Decorative Arts

Slaves to Fashion is a cultural history of the black dandy, from his emergence in Enlightenment England to his contemporary incarnations in the cosmopolitan art world. Interpreting performances and representations of black dandyism in particular cultural settings and literary and visual texts, Monica L. Miller emphasizes the importance of sartorial style to black identity formation in the Atlantic diaspora.

A book unlike any other, Women in Clothes is essentially a conversation among hundreds of women of all nationalities - famous, anonymous, religious, secular, married, single, young, old - on the subject of clothing, and how the garments we put on every day define and shape our lives. It began with a survey. The editors composed a list of more than 50 questions designed to prompt women to think more deeply about their personal style.

Christian Dior's career, a veritable fairy tale, is set in a rich tapestry of Paris cultural life before, during, and after the war. Much of Dior's daily inspiration emanated from the world of the intellectual and artistic elite, in which he moved with such people as Erik Satie, Francis Poulenc, Henry Sauguet, Jean Cocteau, and Raoul Dufy.

McQueen had risen from humble beginnings as the youngest child of an East London taxi driver to scale the heights of fame, fortune and glamour. He designed clothes for the world's most beautiful women, including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. In business he created a multimillion-pound luxury brand that became a favourite with both celebrities and royalty, most famously the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore a McQueen dress on her wedding day. But behind the confident facade and bad-boy image lay a sensitive soul who struggled to survive in the ruthless world of fashion.

Feeling uninspired? If you’re a creative professional - or just someone who’d like to be more creative in your work and daily life - look no further than Designers Don’t Have Influences. Creative director, writer, advocate, and design cheerleader Austin Howe’s elegant, incisive, and amusing essays are sure to appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. Howe chronicles the lives, philosophies, and work processes of leaders in disparate fields from art to spirituality and even ice hockey, many of whom have never before been profiled in print.

Amidst the waking nightmares of today, the solace of goth looms from behind the shadows to soothe our morbid anxieties. Permeating pop culture at every level - fashion, music, film, beauty - what was once the preserve of the hooded misfit, has now seeped into the mainstream. Which can only mean one thing: must be the season of the witch. To further inspire and illuminate the darkness, interspersed throughout we hear from notable goths and goth coded people like Anjelica Huston, Aryuna Tardis, Christina Ricci, Michèle Lamy, and Simone Rocha on what this eldritch culture means to them.

Take a peek inside the heads of some of the world's greatest living graphic designers. How do they think, how do they connect to others, what special skills do they have? In honest and revealing interviews, 19 designers, including Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Beirut, David Carson, and Milton Glaser, share their approaches, processes, opinions, and thoughts about their work with noted brand designer Debbie Millman. The internet radio talk host of Design Matters, Millman persuades the greatest graphic designers of our time to speak frankly and openly about their work.

Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We’re rebelling against technology that’s too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte “read me” manuals. The iPod’s clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that’s simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do.

Transform your passion for sewing into a profitable couture business with Bespoke Couture Business Secrets – your essential audiobook guide to mastering your craft, building your brand, and achieving financial success in luxury fashion. Packed with actionable strategies and insider insights, this audiobook empowers you to turn couture dreams into reality. Discover how to: Choose Your Specialty: Identify and align your unique niche. Build Irresistible Offers: Craft compelling offers that showcase your skills.

Claire Wilcox has been a curator of fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum for most of her working life. In Patch Work, she steps into the archive of memory, deftly stitching together her dedicated study of fashion with the story of her own life lived in and through clothes. From her mother's black wedding suit to the swirling patterns of her own silk kimono, her memoir unfolds in spare, luminous prose the spellbinding power of the things we wear.

What we wear matters. It matters because looking and therefore feeling like yourself is essential. Clothes can make the difference between a good day and a bad day. Clothes have the power to make your mood ten times worse or one hundred times better.

Throughout my life, I have encountered fear and I know how much it has stopped me in my tracks. I want every woman to be able to move forward, to feel empowered at every stage of their lives. This manual includes all the advice you might expect. Whether you need help with how to dress, defining your style, finding out the colours that suit you or understanding the right beauty routine for the skin you have now, FEARLESS contains it all.

Hollywood stars have always furthered fashion's cause of seducing the masses into buying designers' clothes by acting as living billboards. Now, red carpet celebrities are no longer content to just advertise and are putting their names on labels that reflect the image they - or their stylists - created.

Exploring four designers who exemplify elegance and high couture, these little books of fashion follow these brands from their creation, moving through their style evolutions, the key looks that define them and their impact on the fashion landscape today.

"A diamond is forever." Who among us doesn't recognize this slogan and, with it, the fascination that diamonds hold in our collective imagination as emblems of royalty, glamor, and eternal love? Rachelle Bergstein's cultural biography illuminates the enticing, often surprising story of our society's enduring obsession with diamonds - and the people who have worked tirelessly to ensure their continued allure.

The Nature of Fashion is an epic sweep through history, revealing how plants have been used to make and dye our clothes. Textiles have transformed the human world–and the natural world. Now we need to re-root clothes-making in plants, rather than plastic, to find a new material future. Fashion is at a turning point–to look forward, we need to look back.

Danielle Bernstein spent her youth shopping at discount department stores, getting boozy in suburban backyards, and proposing marriage to every boy she dated. By age 19, she was a college dropout living in a West Village shoebox with three roommates and only six months to prove that her blog, @WeWoreWhat, could become a full blown career...or else board the train back to her mom's house. This Is Not a Fashion Story is the down and dirty tale of how a Long Island-born teenager became one of the most recognizable names in fashion.

Brimming with rich, electrifying tales of the precious dye and its ancient heritage, Indigo is also the story of a personal quest: Catherine McKinley is the descendant of a clan of Scots who wore indigo tartan; Jewish "rag traders"; a Massachusetts textile factory owner; and African slaves - her ancestors were traded along the same Saharan routes as indigo, where a length of blue cotton could purchase human life.

Success in the field of graphic design, especially as a sole proprietor or hobby-based graphic designer, can be tricky. It requires a set of talents that - oftentimes - creative persons do not have naturally. Therefore, the designer who is looking for success in her or his own terms must invest in learning these skills and adapt their way of thinking to something more linear.

Have you ever opened your wardrobe and, despite it being bulging with clothes, don’t know what to wear? Enter the capsule wardrobe, a streamlined approach to creating a long-lasting and empowering wardrobe, whatever your style or budget. One that’s good for you and the planet. Let fashion editor Anna Cascarina give you the tools and knowledge to create a wardrobe full of pieces you’ll love and wear time and time again.