Fashion & Beauty Books
Reading is a way to become more interesting and attractive not to mention it is entertaining and makes you smarter; a win, win! Four great last-minute gift ideas. Style, fashion, and beauty books that make great gifts all year long.
Issey Miyake
by Issey Miyake (Contributor), Midori Kitamura (Editor)
This definitive history of Miyake’s clothes from 1960 to 2022 offers expert insight into the designer’s vision and daring. Initiated and conceived by Midori Kitamura, the book looks at the texture-driven originality of Miyake’s materials and techniques from the very earliest days of his career, before he had even established the Miyake Design Studio.
Weddings and Lies
by Kevin Kwan
"Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel has a problem: the legendary Gresham Trust has been depleted by decades of profligate spending, and behind all the magazine covers and Instagram stories manors and yachts lies nothing more than a gargantuan mountain of debt. The only solution, put forth by Rufus’s scheming mother, is for Rufus to attend his sister’s wedding at a luxury eco-resort, a veritable who’s-who of sultans, barons, and oligarchs, and seduce a woman with money."
In Paris: 20 Women on Life in the City of Light
by Jeanne Damas and Lauren Bastide
The book lists advice on the French art de vivre, such as the best places to people-watch, the perfect Parisian playlist, and the ten things that a French woman would never post on Instagram. In Paris is a witty, elegant, and modern ode to Paris and its eternally cool women, and a must-read for anyone who has ever dreamed of one day living in Paris.
The Woman I Want To Be
By Diane von Furstenberg,
The Woman I Want To Be is a memoir by Diane von Furstenberg, a famous fashion designer and entrepreneur. In this book, she shares her life story, from her childhood in Brussels to her rise to fame with the iconic wrap dress, to her challenges and triumphs in both personal and professional spheres. She also reflects on what it means to be a woman, a mother, a grandmother, and a philanthropist. She offers insights and advice on how to be independent, confident, and authentic.
The book is an inspiring and entertaining read for anyone who wants to learn more about the woman behind the brand, or who wants to discover their own potential and purpose.
Eyeliner: A Cultural History
by
Zahra Hankir
“Cosmetic, tool of rebellion, status signifier: Eyeliner has been all these and more. Moving through millenniums and across civilizations, Hankir gives the makeup its eye-opening due.” —
The New York Times Book Review
This definitive biography of Anna Wintour follows the steep climb of an ambitious young woman who would—with singular and legendary focus—become one of the most powerful people in media.
Dress codes are as old as clothing itself. For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control.
The corset is probably the most controversial garment in the history of fashion. Although regarded as an essential element of fashionable dress from the Renaissance into the twentieth century, the corset was also frequently condemned as an instrument of torture and the cause of ill health. Why did women continue to don steel and whalebone corsets for four hundred years? And why did they finally stop? This lavishly illustrated book offers fascinating and often surprising answers to these questions. Valerie Steele, one of the world’s most respected fashion historians, explores the cultural history of the corset, demolishing myths about this notorious garment and revealing new information and perspectives on its changing significance over the centuries.
The first-ever, comprehensive and authorized showcase of legendary fashion designer Bob Mackie’s fabulous life and work, featuring hundreds of photos and dozens of never-before-seen sketches from his personal collection.
Threads of Life by Clare Hunter
Threads of Life is a chronicle of identity, protest, memory, power, and politics told through the stories of needlework.
Christian Dior himself wrote in his Little Dictionary of Fashion: "A hat is essential to any outfit. It completes it. In a way, a hat is the best way to express your personality."
The only comprehensive guide to shopping for vintage and designer resale, including * specific stores in all the major U.S. & Canadian cities * favorite haunts of celebs and stylists * Internet thrift shopping * vintage expos across the continent Whether you're on a budget or ready to splurge on mint-condition Givenchy, this is your roadmap to the timeless cool of vintage HCing.
From Yves Klein’s spotless tailoring to the kaleidoscopic costumes of Yayoi Kusama and Cindy Sherman, from Andy Warhol’s denim to Martine Syms’s joy in dressing, the clothes worn by artists are tools of expression, storytelling, resistance, and creativity.
A groundbreaking chronicle of the birth–and death–of a pair of jeans, that exposes the fractures in our global supply chains, and our relationships to each other, ourselves, and the planet.
The first comprehensive presentation of Versace’s womenswear collections from its 1978 debut to today, seen through stunning catwalk photography.
From the most avant-garde jazz musicians, visual artists and poets to architects, philosophers and writers, Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style charts a period in American history when Black men across the country adopted the clothing of a privileged elite and made it their own.
In America, lipstick is the foundation of empires; it’s a signature of identity; it’s propaganda, self-expression, oppression, freedom, and rebellion. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry and one of our most iconic accessories of gender. This engaging and entertaining history of lipstick from the colonies to the present will give readers a new view of the little tube’s big place in modern America from defining the middle class to building Fortune 500 businesses to being present at Stonewall and being engineered for space travel.
A facetious guide to emulating the look, speech patterns, thinking, and lifestyle of those who attend prep schools and are a part of high society
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington is an account of the true story of the women who sewed to survive. Author Lucy Adlington met with Bracha Kohut, one of the 25 women who sewed clothes for top SS wives, including Hedwig Hoss, who was the wife of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoss.
The House of Gucci: A True Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden. An unprecedented publication showcasing Gucci as never before, including thought-provoking essays, commentaries, and authoritative anecdotes along with previously unpublished contemporary and archival photographs.
"Judith Thurman, a prolific staff writer at The New Yorker for more than two decades, has gathered a selection of her essays and profiles in A Left-Handed Woman. They consider our culture in all its guises: literature, history, politics, gender, fashion, and art, though their paramount subject is the human condition."
