Originally published in France between 1876 and 1888, Auguste Racinet's Le Costume historique was in its day the most wide-ranging and incisive study of clothing ever attempted. Covering the world history of costume, dress, and style from antiquity through to the end of the 19th century, the six volume work remains completely unique in its scope and detail. This TASCHEN reprint presents Racinet's exquisitely precise color illustrations, as well as his delightful descriptions and often witty commentary. Spanning everything from ancient Etruscan attire to French women's couture, material is arranged according to Racinet's original plan by culture and subject. As expansive in its reach as it is passionate in its research and attention to detail, Racinet's Costume History is an invaluable reference for students, designers, artists, illustrators, and historians; and a rich source of inspiration for anyone with an interest in clothing and style.

This practical step-by-step guide to haute couture embroidery covers everything from machine and hand stitching, to tambour beading, goldwork and monogramming.

Whether you are interested in adding monogrammed initials to your favourite bathrobe, stitching a flower on your favourite jacket, adding sparkling beads to a new dress or creating a goldwork embellishment, Fashion Embroidery teaches you how to add a unique touch to your clothes.

In this beautifully illustrated book, Jessica Pile, the Production Director at Hand & Lock embroidery, explores the intricate techniques used in fashion embroidery. With hand-drawn designs, catwalk photographs and step-by-step guides, this book is perfect for beginners looking to personalise their own clothes, as well as more experienced embroiderers who want to apply new techniques to different fabrics.

Beginning with an inspirational overview of the fashion industry, Jessica looks at examples of embroideries and embellishments by a variety of couturiers, including Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hardy Amies and Burberry. The book then demonstrates the basics of three main techniques – goldwork, tambour beading and embroidery stitches including silk shading, satin and stem stitch. In do-it-yourself projects, Jessica first helpfully explains the basics of materials; she teaches you how to pick the right fabric, what tools to use, where to source materials, what types of wire or beads to use and terminology. Taking influences from existing couture designs, she then shows you how to execute these learned techniques onto your own clothes.

This book is perfect for fashion students, textile artists, and those who want a more unique look to their clothes.

A Visual Dictionary of Decorative and Domestic Arts provides a common and unambiguous vocabulary for the parts of handcrafted decorative, domestic, and artistic items. Terminology for a broad array of object types is presented alongside original 3D illustrations that facilitate objective referencing. The reference enhances learning, labeling, and discussing various craft items in great physical detail. Sixty-four 3D graphic illustrations provide an effective visual format for identifying the vocabulary/location of the parts on individual objects. The dictionary is divided into five major sections: -Decorative Objects such as a basket, jar/jug, flatware -Domestic Furnishings such as a bed with bedding, upholstered chairs, tables -Artistic Works and Tools such as books, prints, paintings, photographs, and sculpture -Jewelry Adornment Items such as earrings, necklaces, pins, and watches -Accessory Articles such as a hat, pipe, comb, and fan The thoroughness of the annotations makes this volume an essential tool for museum curators and conservators, librarians, connoisseurs, buyers and dealers; artists and crafts persons, collectors, designers, registrars and anyone with an interest in visual history.

"Picture the moment, in the run-up to a Christian Dior haute couture show. John Galliano is working silently in the Paris studio with his friend and ally, the master milliner Stephen Jones. The designer is looking at the arc of a silhouette, the drape of a skirt and the tilt of a hat: 'I often work through a mirror for most of my decisions and I always see Stephen's reflection,' says Galliano. 'He is reading my every nuance. He is studying my face. I don't need to say anything - he can read my mind'." - From the essay by Suzy Menkes. Stephen Jones is one of the world's most talented and distinguished milliners. This exquisitely illustrated monograph is the first to examine his illustrious career and famous collaborations. Including photographs from private collections and museums, the book focuses on a variety of aspects of his work, from his collaborations with Boy George, John Galliano and Thierry Mugler to his work with photographers Bruce Weber and Nick Knight. Recent collections include: Marc Jacobs, L'Wren Scott, Giles Deacon, Gareth Pugh, Loewe, Christian Dior Haute Couture, Pret-a-porter, Ski & Baby collections, John Galliano, Comme des Garcons. His recent commissions include: Dita von Teese/Crazy Horse, Bryan Adams, Immodesty Blaize, Take That, Sex and the City 2, Perrier Jouet, Printemps, Ascot, Disneyland, Kylie Minogue, Kate Moss/Met Ball. "With her moulded felt cloche shadowing an eye and pinned with a tremblant diamond cow-parsley sprig, Nadja Auermann, slinking down the stairs of a crumbling Hotel Particulier in Paris for the John Galliano show, defined the fashion moment. Once again, Stephen Jones, millinery magician, had summoned up the spirit of the day. Jones is a deft conjurer, who can draw whimsy from a hat. Steeped in couture lore and craft, he nevertheless propels his art into the future with his ceaseless invention and thistledown touch. His genius is to enhance the mystery, allure, wit of the wearer - although a Jones hat might be a dramatic statement in itself, it will never overpower." - Hamish Bowles, Style Editor, Vogue USA

Yves Saint Laurent (1936 2008) is credited with reviving French haute couture in the 1960s, with making ready-to-wear reputable, and with using non-European cultural references. In addition to the kaleidoscope of images in this book, a coterie of tastemakers have supplied listings that encompass YSL s style inspirations (C is for Costumes, as exemplified by the Russian theme of the famed autumn-winter 1976 77 collection; T is for Tuxedo, which the designer initially referenced with his 1965 Le Smoking ) and important facets of his life (J is for Jardin Majorelle, the garden of the couturier s paradisiacal retreat in Marrakech; R is for Rive Gauche, the bohemian, chic neighbourhood of Paris where the YSL boutique is situated and also the name of the house s famous perfume launched in 1970). This distillation and celebration of the designer s life reveals the inner world of a twentieth-century master.

Celebrated world-wide for his modern romantic jewels that push the boundaries of contemporary design, Shaun Leane has been responsible for creating a new genre of jewellery; precious, poetic, with a sense of eternity, yet relevant to today's world. Illustrated with a breath-taking combination of high fashion shots and detailed close-ups of the pieces themselves. Captured by photographers Nick Knight, Robert Fairer and Chris Moore, along with a dedicated photo essay of unseen backstage images recorded by Leane's close friend Ann Ray. Shaun Leane is introduced by the jeweller himself, then divided into three distinct parts: His heritage and training, by Joanna Hardy; reflections on Leane's famous collaboration with Alexander McQueen, by Claire Wilcox; and his modern classic commercial jewellery style, by Vivienne Becker. Altogether, this book provides a vital overview of an artist that will be of interest to anyone who follows the contemporary jewellery and fashion scene. This special edition is limited to just 250 copies. Enclosed in a slipcase, the book is accompanied by a print by photographer Rob Busling, signed by Shaun Leane.

From Bauhaus jewellery and West African textiles to contemporary portraiture and sculpture, this unique volume explores the rituals of making that underpin an artist's work. Accompanying an exhibition curated by the groundbreaking Nigerian-born British fashion designer Duro Olowu at Camden Art Centre, London, this book offers the opportunity to re-evaluate art and textiles from the nineteenth-century to the present. Olowu selects material by more than 60 artists from around the world, including rarely seen works by Anni Albers, Wangechi Mutu, Alice Neel, Chris Ofili and Irving Penn, and newer paintings by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. By setting up unexpected dialogues between historic and contemporary artists working in a myriad of media - textile, painting, sculpture, photography and collage - Olowu reveals a shared preoccupation with themes of gender, race, beauty, sexuality and the body. The volume includes an in-depth conversation between Olowu and artist Glenn Ligon, along with texts by Jennifer Higgie and Shanay Jhaveri, that together highlight the intricate layers of history and place that influence the making of art.

Charting the movements, developments and ideas that transformed the way women dress, this book gives a unique perspective on the history of twentieth-century fashion. From the invention of the bias cut and the stiletto heel to the designers who changed the way we think about clothes, the book is entertaining, intelligent and a visual feast.

In Gods and Kings Dana Thomas, author of Deluxe, tells the story of how John Galliano and Alexander McQueen changed the face of fashion In the first decade of the 21st century the fashion world was dominated by two different but equally successful and turbulent figures. Within twelve months, Alexander McQueen had committed suicide, and John Galliano had professionally imploded. Who was to blame? And how was fashion changed by their rise and fall? Spanning the 80s, 90s and noughties, Gods and Kings tells the story of these two charismatic figures and times of great change in the world of fashion, from London's raucous art and club scene to the old-world glamour of Parisian couture, and reveals the machinations of this notoriously secretive industry.

'This ad is gender neutral', proclaimed a 2016 poster for the fashion brand Diesel; 'I resist definitions', announced a Calvin Klein ad in the same year, while a Louis Vuitton shoot featured Jaden Smith, son of actor Will Smith, wearing a skirt like a natural. Fashion magazines have printed countless features on the blurring of gender barriers, while brands including Yves Saint-Laurent, Gucci, Burberry, Givenchy and Dolce & Gabbana have all interpreted the concept 'girls will be boys and boys will be girls' in their own individual style. The previous turn of the century was as obsessed with androgyny as this one, as seen in the art of Edward Burne-Jones and Gustave Moreau, and the writings of Oscar Wilde and the mystic Josephin Peladan. From the late 19th to the early 21st century, the genders have blended: from Berlin in the 1920s to Hollywood of the 1930s with Garbo to Dietrich; from the 1940s Bright Young Things to the androgynous pop stars of the 1970s, and beyond. What do these variations on a theme have in common? What has caused the dizzying rise of androgyny? Why has this concept, a staple of ancient myth that was first discussed in Plato's Symposium, been revived today? Accompanied by a striking selection of contemporary photographs, Patrick Mauries presents a condensed cultural history of androgyny, drawing on the worlds of art and literature to give us a deeper understanding of the strange but timeless human drive to escape from defined categories.

Knowing how to sew will make you a better designer; you will learn what is possible, and be inspired by the creative possibilities of sewing techniques. In this book you will start by learning the basics: how to choose tools; how to choose and use thread; pressing techniques; and how to choose and use appropriate interfacings and linings. Basic techniques include seam and hem finishes, sewing buttons and buttonholes, working with knit fabrics and finishing details including bindings and spaghetti straps, tailored pockets and zips. Each lesson is illustrated with step-by-step photographs.

First came the Teds, the the Mods, Rockers, Hippies, Skinheads, Suedeheads and Punks. But by the late Seventies, a new youth fashion had appeared in Britain. Its adherents were often linked to violent football gangs, wore designer sportswear and made the bootboys of previous years look like the dinosaurs they were. They were known as scallies, Perry Booys, trendies and dressers. But the name that stuck was Casuals. And this grassroots phenomenon, largely ignored by the media, was to change the face of both British fashion and international style. Casuals recounts how the working-class fascination with sharp dressing and sartorial one-upmanship crystallized the often bitter rivalries of the hooligan crews and how their culture spread across the terraces, clubs and beyond. It is the definitive book for football, music and fashion obsessives alike.

How has the fashion industry responded to turn-of-the-millennium non-binary identities? Do they have a supportive or exploitative relationship with queer, trans and ageing subjects? Fashion, Identity, Image unpacks these questions and many more in relation to clothing and representation, identity and body politics in British, European and American culture between 1990 and 2020. Jobling, Nesbitt and Wong explore issues of intersectionality and inclusivity through groundbreaking shows, including Maria Grazia Chiuri's 'We Should All Be Feminists' catwalk show for Dior (Spring-Summer 2017), Alexander McQueen's 'The Widows of Culloden' collection (Fall-Winter 2006), and the role of transgender models such as Oslo Grace since 2015. Looking to the future of our relationship with fashion, there's also an investigation of the android as a redemptive figure in Alessandro Michele's cross-cultural cyborg collection for Gucci (Autumn-Winter 2018/2019) and the impact of the ageing population with analysis of age and memory in work such as Magali Nougarede's Crossing the Line (2002), and pleasure and morality in fashion publicity since the 1990s for the likes of Calvin Klein, D&G and American Apparel.

A virtual pageantry of the many ways in which military styles inspire and influence contemporary fashion The transformation of military clothing into popular retail fashion has a long history. In fact, the designs of some of today's most popular styles, worn for the most peaceful purposes, actually originated in clothing intended for warfare. In a campaign to dress well, combat and battle rarely, if ever, enter the picture. This book celebrates the enduring appeal of military-inspired clothing and acts as a reference guide and source of inspiration for designers and fashion followers alike.

The Marabou Mule. The Chanel toe. Jackie O's pump. Marilyn's stiletto. And lotus shoes and fetish shoes, shoes made for coronations and inaugurations, Cinderella's slipper, shoes of tulle, brocade, rhinestone, python, fish scales, and feathers, and much, much, more, including the two-foot-high wooden chopines of the 16th century and their resurgence as the platform shoes of the 1960s and 1970s."Shoes," now with over 357,000 copies in print, is an obsessive, over-the-top extravaganza-chunky, full-color, and irresistible, it contains page after page of seductive photographs and information about women's shoes.Created for the woman who's a passionate shoe lover-and what woman isn't?--"Shoes" features over 1,000 glorious photographs, most of them taken for the book. Includes Footnotes (fascinating facts about shoes); Foot Soldiers (profiles of master shoemakers from David Little to Andrea Pfister); and The Shoe that Left an Imprint, focusing on one shoe that changed history-remember Courrage's futuristic go-go boot? "Shoes" is, as they say, to die for.

The Time of Discretion is an intimate, slow and relational time. It is also an artistic project. Besides Italy, it has been developed in the remote areas on the southeast border of the Gobi Desert and in the Guizhou Province (South China), in search of rituals, ancient textile practices or together as one. The research documented here crosses experience and representation, dramatically compares East and West, advancing a dense theoretical scenario in relation to globalisation processes.

The area of recycling and upcycling is a rich and growing source of innovative design in the fashion and accessories industries. In a fast-fashion world of throw-away clothing, it is the ultimate expression of the slow-fashion movement, with each piece individually conceived and crafted from scratch, using different materials each time. ReFashioned features 46 international designers who work with recycled materials and discarded garments, reinvigorating them with new life and value. The result is beautiful and desirable clothing and accessories that also make an important statement to the fashion world about its wasteful and exploitative practices.

Footwear design has become the new dream career, and this book is the first guide to show the key skills and tips behind the trade, for both budding designers and anyone interested in shoes. Since Christian Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik became household names, footwear design is now one of the most lucrative strands of any fashion brand. Aki Choklat explores the footwear design process, explaining the differences between the anatomy of the foot and the anatomy of a shoe, showing how one constrains the other, before moving onto the research and design development processes and the art of creating a complete collection. The all-important presentation is then discussed, including illustrative techniques, before the book ends with advice for those wishing to pursue a career in footwear design. Illustrated throughout with inspirational sketchbooks detailing the design process and specially commissioned images of cutting-edge shoe design, the book also contains case studies featuring an array of international shoe designers.

Highly Commended, Society for Renaissance Studies Biennial Book Prize 2022 In sixteenth and seventeenth-century England, the female silhouette underwent a dramatic change. This very structured form, created using garments called bodies and farthingales, existed in various extremes in Western Europe and beyond, in the form of stays, corsets, hoop petticoats and crinolines, right up until the twentieth century. With a nuanced approach that incorporates a stunning array of visual and written sources and drawing on transdisciplinary methodologies, Shaping Femininity explores the relationship between material culture and femininity by examining the lives of a wide range of women, from queens to courtiers, farmer's wives and servants, uncovering their lost voices and experiences. It reorients discussions about female foundation garments in English and wider European history, arguing that these objects of material culture began to shape and define changing notions of the feminine bodily ideal, social status, sexuality and modesty in the early modern period, influencing enduring Western notions of femininity. Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, Shaping Femininity is the first large-scale exploration of the materiality, production, consumption and meanings of women's foundation garments in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England. It offers a fascinating insight into dress and fashion in the early modern period, and offers much of value to all those interested in the history of early modern women and gender, material culture and consumption, and the history of the body, as well as curators and reconstructors.

The most personal account of the life and work of legendary designer Coco Chanel ever told. Coco Chanel's life and work have been recounted often in print and film-everything except the details of her most private self: her fondness for symbolism and poetry, the men she loved, her family, and in particular her nephew Andre Palasse, whom she raised like a son. His daughter Gabrielle Palasse-Labrunie--goddaughter to both Chanel and the Duke of Westminster and Chanel's only direct descendant--enjoyed a close-knit relationship with the designer for more than forty years. In this biography, she opens her doors and shares personal memories of her great-aunt.
This work--divided into five chronological parts, including Chanel's dark periods--plunges the reader into the private world of Chanel, offering intimate insight. Photographs of Chanel's personal effects, many of which have never before been seen or published, include presents from her great love Boy Capel, furniture, favorite jewelry, talismans, clothes, family photographs, rare documents, correspondence, and books with personal inscriptions.
In "Intimate Chanel," Palasse-Labrunie discloses all that was "important" to her great-aunt and recounts their private conversations, unveiling who her "Auntie Coco" really was: a Chanel who was very different from her public persona.

Essays centred round the representation of weaving, both real and imagined, in the early middle ages. The triple themes of textile, text, and intertext, three powerful and evocative subjects within both Anglo-Saxon studies and Old English literature itself, run through the essays collected here. Chapters evoke the semantic complexities of textile references and images drawn from the Bayeux Tapestry, examine parallels in word-woven poetics, riddling texts, and interwoven homiletic and historical prose, and identify iconographical textures in medieval art. The volume thus considers the images and creative strategies of textiles, texts, and intertexts, generating a complex and fascinating view of the material culture and metaphorical landscape of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. It is therefore a particularly fitting tribute to Professor Gale R. Owen-Crocker, whose career and lengthy list of scholarly works have centred on her interests in the meaning and cultural importance of textiles, manuscripts and text, and intertextual relationships between text and textile. MAREN CLEGG HYER is Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of English at Valdosta State University; JILL FREDERICK is Professor of English at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Contributors: Marilina Cesario, Elizabeth Coatsworth, Martin Foys, Jill Frederick, Joyce Hill, Maren Clegg Hyer, Catherine E. Karkov, Christina Lee, Michael Lewis, Robin Netherton, Carol Neuman de Vegvar, Donald Scragg, Louise Sylvester, Paul Szarmach, Elaine Treharne.

Animal products were used extensively in nineteenth-century Britain. A middle-class Victorian woman might wear a dress made of alpaca wool, drape herself in a sealskin jacket, brush her hair with a tortoiseshell comb, and sport feathers in her hat. She might entertain her friends by playing a piano with ivory keys or own a parrot or monkey as a living fashion accessory. In this innovative study, Helen Cowie examines the role of these animal-based commodities in Britain in the long nineteenth century and traces their rise and fall in popularity in response to changing tastes, availability, and ethical concerns. Focusing on six popular animal products - feathers, sealskin, ivory, alpaca wool, perfumes, and exotic pets - she considers how animal commodities were sourced and processed, how they were marketed and how they were consumed. She also assesses the ecological impact of nineteenth-century fashion.

The first book to consider the subject, Wholesale Couture: London and Beyond, 1930-70 seeks to revise the notion that wholesale couturiers were simply copyists and demonstrate the complexities of their design processes and business strategies. This term has fallen out of usage; however, it was used to describe the pinnacle of the British ready-to-wear fashion industry between the 1930s and 1960s. Companies within this sector have typically been recognised as creators of high-quality copies of French haute couture, using ready-to-wear techniques. Liz Tregenza traces wholesale couture garments from concept to usage, considering design, manufacture, branding, promotion, retail and export. She looks beyond the garments produced and investigates the people behind these firms, consequently demonstrating the significant role that largely Jewish immigrants played in the development and success of this industry. The book also considers the wider social and economic factors that affected manufacturers and consumers; the effect of austerity, rationing and the Utility scheme, and the pressing need for wholesale couturiers to export their products internationally. It demonstrates that 1946 was a critical year for re-building and re-imagining the London fashion industry and that wholesale couturiers were at the centre of these developments. Furthermore, it reveals the impact of changing consumer purchasing power, including the burgeoning youth market, for fashion manufacturers. Offering a new perspective on British fashion history, Wholesale Couture demonstrates that these couturiers were vital in cementing London's status as a ready-to-wear fashion centre.

Ever wondered why Yayoi Kusama dresses in dots or dreamt of asking Picasso: why the Breton tee? Enter sARTorial, a fun guide to the signature looks of 60 key artists from the 19th century to today. Short texts unpack the style essentials of icons such as Claude Monet to millennials including Tauba Auerbach, revealing how they construct their looks and why it reflects the works they create. Featuring fantastic images of the artists in all their splendour, sARTorial is essential reading for anyone looking to decode the 'drobe, and gain valuable insight into the cult of the artist.