Suzy Menkes

Take your seat in the front row with the world’s preeminent fashion authority, Suzy Menkes, as she delves into her personal archive of diaries and behind-the-scenes snapshots to share insider-only experiences—replete with her signature sharp wit and analysis—spanning over 30 years and exclusively published here for the first time. In this first of two volumes, Suzy Menkes, the leading fashion commentator of her generation, provides exclusive entrée into the most intimate corners of the fashion world. A fashion editor for over 50 years, most notably for the Paris-based International Herald Tribune and Vogue International, Menkes’s catwalk commentary is legendary. Her strong, independent point of view and unique access to designers, models, and fashion moguls made her columns essential reading. But Menkes harbored a secret: she kept a personal diary—and took photographs—of her life in the fashion world from 1989 to 2019. Recording her many behind-the-scenes encounters with such notable names as Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Moss, André Leon Talley, Anna Wintour, Gwyneth Paltrow, Donatella Versace, Pharrell, Valentino, Alexander McQueen, Claudia Schiffer, Stella McCartney, and Rihanna, and featuring never-before-seen images from her personal archive, including the photograph that Karl Lagerfeld said captured his true character, in My Fashion Diaries: The Early Years, Menkes divulges fashion’s private moments and juiciest gossip, revealing the inner workings of a world mostly seen, until now, through polished runway shows and glossy magazine spreads.

For almost half a century Valentino dominated Italian haute couture, dressing the world’s wealthiest and most glamorous women. Only a few years after opening his fashion house in Rome in 1959, Valentino could already count Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, and Audrey Hepburn among his devotees. Despite his retirement in 2007 little has changed; his brand continues to thrive and prosper, and is worn by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez. Valentino has always designed magnificent gowns, never wavering from his signature style despite fads like grunge, deconstruction, and minimalism. This book traces Valentino’s illustrious career through copious images from his archives, including drawings, magazine editorial shoots, advertisements, portraits, and documentary photographs. Presented chronologically, the visual material is accompanied by a vast array of newspaper and magazine articles about Valentino throughout the years. Combined, they provide an in-depth look at the man, his lifestyle, and his genius.

Martin Margiela, known for his avant-garde ideas and cult following, became the arbiter of all things classic French Chic. His ability to apply his unique design process to vastly different fashion houses is the hallmark of a great designer. This new edition of Margiela. The Hermes Years has been published with the cooperation of the reclusive Margiela himself, including never-before-published photographs, drawings and testimonies.

From Azzedine Alaïa, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and Coco Chanel to Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, and Vivienne Westwood, more than a century’s worth of fashion greats from the permanent collection of The Museum at FIT in New York City are celebrated in this fresh edition of Fashion Designers A–Z.15 new names join the ranks of the industry’s most admired—Phoebe Philo, Patrick Kelly, and Sonia Rykiel, to name a few—in this updated and expanded release showcasing some 500 garments in the Museum’s permanent collection. From an exquisitely embroidered velvet evening gown to Mondrian-influenced minimalist chic, each piece has been selected and photographed not only for its beauty, but for its representative value, distilling the unique philosophy and aesthetics of each of the featured designers. In her introductory essay, the Museum’s director and chief curator Valerie Steele writes about the rise of the fashion museum, and the emergence of the fashion exhibition as a popular and controversial phenomenon. International style authority Suzy Menkes contributes a foreword, texts by the museum’s curators shine historical light on each label and garment pictured, and 125 drawn portraits by artist Robert Nippoldt pay homage to the creators behind them.

Celebrating decades of achievement by one of the foremost names in British fashion, whose vitality and influence continue to shineZandra Rhodes provides a luscious documentary of this leading British designer, spanning her 50-year career in fashion and textile design. The book showcases not only Rhodes’s work but also her vivid personality and creative energy. Both a fashion trailblazer and a consummate textile designer, she has influenced the work of contemporary labels such as Mary Katrantzou and Alice Temperley. The book honors the centrality of textile design in Rhodes’s work, while exploring the versatility of her imagination throughout her long career; contributors include Pierpaolo Piccioli (creative director of Valentino), Suzy Menkes (editor of Vogue International), and celebrated fashion designers Anna Sui and Rajeev Sethi. It also commemorates the 50th anniversary of the house of Zandra Rhodes, a British-owned and -made brand, and Rhodes’s successful establishment of the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. Published in association with the Fashion and Textile Museum, LondonExhibition Schedule:Fashion and Textile Museum, London (September 27, 2019–January 26, 2020)

Dame Mary Quant is a fashion icon. The first focused study of her career, this book shows how she revolutionized fashion, harnessing youth, streetstyle and mass production to create a new look for everyone. It surveys the development of her business in the context of British, European and American fashion in the post-war period, and explores how her innovative marketing created a powerful global brand. Featuring new photography of Quant garments, alongside previously unpublished fashion photographs and designs, this book is a dynamic and authoritative account of the designer and her legacy.

Takahashi Jun's fashion is not born out of an excessively intellectualized agenda. While not quite populist, his generative influences are instead romantic-even gothic. A fixture of the Paris collections for more than ten years-plus seventeen uninterrupted seasons in Tokyo prior to that-Takahashi's life's work confirms a maturation from self-conscious artifice and rebel pastiche to a steely, withering elegance all his own. Hailing from Gunma Prefecture like his friend NIGO of *A Bathing Ape, Takahashi's long association with the undisputed king of Ura-Harajuku in the early 1990s is now the stuff of local fashion lore. But Takahashi would blaze an entirely different path to legend and notoriety. The violent rending and hasty reassembly that characterized his early work, its calculated imperfections and sutured seams, have given way to collections that he himself now calls sexy and feminine. UNDERCOVER is insightfully curated with fashion filled chapters devoted to Takahashi's sketches, graphic work, collaborations, and most innovative designs to date. Lavishly illustrated with more than 200 photographs and in-depth essays by fashion writers, curators, and colleagues, this book gives readers first time access into Takahashi's UNDERCOVER, one of the most desired and multidimensional clothing lines in contemporary fashion.

This lavish volume invites the reader into the glamorous fashions of the 1920s. To coincide with the release of the film The Great Gatsby, we are pleased to offer Jazz Age Fashion at a new lower price. This stunning volume highlights the best of the collection, scaling the heights of Jazz Age fashion with chapters on sequined dresses, cocktail wear, bridge coats, opera coats, evening jackets, and house coats. With sumptuous still-life photographs of rare and precious beaded dresses, feathered capes, and silky kimonos, highlighting the craftsmanship and ornamentation of each piece, this is a must-have book for collectors, connoisseurs, and those who believe in evening style.