Claire Wilcox
Books Every Fashion Designer Should Read
Nonfiction, Fashion Design
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Glorious and inspiring dress and textiles. Think of John Galliano’s Fall 2009 Russian-inspired collection.
The series of analytical case studies of dress Patterns of Fashion by Janet Arnold is essential reading for any fashion designer (or theater costume designer) interested in the cut and construction of historical dress. Arnold’s work is key to understanding Vivienne Westwood’s collections of the early 1980s, in particular the cut of her trousers, based on early menswear.
Beaton really is essential reading and his descriptions of designers in their heyday are thrilling. Writing of Chanel: “It was always impossible to guess Chanel’s age. She was dark and sunburned, with high cheekbones, an upturned nose with nostrils, as she said, ‘like tunnels,’ brilliant black eyes like buttons, and a gash for a mouth. Her hands were delicate, of a skin with a white sheen on it, and so strong that they could shoe a horse. She wore no red on her fingernails but reddened the tips of her toes, on the theory that feet were a dreary business and required every aid.” He also had the knack for summing up the elemental characteristic of a designer, calling Dior “the Watteau of dressmaking.”
A useful examination of the powerful relationship between the metropolis and fashion culture. Few images, but Breward’s many publications (often with a focus on menswear) make essential reading for any aspiring designer.
Lace was one of fashion’s most expensive commodities in its time and is surely due for a revival.
This boxed set would be a wonderful gift for a fashion or textile designer. Based on the V&A’s collections, it encompasses every pattern, weave, print, and color imaginable.
I hope the extraordinary garments in this book inspire designers to regard creative fashion design as a discipline in which anything is possible.
Beautiful and detailed photography that really gets under the skin of early dress.
A light read, co-written by the Hollywood costume designer Edith Head, which offers fashion advice from the 1960s. Some things never change.
An essential resource for any aspiring milliner, from both a designer's and a curator's point of view.
Eleri Lynn shines a light on the fascinating subject of undergarments and shows that the fashionable silhouette is achieved with an equal measure of pleasure and pain.
The relationship between innovative textile design and fashion design is emphasized in Ascher’s work for couturiers such as Balenciaga. Balenciaga in particular utilized Ascher’s mohairs in sculptural forms such as his barrel coats.
For admirers of Balenciaga, the most authoritative book on this extraordinary designer.
The first of three volumes resulting from a collaboration between the V&A and theater costume designer Jenny Tiramani. Excitingly, the publication includes x-ray images of garments, which reveal their skeletal understructures.
Designers need to know the history of their discipline, and this examination of the Dior fashion house (1947–57) by the leading curatorial authority provides just that. Palmer (who also authored the excellent Couture & Commerce: The Transatlantic Fashion Trade in the 1950s, 2001) had unrivaled access to Dior's archives. What is remarkable is how in just ten years Christian Dior set the model for fashion houses of the future, while retaining all that was commercially and creatively successful in prewar couture.
Not a book I would normally think to recommend to a fashion designer but, after all, both McQueen and Westwood have created collections inspired by armor.
An exploration of the beautiful relationship between dress and jewelry.
An example of brilliance transformed into megalomania. Beware, designers.
A great resource to have available, day and night. There are various online encyclopedic resources but I like to have this three-volume set in my hand, and this is my favorite for browsing.
An old-fashioned book, but very useful for understanding the cut of non-Western dress. It’s interesting how the planarity and drape of such costumes inspire a particular approach to pattern.
A deconstruction of fashion, both literally and metaphorically.
A reminder that nothing in avant-garde contemporary fashion has yet surpassed Schiaparelli’s surrealist designs of the 1930s.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
Edited by Michael Merrill
Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
Published: October 2021
The first in-depth study of drawings as primary sources of insight into architect Louis Kahn’s architecture and creative imagination. Based on unprecedented archival research, with over 900 illustrations and written contributions by Michael Benedikt, Michael Cadwell, David Leatherbarrow, Louis Kahn, Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, Michael J. Lewis, Robert McCarter, Michael Merrill, Marshall Meyers, Jane Murphy, Gina Pollara, Harriet Pattison, Colin Rowe, David Van Zanten, Richard Wesley, and William Whitaker.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Forthcoming: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Forthcoming May 25, 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
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Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
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