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Friday 13 January 2012

Art & Design Books for the New Year





I am a collector, hoarder, great swooner and can't-live-without-them kind of girl when it comes to books, and even though I love novels, sometimes there's nothing better than curling up with a cup of tea and a huge, weighty, hardback book full of illustration, photographs and visual lushness. 
These are the ones I've been looking at and lusting over lately.

From top left down to the bottom right

Dior Couture Text by Ingrid Sischy, Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier - When I was working as a fragrance consultant, the man who worked on Dior would come over and tell us about the history of the brand and how the Dior fragrance was made when the house opened, unlike other brands who start making fragrances after their fashion collections. I definitely became more interested in Dior than Chanel fragrance wise, and although I do love Chanel clothing, I think this dramatic Dior book which has portraits of over 100 gowns would keep me mesmerised for quite some time.
100 Ideas That Changed Fashion by Harriet Worsley- The author of this book teaches fashion communication and fashion journalism at St Martins, so I think I'd put trust in her opinion about fashion and how it's evolved over time. What I love about fashion is that any invention of new material, cut or style is a visual image of the current zeitgeist, so to learn about why things changed in fashion due to the culture at that time, would definitely made for a good read.
100 New Artists  by Francesca Gavin - I read a few things by Francesca during my time at university and I tend to liker her take on things. She's a writer and visual arts editor over at Dazed and Confused. I'm sure this book would be full of shiny new contemporary gems and hopefully show a plethora of different artistic techniques.
The Copy Book by Taschen & D&AD -  Not that I need any help trying to write copy for advertising but, I think this book is interesting during a time where advertising plays such a huge part in our lives. The book has a selection of essays and lots of illustrations showing both good and completely awful looking (in my opinion) advertising.
High Heels : Fashion Femininity Seduction by Ivan VartanianStella BruzziJames Crump -  Firstly, if any book cover is going to get me, it's going to be that one, aside from that, this book is full of fashion photography, and as someone who has folders on upon folders of editorials on her computer, this would be amazing inspiration.
Viktor & Rolf Fairy Tales - I know I've blogged about this before on some distant wishlist (and I still don't have the book, sob) but it's still on my want list purely because if the clothes are anything to go by, this book by Viktor and Rolf will be the most whimsical, lovely book ever. It's also illustrated by the designers themselves!
100 years of Fashion Illustration by Cally Blackman - I'm a fashion Illustrator. This book is all about that very thing. Enough said.
Illustration Now 4 - I don't buy every Illustration Now or every Art Now book, but Taschen continuously churn out amazing books with second to none photographs and Illustration Now number 4 does have some very good illustrators in it. I took a look whilst in Waterstones not so long ago and it's quite beautiful 
Visual Merchandising by Tony Morgan - A must for anyone studying retail and anyone interested in retail, visual merchandising, stores and their layout or anything like that. How stores are laid out interests me greatly and definitely impacts on what customers buy. Also good for anyone obsessed with window displays like me!

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