As a lot as the ultimate weeks of the yr are synonymous with celebration, they equally mark a second of much-needed rest and reset: the right time to place down the iPhone and meet up with a brand new e book (all the higher if it gives inspiration for the approaching yr forward).
Right here, for the style-conscious bibliophile, an assortment of recent vogue books launched this winter, every of which gives a brand new perception into the greats of vogue – whether or not Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Hubert de Givenchy, or extra up to date figures, from Alexander McQueen to Thom Browne.
Collectively, they supply not solely a trendy studying record to see you thru winter’s darkest days – whether or not via complete deep dives or shiny, transporting photobooks – however a trendy adornment for espresso tables and bookshelves alike.
Winter 2023’s finest vogue books
Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Homes (Thames & Hudson)
Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Homes (Thames & Hudson)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Thames & Hudson)
Karl Lagerfeld’s vogue oeuvre is well-known, all of the extra so after a blockbuster retrospective – and the accompanying Lagerfeld-themed Met Gala – which occurred at New York’s Costume Institute on the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork and spanned tenures at Chloé, Fendi and Chanel.
A brand new e book, Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Homes (Thames & Hudson) provides a lesser-seen glimpse on the designer’s home life, charting the glamourous portfolio of worldwide houses that Lagerfeld resided in throughout his prolific profession. Count on a suitably liberated use of color and print – an apt reflection of his collections – alongside a rare array of design objects, whether or not his Memphis-filled Monaco condo or the 18th-century interiors of Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo, opulent sufficient to rival his beloved Versailles. Learn extra.
Karl Lagerfeld: A Life in Homes, with textual content by Patrick Mauriès and Marie Kalt, is on the market now from Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
Gabrielle Chanel (V&A Publishing)
Gabrielle Chanel (V&A Publishing)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of V&A)
Lagerfeld‘s forebear Coco Chanel – an equally enduring vogue determine – is the topic of an expansive new tome printed by the V&A to coincide with the London establishment’s personal blockbuster exhibition on the designer, Gabrielle Chanel. Vogue Manifesto, which opened this previous September (till 26 February 2024). Titled ‘Gabrielle Chanel’, the suitably stylish e book hones in not on the couturier’s well-documented life, however the clothes themselves, which heralded a brand new period for girls’s vogue.
‘She outlined her method to vogue fairly early on,’ Oriole Cullen, the exhibition’s creator and co-editor of the e book, advised Wallpaper* earlier this yr after an unique look contained in the V&A archive. ‘It’s about stylish, easy clothes, motion and the physique. These parts she creates – the jersey, the little black gown, the swimsuit – these are the issues she comes again to again and again and refines them.’
Spanning her 60 years in vogue, and that includes clothes from the Chanel Patrimoine in Paris and the V&A, the 288-page e book is among the most full catalogues of couturier’s designs but, offering greater than sufficient materials to thrill even essentially the most fastidious fashion aficionado. Learn extra.
Gabrielle Chanel, edited by Oriole Cullen and Connie Karol Burks, is on the market now from Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
Givenchy Catwalk: The Full Collections (Thames & Hudson)
Givenchy Catwalk: The Full Collections (Thames & Hudson)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Thames & Hudson)
The most recent instalment of Thames & Hudson’s ‘Catwalk’ collection – which paperwork each present and assortment from a vogue home or designer – turns its lens to Givenchy, a home synonymous with Parisian fashion and refinement. Starting with home founder Hubert de Givenchy – who famously outfitted shut pal Audrey Hepburn in a few of her most enduring appears – it goes on to discover tenures by vogue iconoclasts John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Riccardo Tisci, alongside more moderen artistic administrators Clare Waight Keller and Matthew M Williams (who earlier this month introduced his departure from the home).
‘In all its purity, I believe Hubert created one of the crucial complicated legacies in vogue, as a result of it reaches far past dressmaking,’ defined Anders Christian Madsen, one of many e book’s co-authors, to Wallpaper* earlier this yr. ‘It’s an aesthetic that got here to be synonymous with sophistication and good style, and people set concepts are arduous to mess with.’ Learn extra.
Givenchy Catwalk: The Full Collections, that includes texts by Alexandre Samson and Anders Christian Madsen, is available at Waterstonesand Barnes & Noble.
Yves Saint Laurent: Gold (Abrams)
Yves Saint Laurent: Gold (Abrams)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Abrams)
‘I really like gold, it’s a magical color; when reflecting a lady, it’s the colour of the solar.’ So stated Yves Saint Laurent of his love of the gilded hue, which appeared all through his collections, a aspect of his oeuvre explored in Yves Saint Laurent: Gold, which arrived in bookshops this previous October. The official accompaniment to ‘Gold, les ors d’Yves Saint Laurent’, which occurred at Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, the e book nonetheless stands as a glamourous standalone catalogue of a few of the designer’s most enduring appears that includes suitably glamourous cameos from Zizi Jeanmaire and Catherine Deneuve. Consider it as jewelry on your bookshelf – excellent for vogue magpies.
Yves Saint Laurent: Gold, that includes texts by Yvane Jacob and Elsa Janssen, is available at Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
Footwear A-Z, the Manolo Blahnik Version (Taschen)
Footwear A-Z, the Manolo Blahnik Version (Taschen)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Taschen)
Footwear A-Z – which captures the huge assortment of footwear in The Museum at FIT’s expansive assortment – stays one of the crucial complete books on the evocative accent, spanning designs from Ferragamo, Chanel, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Christian Louboutin, Vivienne Westwood and lots extra (Taschen, the writer, describes it as a glimpse ‘inside one of many world’s most enviable closets’).
A uncommon, limited-edition model of the e book comes full with three prints by up to date vogue’s most lauded shoemaker, Manolo Blahnik. Printed on cotton paper by Fabriano and housed in a gilded ribbon-fastening portfolio, the 1000-edition model of the basic tome will satiate essentially the most avid of shoe addicts.
Footwear A-Z. The Assortment of The Museum at FIT. Manolo Blahník Version, an version of 1000, is on the market from Taschen.
Thom Browne: The twentieth Anniversary E book (Phaidon Press)
Thom Browne: The twentieth Anniversary E book (Phaidon Press)
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Thom Browne/Phaidon)
Thom Browne – who was named a part of the Wallpaper* USA 300 within the ‘Legends and Trailblazers’ class – is one in every of vogue’s most avid storytellers, his runway reveals usually going down amid fantastical units or drawing inspiration from fairytale, movie and folklore alike. Related flights of creativeness outline his most well-known export: the gray swimsuit. Shrunken in proportion, and hemmed on the ankle, the distinct silhouette has change into a canvas to be dramatically riffed upon season on season.
Celebrating the model’s twentieth anniversary, a brand new e book paperwork the designer’s collections, curated by the designer’s companion Andrew Bolton (who’s the Wendy Yu curator answerable for the Anna Wintour Costume Centre on the Met in New York) and that includes unique images by Johnny Dufort. ‘For me, a very powerful factor is to inform tales and make folks assume in new methods,’ Browne advised Wallpaper* when the e book was launched in October. ‘This was no completely different when approaching the monograph.’ Learn extra.
Thom Browne: The twentieth Anniversary E book, by Andrew Bolton and Thom Browne, is on the market from Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
