From the emblematic designs of Madame Gres to Isadora Duncan's dance costumes and the "avant-garde" gowns of Yves Saint Laurent, the Graeco-Roman classical tradition of dress has clearly inspired and influenced the worlds of art and fashion. This illustrated volume explores the continually evolving [...]
Over time and across cultures, extraordinary manipulations of the body have occurred in a continuing evolution of the concept of beauty. Fashion can be seen as the practice of some of the most extreme strategies to conform to shifting concepts of the physical ideal. Various zones of the body--the ne[...]
Although separated by time, Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli - both Italian, both feminists - share striking affinities in terms of their design strategies and fashion manifestoes. Presented as an intimate "conversation", "Schiaparelli and Prada" aims to tease out formal and conceptual similariti[...]
Charles James, often considered to be America's first couturier, was renowned in the 1940s and 1950s as a master at sculpting fabric for the female form and creating fashions that defined mid-century glamour. Although James had no formal training as a dressmaker, he created strikingly original and c[...]
A captivating retrospective of 20th-century styles, this original survey explores the social context of fashion with informative text and 80 striking images. Profiles include the newly emancipated woman of the 20s, WWII-era glamour girls, flower children of the 60s, the 80s cult of fitness and perfe[...]