Style Icons

December 4th, 2010

Iconic style is something that captures our attention as it presents itself. If you want to get behind ther scenes with some of the world’s most coveted fashion style icons you might want to consider getting between the covers of the following books. Fifty Dresses that Changed the World (Design Museum) is filled with pages of beautiful clothes, and the famous faces (and bodies) that put them on the world stage including Wallis Simpson, Jackie Kennedy, Twiggy, Cher and, of course, Princess Di. This delightful book shares fascinating appraisals of what gave the 50 most important garments their iconic status and you don’t have to be a fashionista or a design aficionado to adore its look at the power of one dress to change society.Fashionista: A Century of Style Icons (Simone Werle) features a wide array of fashion icons with each one (like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Audrey Hepburn) given her own generous two-page spread where photographs illustrate how the subject personifies a certain quality of style, and accompanying text discuss her influence and unique contributions to the world of fashion.Fashion: The 50 Most Influential Fashion Designers of All Time (Bonnie English) may be small in size at 128 pages, but it’s filled with information and insights about the pioneers and innovators in the world of haute couture including Jean Patou, Coco Chanel, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Guccio Gucci, Philip Treacy, and even Levi Strauss to name a few. High Style: Masterworks from Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Jan Reeder) is the first comprehensive publication on the Brooklyn Museum’s internationally renowned historic costume collection and its nearly 25,000-object collection comprising of fashionable women’s and men’s garments and accessories from the 18th through the 20th century.Vera: The Art and Life of an Icon (Susan Seid) tells the inspiring story of Vera Neuman through the art and designs she created. In this volume, richly illustrated with Vera’s original sketches, paintings, and photographs of her worldwide travels, readers are introduced to the amazing woman behind the dynamic designs that continue to inspire and influence art, design, and fashion.