History Books

J.C. Leyendecker

Laurence S. Cutler, Judy Goffman Cutler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

One of the most prolific and successful artists of the Golden Age of American Illustration, J. C. Leyendecker captivated audiences throughout the first half of the 20th century. Leyendecker is best known for his creation of the archetype of the fashionable American male with his advertisements for Arrow Collar. These images sold to an eager public the idea of a glamorous lifestyle, the bedrock upon which modern advertising was built. He also was the creator instantly recognizable icons, such as the New Year’s baby and Santa Claus, that are to this day an integral part of the lexicon of Americana and was commissioned to paint more Saturday Evening Post covers than any other artist.

 

Leyendecker lived for most of his adult life with Charles Beach, the Arrow Collar Man, on whom the stylish men in his artwork were modeled.

 

The first book about the artist in more than 30 years, J. C. Leyendecker features his masterworks, rare paintings, studies, and other artwork, including the 322 covers he did for the Post. With a revealing text that delves into both his artistic evolution and personal life, J. C. Leyendecker restores this iconic image maker’s rightful position in the pantheon of great American artists.

In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine

Alberto Oliva, Norberto Angeletti

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In Vogue is a fascinating look at the history of the world's most influential magazine. The complete compendium is illustrated with hundreds of covers and archival interiors of past Vogue editions, featuring the work of some of the twentieth century's most respected artists, cover illustrators, and photographers—from Edward Steichen, Toni Frissell, and Erwin Blumenfeld to Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Steven Klein, Bruce Webber, and Herb Ritts. In 1909, an entrepreneurial New Yorker named Condé Nast took charge of a struggling society journal and transformed it into the most glamorous fashion magazine of the twentieth century. In Vogue traces the history, development and influence of this media colossus—from its beginning as a social gazette in the late nineteenth century, to the exploration of modern fashion photography and new visuals in the mid-twentieth century, to its status as the top style magazine today. The book explains the makings of the magazine—from runways, to editorial meetings, to the pages of Vogue.The thoroughly researched story incorporates first-person accounts, interviews with editors and photographers, and excerpts from stories written in the magazine by many world-renowned writers, including Truman Capote, Aldous Huxley, Richard Burton, Federico Fellini, and Marcello Mastroianni. Unparalleled in its scope and exceptionally illustrated, In Vogue is sure to be among the most important publications on the subjects of culture, art, fashion, photography, and media.

American Fashion

Charlie Scheips

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beautiful book but not quite what I expected 4 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This is a beautiful book, with stunning pictures and the text no doubt forms an authoritative picture of the evolution of American fashion from the 30's to the present. I was disappointed, however, that there weren't more "nostalgia" pictures, for lack of a better term. Everything was so artistic that there weren't the pictures of, say, Cybill Shepard in classic 60's mod taken from Glamour, that I would have liked to see and that would have made things more accessible. This is more a book for fashion professionals or students than the casual reader which still makes it an excellent buy and great book, but just not for me.

A Must for a the Fashion-Obsessed! 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.

If fashion is your addiction, meet your quick fix. This book is beautiful, accessible and comprehensive. For all students, followers, trend-setters of fashion design and style, it would make a wonderful addition to your library.
It must be stated that the book is more a look into American fashion designers, from the end of the 1920's to 2007, than American fashion itself. After all, the book is published by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. The best way to analogize how this fact affects the book is to compare it to a history of American Cinema, published by the American Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscar-awarding organization.) This absolutely colors, biases and focuses the approach the book follows into what is by definition a vast subject. Throughout, it places the designer as the determining and dictating factor of style within the culture. Whether it makes a good argument for this is up to you to decide... Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that this helps keep the book focused, yet detailed.
The photography included in the book is exquisite and sharp. Especially true of the mid-century photography, it far exceeds the quality of that available in vintage fashion magazines.
Whether you are a novice/hobbyist or an established member of the industry, this is a delightful, insightful and thorough look at the subject. Even if its true title should be "American Fashion Designers: An Illustrated History."

Figure Drawing for Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books)

E. Drudi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Better off taking a fashion sketching class 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book because I *just* wanted templates. (I know that as a designer, my strong suit is not in fashion sketching like this, never has been- but sometimes you have to.)

What this book provides is more of a how to create the bodies you want based off of the 9-head model. For some, this is great- a classroom in the book. For me, who has been working in this field for a long time and I just needed to crank some bodies out without putting in (for me) an excruciating ammount of work, it fell short.

Also, the proportions of the bodies are a little strange and the hand placement a bit rough. I spent more time fiddling with more natural hand positions on the templates than actually drawing the garments on them.

It is a good book for those who can't attend an actual sketching course, but if you're looking for templates- good luck.

Editorial Review:

FIGURE DRAWING FOR FASHION DESIGN offers a concise, topic by topic guide to acquiring and perfecting these skills, concentrating on the female form. The coverage provided means that this book is ideal both for those who want to apply themselves professionally to fashion design, and for all enthusiasts of drawing the human body. Fashion plates are the primary means of visualizing ideas and concepts in costume and fashion design. To give an accurate impression of what is in a designer’s mind it is vital to have complete mastery of the rules of figure drawing. Here, realism and anatomical precision are the chief values, whereas for costume and fashion, stylization and exaggeration are ways of adding individuality and verve to a plate, and of focusing attention on specific elements.

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

Yvon Chouinard

List Price: $26.95 By: Penguin Press HC, The Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $2.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Whether you care about adventure sports, the fate of the natural world, or pure brand maintenance and business success, Patagonia, Inc. is one of the earth's most interesting and inspiring companies. For almost forty years, its reputation for unsurpassed high quality, maverick innovation, and long-term environmental responsibility has put it in a class by itself. And everything flows from Patagonia's founder, Yvon Chouinard.

Chouinard's creation myth is now an American business legend. As a child, he moved with his father, a French Canadian blacksmith, and the rest of his family to Southern California in the 1950s with little English and less money. He escaped into mountain climbing as a teenager and by his early twenties was among the best climbers in America, making famous first ascents of a number of notorious faces. When he decided he could make better climbing tools himself for less money and when his fellow climbers agreed and clamored for more, a way of life became a business. Some forty years later, Yvon Chouinard still summits peaks around the world (though he now spends more time surfing). Patagonia still makes exceptionally high-quality things, only it now earns more than $250 million a year from worldwide sales, and Chouinard is able to leverage his concern for the natural settings he's spent a lifetime enjoying. His resolve to minimize Patagonia's impact on the environment has led the company to make its famous fleeces out of recycled soda bottles and to donate at least 1 percent of its revenue each year to environmental causes, among many other things.

In Let My People Go Surfing, Yvon Chouinard relates his and his company's story and the core philosophies that have sustained Patagonia, Inc. year in and year out. This is not another story of a successful businessman who manages on the side to do great good and have grand adventures; it's the story of a man who brought doing good and having grand adventures into the heart of his business model--and who enjoyed even more business success as a result. Let My People Go Surfing gives ample evidence as to why there have been few more influential companies in American business in the last forty years than Patagonia, Inc.

The long-awaited memoir/manifesto from legendary climber, businessman, and environmentalist Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of one of the world's most inspiring companies, Patagonia, Inc.

Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Boom

Brian Chidester, Domenic Priore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Obscure Surf images and history unearthed! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Who else to publish an eye-opening, history-breaking account of the beginnings of Surf culture than Sixties historian Domenic Priore and his Dumb Angel Gazette partner/publisher Brian Chidester.

Meticulously researched and packed full of incredible imagery, this book is a must for everyone from Pop culture history buffs to your average gremmie!

Buy a copy for every surfer friend for Christmas so they know their roots.

Editorial Review:

From original beachcomber personalities like the Waikiki Beachboys to the rise of Venice Beach as a creative center for music, art, and film, this insightful chronicle traces the roots of the surf boom and explores its connection to the Beat Generation and 1960s pop culture. Through accounts of key figures both obscure and popular, such as Mike Dormer, Rick Griffin, the Trashwomen, and the Beach Boys, the book illustrates why surf culture is a vital art movement of the 20th century. The entire spectrum of pop culture is covered, including discussions of the advent of surf magazines and the immense popularity of the “beach” movies starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.

Chanel: Collections and Creations

Daniele Bott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A lush visual selection from the Chanel archive—essential reading for fashionistas and design aficionados everywhere.

Chanel's combination of tradition, originality, and style has always made it the most seductive of fashion labels. Here the House of Chanel opens its private archives, revealing a galaxy of brilliant designs created by Coco Chanel from 1920 onwards. Dazzling clothes, intricate accessories, beautiful models, and timeless design leave no doubt as to the lasting fame of her name and embody everything that has come to symbolize the magic of Chanel.

The book explores five central themes—the suit, the camellia, jewelry, makeup and perfume, the little black dress—and follows the threads from past to present to show how these key items have been rediscovered and reinvented by new designers. It includes many previously unpublished archive photographs and original drawings by Karl Lagerfeld, as well as glorious images from some of the greatest names in fashion photography. 139 illustrations, 83 in color.

Tiffany Style: 170 Years of Design

John Loring

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Editorial Review:

Since its inception 170 years ago, Tiffany & Co. has become synonymous with elegant, stylish design and alluring luxury, creating the world’s most dazzling jewelry and decorative objects. Today, its signature blue box is recognized the world over and can be had (for a price, of course) at more than 150 locations around the globe. 

 

In Tiffany Style, Tiffany’s design director John Loring gathers for the first time in one volume the most renowned and memorable pieces ever produced by the company. In this “best of Tiffany” collection, readers will find a spectacular array of objects, from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s famous lamps and vases to opulent silver tea sets to Andy Warhol’s whimsical Christmas illustrations to Elsa Peretti’s signature heart pendant. Drawing from a rich selection of design sketches and vintage and contemporary photography, all taken from Tiffany’s unparalleled archives, as well as new photography taken especially for this book by Harry Benson, Tiffany Style reveals the company’s fascinating history and evolution through its most unforgettable creations.

Fashion Design Drawing Course

Caroline Tatham

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A superb reference book and an ideal instructional textbook for classroom use, this beautifully illustrated guide is organized into units that reflect required courses at leading design colleges. Twenty step-by-step exercises cover methods of finding inspiration, developing observation techniques, and creating fashion drawings in both color and black-and-white media. Separate sections are devoted to getting started and understanding figure proportions, planning and designing garments, and creating and assessing flat specification drawings. The book also features cross-references to its various art instruction techniques, a designer’s glossary, and a helpful index. This book guides students through their first steps in fashion illustration, covering everything that is presented in the best college-level courses. It makes a fine starting point for all students of fashion, introducing them to fashion drawing as a first step toward a career as a creative costumier. More than 250 illustrations in color and black and white.

Fashion Sketchbook

Bina Abling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

the ONLY book you will ever need as a designer, this is the Bible of fashion illustration 5 out of 5 stars.
56 of 56 people found this review helpful.

This is The authority on illustrating for fashion. Abling's attention to detail and artistic ability make her a perfect tutor on the topic, and every explanation is clear--it's the sort of thing where you look at the example, and it clicks in your head, "Oh, Now I see!".

The book goes over Everything you need, but in case you want to know exactly what is inside, here is a quick summary:

Ch 1: Fashion Figure Proportions
Figures on grids broken down in several ways, extensive work on proportion. Abling divides figures into geometric shapes: foot, head, hips, chest, upper arm, thigh; she then puts them together, showing how they fit and relate to one anther. It then goes further and shows how different poses and types of movement affect the torso (upper and lower), as well as different types/shapes of figures, from the elongated fashion figure to petite and full. The chapter also features a figure map, interpretations of anatomy, different poses and artistic approaches, balance, and movement.

Ch 2: Basic Figure Forms
Drawing legs, arms, feet, shoes, hands, fingers, and foreshortening. There are so many helpful diagrams from multiple perspectives, numerous poses.

Ch 3: Model Drawing
Gesture drawing, exercises on isolated sections of the body, angles, and more; balance line, supporting leg (where the weight is distributed so the figure looks planted to the ground, not floating around or unevenly/awkwardly perched), arms.

Ch 4: Fashion Heads
Faces, different ethnicities, facial features, dissection of the head with a map on the placement of eyes, nose, lips, etc. The head in different positions, from different angles; techniques to maintain proportion and balance: diamond technique, working with angles and planes of the face, shading/highlights/shadows. Hair: styles, hairlines, period styles.

Ch 5: Drawing Men
Comparison to female figure, legs, arms, hands, hair, gesture, dressing the figure, suits, and details on how the fabric falls, where to put certain features like the cuff, armhole, etc. Proportions, classic menswear techniques, fashion croquis technique, vintage styles.

Ch 6: Drawing Children
Proportions by age, with many dissections and comparisons, tons of helpful illustrations and examples. Infants, toddlers, children, tweens; heads, facial expressions, hairstyles, arms, hands, legs, feet, vintage styles.

Ch 7: Garment and Garment Details
Necklines, collars, sleeves (different types, lengths, etc), skirts (folds, fall of fabric, gathering, flaring, volume, pleats), pants (folds, gathering, lengths, fit), blouses, blazers, jackets, coats, ruffles, smocking, shirring, cowls, fur, quilting, formal gowns, applying the concepts to garments.

Ch 8: Accessories
Jewelry and how they sit on the body, eyewear, hats (male, female), belts (types, fit), trims, notions, closures, handbags, shoes (different angles, heel heights, types).

Ch 9: Basic Rendering Techniques
Working with stripes and other fabric types/prints. Shading, highlighting, rendering with marker, fall fabrics, more fabric types: shiny fabrics, flat/matte, sheers, layers, velvet, satins, chiffon, etc. Working with all black fabrics.

Ch 10: Color Rendering
Chapter features color renderings to show skin tones, menswear with marker, children; using gouache, using watercolors, rendering hair in color.

Ch 11: Drawing Knits
Necklines, knit patterns, treatments/embellishments.

Ch 12: Designer Sketching and Fashion Illustration
Poses: I-pose, S-pose, X-pose, T-pose. Attitude, "look" and feel, style, emphasis.

Ch 13: Drawing Flats and Specs
Layout styles, freehand sketching, proportion, chart on measurements by size: Women, Men, Unisex, Belts, Hats, Socks. Gathering, buttons, closures, top stitching. Mixing croquis and flat drawings.

Ch 14: Layout
Combining multiple drawings, elements, or figures; groupings,

Appendix
More necklines, collars, sleeves, armholes, tops, dresses, skirts, pants, jackets, coats, sleepwear, underwear, design details, ties, hats, waistlines, pockets, handbags, shoes, collars, cuffs.
One of the neatest sections in the book is titled "problem spots" and features examples of the right and wrong way to do various details. Showing examples of how amateurs or beginners make mistakes and then showing the correct way works So well! Better than explanation, this simple and clear approach is crucial.

This book is filled with immensely helpful diagrams, exercises, and demonstrations. Every part of it is useful to students and designers, and because it is so comprehensive, this could be the single most important book in fashion illustration. If you could only have one book on the subject, get Fashion Sketchbook by Bina Abling.

Editorial Review:

With new and revised illustrations and instructions, this edition of Fashion Sketchbook
is still providing students with a comprehensive course on sketching the fashion figure,
fabric shapes, and garment details. Abling s directions are easy to follow and detailed, using
minimum narrative and numerous diagrams. Fashion Sketchbook, 5th Edition, explains
step-by-step how to draw women, men, and children; pose the figure; develop the fashion
head and face; sketch accessories; include garment details; and prepare flats and specs.