Miren Arzalluz Bücher

Azzedine Alaia (1935-2017) was not only a world-renowned fashion designer but also an avid collector of vintage fashion. Now a major exhibition at the Palais Galliera, Paris, Azzedine Alaia showcases the extensive collection he built up over the decades, driven by his fascination with the history of couture and his desire to conserve its heritage for future generations. Accumulated in utmost secrecy and never revealed during his lifetime, the sumptuous selection of garments ranges from the nineteenth-century elegance of Jacques Doucet and the House of Worth to the names that shaped twentieth-century fashion--Chanel, Balenciaga, Dior, Schiaparelli--and contemporary innovators such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. Captured in specially taken photographs, these meticulously crafted pieces are a tribute to Alaia's unerring tastes, to the couturiers who inspired and influenced him, and to his endless respect for the craftspeople who created such objects of lasting beauty.

A richly illustrated, in-depth retrospective of the life and work of fashion icon Gabrielle Chanel. A revolutionary fashion icon, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel can lay claim to inventing modern women’s fashion. At the beginning of the twentieth century, she stripped women of their corsets, bobbed their hair, and sent them out into the sun to get a tan. She introduced the little black dress, created women’s trousers, and produced the exquisitely made suits that became her trademark. She designed the first-ever couture perfume—No. 5—whose square-cut, cubist bottle became a symbol of art deco style, and which remains the most popular scent ever created. Her ideas on elegance and what it meant to be a modern woman created an immutable sense of style that still resonates today. Published to accompany a landmark exhibition in Paris, Gabrielle Chanel chronicles the designer’s life from birth through the evolution of her timeless style. Specially commissioned photographs by Julien T. Hamon showcase her designs, while essays from fashion historians complemented by rare archival documents, including pictures of Chanel herself, paint a portrait of the designer in her time. This volume is a must-have for all fashion fans and students.