- Hardcover: 512 pages
- Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd (Aug 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 071483808X
- ISBN-13: 978-0714838083
- Product Dimensions: 29.8 x 26 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 368,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
James Abbe, a 1920s fashion photographer, and Zoran, the designer whose simple, monochromatic clothes were extremely popular in the 1970s, anchor the 500 entries in this massive encyclopedia of fashion. Each designer, photographer, model or icon gets a page with a large photo and informative but short caption. This has the wonderful effect of weighting each entry equally, thereby devoting the same amount of space to Charles Revson, creator of the Revlon cosmetics empire and relative makeup newcomer François Nars, pioneering clothing designer Mariano Fortuny and contemporary favourite Tom Ford.
Clearly, a good set of eyes edited this book. It's a tall order to choose just one image to define the many facets of a designer, model, or photographer. The choices made here are excellent and often surprising. The indomitable Coco Chanel demonstrates the ease of movement her designs afforded women by briskly swinging her arm out to one side, while Kate Moss is shown at the height of her waifdom, likely the mode in which she will best be remembered. Model Linda Evangelista is pictured with curly locks of hair. It's obvious, too, that the editors employed the haphazard juxtaposition created by the alphabetical organization. Facing entries, no matter how seemingly incongruous, are united by a visual theme to spectacular effect. The ovals made by the either screaming or yawning mouths of Kurt Cobain and his infant daughter are mirrored in a 1937 Jean Cocteau illustration of an Elsa Schiaparelli design. A model in a 1930s outfit by John-Frederics faces a portrait of post-punk design queen Betsey Johnson, whose floral outfit echoes the flowery silhouette behind the model. A troika of Robert Lee Morris bracelets matches the arcs of a bombed-out London building in a 1941 Cecil Beaton photo of a Digby Morton design. The vibrant prints of Emilio Pucci and Lilly Pulitzer fall together naturally. The reams of fabulous images and the inventive design alone make The Fashion Book a treat at any cost, but the low price-to-size ratio (like its cousins The Art Book and The Photography Book) makes it a real bargain.
Product Description
Following the format of "The Art Book", this volume looks at the fashion world and the people who created and inspired it. The book contains an A-Z guide to the 500 most important names in fashion since the 1860s, including clothes and accessory designers, photographers, models and iconic individuals who instigated or symbolize a fashion movement. Designers represented include Paul Poiret, Christian Dior, Balenciaga, John Galliano, Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Jeanne Lanvin and Issey Miyake. The book provides a survey of fashion photography with work from Cecil Beaton, David Bailey, Guy Bourdin, Irving Penn, Steven Meisel, Nan Goldin, Eve Arnold, Craig McDean, Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton. The book is arranged alphabetically, and a cross-reference system and glossary explain collaborations and techniques used in fashion.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An amazing good Fashion book! A-Z of fashion icons, photographers, models, designers, etc. Everyone that is in the fashion world well known! I loved looking through the book as I didn't know every single person mentioned in it! It's a must buy if you are interested/in to fashion!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this when I started college and it helped me a lot. I have the little paperback version which is easy to carry around in any sized bag.
This book has wonderful imagery in the form of photographs and illustrations which help to link the profiled person to their work and also it lists other relevant people to help you build up a better tree of influences.
Whether you just want to admire the beautiful images or delve more into history- this is a great introduction to the world of fashion.
This book has wonderful imagery in the form of photographs and illustrations which help to link the profiled person to their work and also it lists other relevant people to help you build up a better tree of influences.
Whether you just want to admire the beautiful images or delve more into history- this is a great introduction to the world of fashion.
41 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the Reader's Digest Condensed version of the history of fashion over the last 150 years. Unlike Reader's Digest, this book succeeds in capturing the essence in amazing kernals of elegance, curve, design, and motion. Everyone who loves fashion should have this book. There is simply no substitute for it, and you will have many hours of pleasure looking at its exciting images and reading the descriptions. The book is a great value for its price, as well, which will help make it available to more people.
The book is in an unusual format, one page each for 500 icons, models, fashion and accessory designers, make-up artists, hairdressers, retailers, illustrators, and photographers done in alphabetical order. Each page typically has one person (a few have two), with one image, and one brief textual summary of the person's work.
It is an amazing challenge to capture all of a person's work in one image, and some great successes occurred. Some of my favorites were Madonna, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Harry Winston, Naomi Campbell, Coco Chanel, Noel Coward, and Rudi Gernreich.
On the other hand, some of the old black and white images did not reproduce well. Some of the worst examples are Antoine (a hairdresser with a photograph of Josephine Baker's hair), Maria-Louise Bruyere (a designer), Christian Dior, Max Factor, Barbara Goalen (a model), Gucci, and Hermes. In many cases, these choices appear to have been influenced by the desire to have the facing pages converse with one another. So you will see echoes of design, line, and style in these ways. I appreciate that effort (which is often quite eloquent), but it should not slight the individual whose work is being portrayed. I graded the book down one star for the compromises made here not working well in too many cases.
After you have finished reading and enjoying this book many times, I suggest that you think about where else it would be helpful to have a similar work in your life. Perhaps a scrapbook containing photographs of all of your friends who have something in common would be a possibility. You could write a brief text about each. This could greatly add to your pleasure in remembering these friends, and perhaps expand their interaction when they see how you have put them together.
Keep to the essence, but be bold!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
high expectations topped!!
i had read previous reviews off this book and i had high hopes for it, i was a bit concerned about the reviews that claimed the book to be small and pictures can be seen through... Read more
Published 5 days ago by sophielouise
Essential handguide!
Like a little handbook containing everyone in the fashion business you need to know! Definately reccomend getting the midi version.
Published 4 months ago by Holly
Good as you imagine
The book, it's really good, but I buyed the pocket one, and I dind't know. It should show some images of the inside.
Published 5 months ago by Catarina Oliveira
the fashion book
a brilliant small book that is very good for referencing and finding new designers you might not of heard of before. Read more
Published 6 months ago by carly
Good little fashion reference
I purchased this book for a relative who is very interested in fashion. She was thrilled with it. On a personal it is worth noting that this is just over pocket book size and I... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ladymadcap
The 'Go-to-book' when ideas run dry and you have a whole day to create
I first read the Hardcover version of this book in a local library, while I was waiting for appointments at a nearby barbershop. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2010 by James S. Burgess
Really fast shipping!
The shipping was really fast, the book is as expected - except there was a little sticker which made a little mark, but you don't notice it at all.
Published on 26 Dec 2009 by Christine Dahm
A must have for budding fashion designers/photographers
A varied over view of fashion, great for referencing and inspiration. I still come back to it everytime!
Published on 6 Oct 2009 by pink_peril
a little old
The book seems to be a quite old look at fashion, not as current as it claims. It is however good for very basic knowledge about fashion.
Published on 27 Sep 2009 by Frida Quist Rasmussen
a compact fashion
What I like about this book, that you can really carry it with you and read it. It's not one of these fancy books that will decorate your shelf. Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2009 by Sis Timberg
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