Cool Fashion Books?

[Johnny]

Lowrey, imho, the best cdg book is Deyan Sudjik's Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garcons. Some really good images from older collections and a great read. The best thing about it though is the section on the stores, and their design and architecture. It's fascinating to see the pictures of these and the fabled stores with one jumper on display etc. The very early stores, in Brussels, SanFran and the original in Wooster Street look to me to have been very influential even to this day.

I got my copy in The Library - my favourite purchase from them!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0847811964/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

[thehouseofdis]

^ that's a great book. The store images are great. If only I had known of CdG when the SF store was there.

[soulp0]

just ordered this:

'review' here, looks to be a good resource.

got it today. very interesting book. thanks for the recommendation!

[cremaster]

Happy Victims.

http://www.amazon.com/Kyoichi-Tsuzuki-Happy-Victims/dp/4861521688/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290750260&sr=1-1

This is an interesting book by the photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki on Japanese fashion addicts who wear/ collect only one designer. Shot in their own dwellings it is a wonderful look into their private worlds.
Yohji, Comme, Margiela, Lang, Watanabe are some of the designers featured. Fascinating.

[cremaster]

Following the recent surge in Japanese fashion publications comes this new one -
Future Beauty 30 years of Japanese Fashion.

http://www.amazon.com/Future-Beauty-Years-Japanese-Fashion/dp/1858945461/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291616149&sr=1-1

All the usual suspects are there but I never seem to tire of the Japanese aesthetic. Well illustrated and with an interesting layout it is worth having a look.

[lowrey]

Browsed the book after I saw the exhibition in London, wasn't very impressed. if I remember correctly, it had quite a bit of images from the exhibition itself, meaning that it was clothes on mannequins which is never as exciting as "real" or original images.

[Peasant]

Was browsing the other day and came across Genius of a Generation - Alexander McQueen tribute. It's basically a collection of lack-luster images from later in his career. Mostly the over-the-top crowd pleasers from shows. Very little text and really doesn't delve into his life or career whatsoever. And the intro seemed to lack knowledge and integrity. Very generic. It was interesting to flip through (only 120 pages) since I never followed him as a designer. But ultimately I feel the author / publisher wanted to make some easy money after his death.

[Faust]

Yep, saw that crap too. By far the best analysis of McQueen's work is by Caroline Evans in Fashion at the Edge - which everyone must have on his shelf anyway.

For a good book on McQueen, wait until May when the book accompanying the Met exhibition will come out. I am sure it will be good.

[Faust]

Browsed the book after I saw the exhibition in London, wasn't very impressed. if I remember correctly, it had quite a bit of images from the exhibition itself, meaning that it was clothes on mannequins which is never as exciting as "real" or original images.

Yeah, and the exhibition itself was quite average. If it's on YOOX, it shouldn't be in a museum.

[lowrey]

agreed. though seeing the bizarre surroundings of Barbican was already worth the trip.

[tweeds]

Browsed the book after I saw the exhibition in London, wasn't very impressed. if I remember correctly, it had quite a bit of images from the exhibition itself, meaning that it was clothes on mannequins which is never as exciting as "real" or original images.

I'm not fond of the book either but i find this sentiment of 'exciting "real" or original images' quite interesting/odd.

Consider that each image of clothes on the runway, in advertisements or in styled editorials is already a representation of the clothes themselves being presented: one does not get any more visual information about a particular piece from any one of these sources, only perhaps information derived from its relation to other pieces of clothing (comprising the outfit worn by the model on the runway, or in the shoot). Neither does one receive the non-visual information such as the soundscape of the runway presentation.

Given this, perhaps the showing of the pieces on mannequins is to strip the accompanying visual data and focus on the piece itself? I see that as a useful device when conducting a broad survey like the book and exhibition are: without removing some of the context, one is more likely to receive an incoherent, conflicting survey.

Kind of follows from this, that I liked the exhibition (more than the book anyway). Found the use of space, mediating exhibits with draped fabric panels and soundscape, quite excellent. Agree to an extent that "if it's on Yoox, it doesn't belong in a museum", but that did not detract from the quality of the exhibition as a whole. Some very clever things going on, like the A-POC setup, the UC wallpaper, Final Home parka with calligraphy, etc...

[Faust]

People, rejoice - this spring promises some amazing titles on Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, and Yohji Yamamoto. I am licking my chops.

P.S. And, for those interested, there will be one on Roberto Cavalli! Lots of leopard prints! Meow!

[lowrey]

I'm not fond of the book either but i find this sentiment of 'exciting "real" or original images' quite interesting/odd.

I suppose its personal preference. I'd much rather see for example rare runway images or something behind the scenes. to me a garment on a mannequin is just looks souless, unless of course its something like Aitor Throup's iteration, but these are revolutionary garments thrown on mannequins which you'd see at a Sears. hence why I didn't find the book that exciting. exhibition was so-so to me, but at least you could view the garments up close, which is not the case with the book.

edit: just to clarify, I saw the exhibition but only browsed the book for 5 minutes, so my view of it is admittedly a bit limited.

[Catfood]

I quite liked the book. I didn't read all the essays, but the ones I did read where interesting, well written and researched. As far as the images go there are a few shots by Hiroshi Sugimoto of Yohji garments that are quite nice and there are quite a lot of pictures of runway looks accompanied by large closeups of the fabrics that are also very nice. I'm also a fan of the section on Issey Miyake, especially the bit with all the folded garments both in folded form and on mannequins. I'm guessing these are straight from a lookbook, but they are nice none the less.

Of course I haven't seen the exhibition, so my impression is bound to be a little different.

[lowrey]

just ordered this:


'review' here, looks to be a good resource.

bought this, a pretty nice book after initial browsing. the contents and work featured definitely surpass the design of the book itself - the pink colour scheme and "bold and beautful" written on the cover in a faint typeface/layout are kind of "wannabe hip design book".