Secrets Of The Couturiers

Gabrielle Chanel - Christian Dior - Pierre Cardin - Yves Saint Laurent - Valentino - Elsa Schiaparelli.

Avant-garde designs from "America's First Couturier" British-American designer Charles James (1906-78), "America's First Couturier," is famed for the extraordinarily elegant evening gowns he created in the 1930s through the 1950s for society ladies on both sides of the Atlantic. From the beginning of his career, James also designed revolutionary unisex styles. The famous eiderdown evening jacket, designed in 1937 for women, was revived as a cult unisex design object in 1970s New York. The eiderdown jacket and James' other unisex designs share with his ball gowns a sculptural, architectural presence and a rigorously cerebral design process grounded in science and mathematics. James is regarded as a visionary thinker in the world of fashion, introducing lasting innovations in both technique and methodology. Charles James: The Couture Secrets of Shapegoes beyond the evening gowns, focusing on some of James' unisex designs and his life in the artist community at the Chelsea Hotel, where he lived from 1964 until his death in 1978. He remained restlessly creative in this period, his rooms at the Chelsea serving as a studio, workshop, and archive. In 1973 he wrote The Charles James Approach to Structural Design; this allowed a glimpse into his thinking at that time and is included in this publication in facsimile. Edited by Homer Layne, James' last assistant, and Professor Dorothea Mink, with a preface by fashion designer Rick Owens, this volume reveals a new facet of James' groundbreaking body of work.

Qu'est-ce que l'élégance ? La mode est-elle un art ? Les couturiers sont-ils des artistes ou des artisans ? Quelle est la spécificité de Paris en tant que capitale de la mode ? Comment réagir face à la copie ou à la contrefaçon ? Qui n'a pas rêvé de s'entretenir de ses sujets avec les plus illustres couturiers, de recueillir leurs confidences, d'approcher leurs secrets de création ? Conservatrice générale Mode et Textile au musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris, Pamela Golbin a orchestré, à partir d'archives authentiques, les interviews posthumes de onze créateurs mythiques. Grâce à elle, Paul Poiret, Jeanne Lanvin, Madeleine Vionnet, Gabrielle Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Cristobal Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Madame Grès, Pierre Balmain mais aussi Yves Saint Laurent et Alexander McQueen se livrent avec franchise, humour et générosité. Pamela Golbin apporte un regard inédit sur la vie et l'oeuvre de ces couturiers légendaires, dessinant ainsi une histoire intime et vivante de la mode du XXe siècle.

Fashion historian Shaeffer opened the door to the exclusive realm of haute couture in her authoritative guide to the techniques that define couture sewing. And now, "Couture Sewing Techniques," has been revised and updated throughout. Full color.

A writer investigates her family’s secret history, uncovering a story that spans a century, two World Wars, and three generations. Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother Sara lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso. This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz. Freeman pieces together the puzzle of her family’s past, discovering more about the lives of her grandmother and her three brothers, Jacques, Henri, and Alex. Their stories sometimes typical, sometimes astonishing—reveal the broad range of experiences of Eastern European Jews during Holocaust. This thrilling family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, this powerful story about the past echoes issues that remain relevant today.

A tale based on the highly competitive world of Coco Chanel follows the experiences of 1920s orphan Isabelle Varlet, who in early adulthood recovers from the death of her fiancé by developing her seamstress talents and struggling through the cutthroat world of high fashion. By the author of I Am Madame X. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

Construction is the foundation of fashion design; it takes passion and great skill to turn a two-dimensional drawing into a successful garment. Construction for Fashion Design guides readers through the process, teaching the theory, practical skills and techniques that they need to succeed. It leads readers through the essential stages of creating a garment, from pattern cutting and draping on the mannequin to sewing techniques and haberdashery. This fully revised and expanded second edition features insightful case studies with leading creative practitioners at the cutting edge of the fashion industry today, complete with detailed, step-by-step exercises that enable readers to contextualise their knowledge and put it into practise for the creation of their own successful projects.

Who makes your clothes? This used to be an easy question to answer it was the seamstress next door, or the tailor on the high street—or you made them yourself. Today, we rarely know the origins of the clothes hanging in our closets. The local shoemaker, dressmaker, and milliner are long gone, replaced a globalized fashion industry worth $1.5 trillion a year. In Wardrobe Crisis, fashion journalist Clare Press explores the history and ethics behind what we wear. Putting her insider status to good use, Press examines the entire fashion ecosystem, from sweatshops to haute couture, unearthing the roots of today’s buy-and-discard culture. She traces the origins of icons like Chanel, Dior, and Hermès; charts the rise and fall of the department store; and follows the thread that led us from Marie Antoinette to Carrie Bradshaw. Wardrobe Crisis is a witty and persuasive argument for a fashion revolution that will empower you to feel good about your wardrobe again.