LIBRI

25 RETRO LOOKS & HOW TO GET THEMCopying the look of the world's celebrities and stars is a recurring feature of magazines and blogs. This title looks back at the 25 most iconic women of the past century and how to emulate their looks. Each look, whether it's Brigitte Bardot's bombshell, Audrey Hepburn's ingenue or Grace Kelly's American classic, is deconstructed.

Thea Porter (1927 - 2000) came to epitomize bohemian chic in 1970s London, developing a unique aesthetic that drew on an eclectic mix of luxurious fabrics, signature dresses and Soho laissez-faire. Born in Jerusalem, she began working as an interior designer before setting up shop on London's Greek Street. Over the course of several years, she established her combination of fashion and interior design, cultivating clients such as Pink Floyd and The Beatles, alongside Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Streisand - as well as working for royal patrons including Princess Margaret and the empress of Iran, Farah Diba. Porter was promoted in New York by Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland and her clothes were sold in Giorgio Beverly Hills, while at the same time she was a frequent visitor to the Colony Room, London, the drinking club habituated by Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon and George Melly.

From the Golden Age of Haute Couture in the 1900s to the lifestyle brands of the 1990s, this book looks, decade-by-decade, at the high fashion of the 20th century. Each chapter examines the significant stylistic changes that occurred in the decade in question, and places these in their cultural and political context. The book is illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings of the clothes and the people who wore them. Alongside the individual chapters, three designers that made their mark on fashion are discussed, as well as three key looks per decade. Many of the designers are household names; some are lesser known. But all these individuals, whether through their designs or their business practices, are exemplars of their age.

Questo libro riccamente illustrato, presenta le collezioni di alta moda di Isaac Mizrahi, a partire dalla prima collezione che debuttò con successo di critica nel 1986, arrivando fino ai giorni nostri. L'esuberante stile di alta moda di Mizrahi è un classico americano, reinventato in modo creativo. Fu il pioniere del concetto di "alto/basso" nella moda e fu il primo stilista a creare una linea di di alta moda a prezzi accessibili. Mizrahi affrontò anche altre questioni complesse attraverso i suoi modelli, mescolando questioni di bellezza e gusto con quelle di razza, religione, classe e politica.

This newest addition to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s series on historical dress patterns presents full instructions for the making of men’s historical garments in a technically accurate, visually exciting, step-by-step format. The book delves into the intricate detail of the techniques involved in historical tailoring and dressmaking. Scale patterns, precise construction diagrams, an abundance of informative details, and x-ray photographs that reveal the hidden structure of each piece are accompanied by color photography of the whole garment. Edited by the world’s leading authorities on historical tailoring, 17th-Century Men's Dress Patterns surveys the masculine wardrobe in England during the early seventeenth century. It features twelve chapters, each dedicated to one garment, including an ensemble of doublet and breeches, three doublets, a cloak, a hat, a night cap and a night-cap liner, a picadil, a pair of mittens, a sword girdle and hangers, and a linen stocking. Chapters on tailoring, dressing and inventories of men’s dress provide key historical context. Like its predecessors, this book promises to be a unique resource for costume designers, dress and social historians, students, and fashion enthusiasts alike. 300 color photographs and 800 line drawings.

This lavish book focuses on Parisian and British couture between 1947 and 1957, a decade that Christian Dior described as fashion's 'golden age'. Dior's 'New Look' collection of 1947 shocked and delighted the fashion world, creating a style that symbolised a new femininity. The full skirts and hour glass silhouettes were considered highly decadent, synonymous with luxury and extravagance, in marked contrast to the austerity of the war years. Nevertheless, the 'New Look'caught the public imagination and ushered in a period of remarkable creativity.The Golden Age of Couture features stunning gowns and exquisite tailoring from designers such as Balenciaga, Balmain, Givenchy, and Dior as well as evocative photographs by the likes of Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton.

Vivienne Westwood Shoes racconta, attraverso più di 130 stupefacenti paia di scarpe, la collezione di calzature di una delle più geniali ed irriverenti stiliste del XX secolo. Il libro mette insieme i modelli che la stilista ha disegnato per le proprie collezioni dagli anni '70 ad oggi, ognuno fotografato per l’occasione e accompagnato da accurate informazioni tecniche e di costume. Attraverso questi modelli, Vivienne Westwood Shoes ripercorre la storia dell’ascesa della stilista nell’olimpo della moda e, parallelamente, la storia del costume degli ultimi trent’anni. Questa pubblicazione riassume in modo evidente il contributo di innovazione della Westwood alla storia del fashion design, contributo che insiste sul riuscito connubio di audace anticonformismo e senso della tradizione. Le scarpe realizzate da Vivienne Westwood prendono le distanze dal gusto massificato, mantenendo forte il richiamo ai modelli e ai tessuti della tradizione anglosassone, nonché una forte attenzione all’aspetto artigianale delle creazioni. Vivienne Westwood è senz’altro la più grande stilista inglese vivente. Nata nel Cheshire (UK), deve la sua fama alla definizione dei canoni estetici della moda punk e new wave e, soprattutto, alla popolarità di Sex, la boutique aperta insieme a Malcom McLaren negli anni '70 in King's Road a Londra. Nel 1981 con sua prima collezione, "Pirate", è stata definitivamente consacrata a simbolo dell’avanguardia britannica. Da allora, il suo stile e le sue creazioni sono sempre state influenzate dalla cultura giovanile e di strada, reinterpretando con ironia la tradizione.

Proveniente dall'abito militare, il corsetto perse il suo ruolo difensivo e il suo carattere bellicoso per diventare nei secoli uno strumento di seduzione. Ora, vivendo un nuovo apogeo come capo di moda, uno stilista e un critico d'arte si sono uniti per raccontarci la sua storia. Inizia nell'antichità ed è disponibile nel tempo sia nella moda maschile che femminile. E la dice lunga sul nostro rapporto con il corpo e l'intimo, così come sulla questione delle apparenze. Maschera che nasconde tanto quanto designa ciò che nasconde alla vista, il corsetto maschile protegge gli organi vitali, dalle battaglie ai tornei, conferendo rigidità e virilità. Nel femminile santua il “prezioso”, il corpo sessuale ma anche le pulsioni del cuore. Attraverso i suoi meandri di fili e nodi, di allacciatura e infilatura, benvenuti, quindi, nell'universo magico e singolare del corsetto, e nei ritratti inaspettati ma significativi che dipinge per noi di ogni epoca. La Biblioteca del Costume si interessa all'abbigliamento tradizionale, considerato da un punto di vista storico, simbolico, tecnico, oltre che attraverso i suoi avatar alla moda.

The T-shirt is one of the designer's favourite medias. In Pectore shows over one hundred T-shirts designed in Spain from the 80s until today. This book was presented at the International Typography Congress in Valencia (Spain) and sponsored by the Spanish Professional Designers Association.

The changing status of knitwear in high fashion is a fascinating history in which the threads of socio-cultural revolutions and fashion design are closley knit together. By unravelling its ups and downs, in different places and eras, this book starts to shed a light on the origins of our current perspective on knitwear. Due to knitwear's associations with hobby culture, femininity and crafts, it is too often overlooked that it can also be something highly fashionable, experimental and a daring choice for fashion designers. Knitwear's contemporary comeback is in fact a vogue for something that never really disappeared. Body hugging cling, jersey sportswear, raw knits, sculptural volumes, lace-like body nets...the possibilities of knitting make it an endless source of inspiration for fashion designers. This book starts to tug at the yarn of knitwear's hidden history, investigating different production methods, social histories and the aesthetic (r)evolutions of knitwear in fashion. With topics ranging from grandad chic to utilitarian jumpers, from fashionable stockings to 3D knits, the everlasting appeal of twinsets and the formless in fashion...this book takes a closer look at something we all own but that is often simply taken for granted: knitwear. Published to coincide with an exhibition at the Fashion Museum in Antwerp.

In the Loop: Knitting Now explores the progression of knitting, a craft which has come a long way from its fuzzy image of thick socks, long shawls and embarrassing motifs on Christmas jumpers. Now there are knitting groups that meet in quirky venues throughout the country, as well as hundreds of clubs and contemporary artists intent on reclaiming the craft. In the Loop maps knitting's journey from retro hobby to mainstream, contemporary trend. The book includes essays from numerous academics, artists and designers analysing contemporary knitting practice, illustrated throughout with a variety of exciting images - including artists who use knitting in their work, knitting's progression through the past few decades and other developments within the craft. Providing the reader with a fresh look at the subject, In the Loop is an essential book for anyone with an interest in contemporary knitting.

Divided into eight clear chapters, the book starts with an in-depth study on measuring and body shaping, before examining fabric technology and sartorial terminology. It describes a wide range of skirts and trousers, both for women and men, from the basic to the highly elaborate.

This second volume of Fashion Patternmaking Techniques, guides readers through and examine the various procedures for transforming bodices, through dart manipulation as well as studying techniques for creating volumes, draping, and fitted patterns. The book includes techniques for creating patterns for knit fabrics; basic dress blocks and how to adapt these to different fabric patterns and types of garment (for example, maternity dresses); sleeves; basic blocks for men’s vests and jackets; size grading for tops and dresses and the fundamentals of pattern layout. This manual prepares the reader to apply these concepts—along with their own intuition and creativity—to constructing patterns.

Knitwear Fashion Design è un manuale riccamente illustrato, il cui scopo è quello di aiutare gli studenti di moda e i professionisti del settore ad apprendere e comprendere gli elementi di base concernenti l'illustrazione dell'abbigliamento in maglia. Si comincia con una panoramica dettagliata delle opere di grandi fashion designer e creatori delle tendenze stilistiche (da Elsa Schiaparelli a Rodarte), per passare poi alla descrizione dei filati di base e della loro struttura, e fornire un quadro dettagliato di indumenti, accessori e finiture. Un capitolo speciale spiega come progettare e illustrare modelli reinterpretati, che riuniscono continuità e cambiamento, durante sviluppo di una nuova collezione. L'ultimo capitolo spiega come realizzare le schede delle specifiche tecniche, fondamentali per la produzione di ogni progetto.