflections of Japan in Sailor Moon


Jay Navok - 2005
    Neophytes to Japan studies will find Warriors of Legend an accessible way to learn about this fascinating country. Those who know quite a lot about Japan already will find their understanding enhanced by the way the book analyzes the nuances of Tokyo's history and Japanese society. The book also argues that Sailor Moon is a unique series in that it was both internationally popular and strongly structured by the culture of the city of Tokyo and post-Economic Bubble Japan.

Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag


Henry Rollins - 1994
    Rollins's observations range from the wry to the raucous in this blistering account of a six-year career with the band - a time marked by crazed fans, vicious cops, near-starvation, substance abuse, and mind numbing all-night drives. Rollins decided to revise this edition by adding a wealth of new photographs, a new foreword, and an afterword to include some "where-are-they-now" information on the people featured in the book. This new edition includes 40 previously unpublished black-and-white photographs from Rollins's private collection and show flyers by artist Raymond Pettibon. Called "a soul-frying experience not to be undertaken by lightweights" by Wired magazine, Get in the Van perfectly embodies what one critic called the "secular gospel" of one of punk and post-punk's most respected and controversial figures.

Vogue on Christian Dior (Vogue on Designers)


Charlotte Sinclair - 2012
    Vogue on Christian Dior tells the story of Dior’s searchfor the perfect line and how his unique style and vision of women’s ideal silhouette developed. One of the most famous designers of the 20th century, his name still fronts one of the most successful haute couture fashion houses. Vogue on Christian Dior is a volume from the series created by the editors of British Vogue. It features 20,000 words of original biography and history and is studded with 80 color and black-and-white images from their unique archive of photos taken by the leading photographers of the day, including Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon.

Living in Japan


Alex Kerr - 2006
    Yet contemporary Japanese designers and architects keep finding new ways to refurbish and take inspiration from the ways of old. Whether it's a pristinely preserved traditional house or a cutting-edge apartment, the best Japanese homes share a love of cleverly designed spaces and warm materials such as wood, bricks, and bamboo. From a thatched roof farmhouse occupied by a Zen priest to Tadao Ando's experimental 4x4 House, Shigeru Ban's conceptual Shutter House, and a beautiful homage to bamboo in the form of a home, this book traverses the multifaceted landscape of Japanese living today. Also included is a list of addresses and a glossary of terms, such as tatami.

Lady Gaga


Terry Richardson - 2011
    During the time period he followed Gaga, Richardson took over 100,000 images and attended more than 30 Monster Ball dates around the world. From the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal rally in Portland, Maine, to the Thierry Mugler show at Maxime, Paris, Richardson captures Lady Gaga as you've never seen her before. A year-long global odyssey- -all access, nothing off limits--this is the book Lady Gaga fans have been waiting for.

Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties


Ian MacDonald - 1994
    Agreement that they were far and away the best pop group ever is all but universal. And nowhere is the spirit of the Sixties - both in its soaring optimism and its drug-spirited introspection - more perfectly expressed than in the Beatles' music. Taking all the elements which combined to create each song as it was captured on vinyl - the songwriting process, the stimuli of contemporary pop hits and events, the evolving input from each of the Four, the brilliant innovations pulled off in the studio and, ultimately, the twisting grip of psychedelic drugs - the Beatles are pinpointed, record by record, in precise and fascinating detail against the backdrop of that vibrant era.

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.

The Moe Manifesto: An Insider's Look at the Worlds of Manga, Anime, and Gaming


Patrick W. Galbraith - 2014
    These fans have a powerful desire to protect and nurture the young, beautiful and innocent characters they adore—like Sagisawa Moe in Dinosaur Planet and Tomoe Hotaru in Sailor Moon. They create their own websites, characters, stories, discussion groups, toys and games based around the original manga and anime roles.Author Patrick Galbraith is the world's acknowledged expert on MOE and a journalist based in Tokyo. For this book, he interviewed twenty important figures in the world of Japanese manga and anime to gain their insights on the MOE phenomenon. These interviews provide us with the first in-depth survey of this subject. Galbraith uncovers how MOE is influencing an entire generation of manga artists and readers. For those new to anime, manga, and youth culture in Japan, he discusses what constitutes the ideal MOE relationship and why some fans are even determined to marry their fictional sweethearts. He reveals key moments in the development of MOE, and current and future trends in the spread of MOE works and characters from Japan to other parts of the world.The Moe Manifesto provides an insider's look at the earliest MOE characters such as Ayame by Tezuka Osamu. The book has over 100 illustrations of the most famous MOE characters, many in color, and it is sure to delight manga and anime fans of every age.

Otaku: Japan's Database Animals


Hiroki Azuma - 2001
    Hiroki Azuma's 'Otaku' offers a critical, philosophical, and historical inquiry into the characteristics and consequences of this consumer subculture.

Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen


Abby Denson - 2014
    Cool Japan Guide takes you on a fun tour from the high-energy urban streets of Tokyo to the peaceful Zen gardens and Shinto shrines of Kyoto and introduces you to:-the exciting world of Japanese food--from bento to sushi and everything in between.-the otaku (geek) culture of Japan, including a manga market in Tokyo where artists display and sell their original artwork.-the complete Japanese shopping experience, from combini (not your run-of-the-mill convenience stores!) to depato (department stores with everything).-the world's biggest manga, anime and cosplay festivals.-lots of other exciting places to go and things to do--like zen gardens, traditional Japanese arts, and a ride on a Japanese bullet train.Whether you're ready to hop a plane and travel to Japan tomorrow, or interested in Japanese pop culture, this fun and colorful travelogue by noted comic book artist and food blogger Abby Denson, husband Matt, friend Yuuko, and sidekick, Kitty Sweet Tooth, will present Japan in a unique and fascinating way.

Culture Shock! Japan: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette


P. Sean Bramble - 2004
    International travelers, now more than ever, are not just individuals from the United States, but ambassadors and impression makers for the country as a whole. Newly updated, redesigned, and resized for maximum shelf appeal for travelers of all ages, Culture Shock! country and city guides make up the most complete reference series for customs and etiquette you can find. These are not just travel guides; these are guides for a way of life.

Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.


Roland Kelts - 2006
    The book highlights the shared conflicts as American and Japanese pop cultures dramatically intersect.

Vogue and The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: Parties, Exhibitions, People


Hamish Bowles - 2014
    With subjects that both reflect the zeitgeist and contribute to its creation, each exhibi­tion—from 2005’s Chanel, to 2011’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and 2013’s Punk—creates a provocative and engaging narrative attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. The show’s opening-night gala, produced in collaboration with Vogue magazine and attended by the likes of Beyoncé, George Clooney, and Hillary Clinton, is regularly referred to as the Party of the Year.Covering the Costume Institute’s history and highlighting exhibitions of the 21st century curated by Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton, this book offers insider access of the first order. Anchored by photo­graphs from the exhibitions themselves in tandem with the Vogue fashion shoots they inspired, it also includes images of exhibited objects and party photos from the galas. Drawn from the extensive Vogue archives, the featured stories showcase the photographs of icons such as Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, and Craig McDean; the vision of legendary Vogue editors like Grace Coddington and Tonne Goodman; and the knowledge and wit of writers such as Hamish Bowles and Jonathan Van Meter.

Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art


Jodi Cobb - 1995
    Happily, Jodi Cobb is able to show us—before they vanish—both the ceremonial world of the geisha in Tokyo and Kyoto and their private world as few outsiders have ever seen it.Many of the older women we meet here were forced into this world by hardship; the young women were drawn to it by their dream of aromantic life or their love of traditional arts. We see geisha in their daytime routines: fine-tuning their breathtakingly lavish wardrobes; perfecting the art of makeup; training maikos (apprentices); and preparing for annual dance performances.But as we watch the geisha at night, as they entertain (for huge sums) at private parties, their art takes a different form. Their purpose is to provide a dream—of luxury, romance and exclusivity. As the men sit at dinner, geisha position themselves at their elbows to serve them sake and delicacies and practice a brilliantly honed art of conversation. As the alcohol flows and the guests relax, geisha play party tricks and sing songs. Geisha have for centuries studied the male ego. They tend it like a garden—and we watch men bloom.This long-hidden world is revealed here both in superlative photographs and in a fascinating text that includes the voices of the geisha themselves. These women have created a life of beauty, making themselves an embodiment of Japanese culture, tradition and refinement—a life that is captured exquisitely in this remarkable book.