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 complex designs, including intricate ball gowns worn by members of high society in New York and Europe. This lavishly illustrated book offers a comprehensive study of James' life and work, highlighting his virtuosity and inventiveness as well as his influence on subsequent fashion designers. Featuring exciting new photography of the spectacular evening dresses James produced between 1947 and 1955, this publication includes enlightening details of these intricate creations alongside vintage photographs and rarely seen archival items, such as patterns, muslins, dress forms, and sketches. A detailed and illustrated chronology of James' life describes his magnetic personality, his unorthodox design processes, his colorful supporters — such as Salvador Dali, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Cristobal Balenciaga — and profiles of a number of his famous clients, such as Gypsy Rose Lee. With flair and style echoing that of its subject, Charles James brings to life one of the most fascinating and creative figures in American fashion.

«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: Impossible Conversations aims to tease out formal and conceptual similarities between the two designers. Striking photographs and insightful texts illustrate the parallels between the two, including their preferences for interesting textiles and prints, eccentric color palettes, and a bold and playful approach to styling and accessories. Schiaparelli, in the 1920s through 50s, and Prada, from the late 1980s to today, exploited the narrative possibilities of prints, sought out unconventional textiles, played with ideas of good and bad taste, and manipulated scale for surrealistic outcomes. Contemporary art plays a major role in the work of these inventive women — Schiaparelli in her famous collaborations with Dali and Cocteau, and Prada via her Fondazione Prada. Blending the historic with the contemporary, the catalogue brings the masterworks of both designers together into a grand conversation between the most important women fashion designers to ever emerge from Italy.»

Models & Muses explores fashion's reciprocal relationship to iconic beauties that represent the evolution and changing face of the feminine ideal. Featuring a brief historical overview of the phenomenon of the supermodel, the book begins in the early twentieth century and continues to the present day. Dorian Leigh and Lisa Fonssagrives in the 1940s are joined in the 1950s by Dovima, Sunny Harnett, and Suzy Parker. They are followed by Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy in the early 1960s and Lauren Hutton in the 1970s. The 1980s witnessed such enduring personalities as Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelista, while the 1990s brought on Kate Moss, whose edgy, street-inflected style has inspired not only fashion designers, editors, stylists, and photographers, but artists such as Chuck Close and Lucien Freud. With an emphasis on styles from the 1950s onward, the book features designs from the great ready-to-wear and couture houses — Madame Gres, Christian Dior, and Balenciaga in the 1950s; Rudi Gernreich, Yves Saint Laurent, and Cardin in the 1960s; Giorgio di Sant'Angelo and Halston in the 1970s; Christian Lacroix, Versace, Comme des Garcons, and Calvin Klein in the 1980s; and, Marc Jacobs, John Galliano, and Alexander McQueen in the 1990s.