Pamela Golbin Bücher

„MODE IST VERGÄNGLICH – ELEGANZ IST EWIG“ fasst das Wesen Valentino zusammen und erklärt seine Anziehungskraft auf Frauen. Seine Designs schmückten Ikonen wie Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn und Jackie Kennedy. Über Jahrzehnte hinweg war sein Ziel, Frauen in atemberaubenden Roben, insbesondere in seinem legendären „Valentino-Rot“, schön aussehen zu lassen. Der Weg begann mit einem Stipendium in Paris, wo er 1950 seine Ausbildung zum Modedesigner begann. Nach verschiedenen Stationen, unter anderem bei Guy Laroche, eröffnete er Ende der 1950er Jahre sein eigenes Studio in Rom. Sein Aufstieg war spektakulär: Er wurde zu einem der größten Designer und zum Liebling der Frauen. Nach 45 Jahren an der Spitze seines Unternehmens trat Valentino 2008 unter großem Beifall vom Laufsteg ab. In seinem neuen Buch „Themen & Variationen“ präsentiert er die Eleganz seiner Karriere in verschiedenen Facetten. Der prachtvolle Bildband zeigt zahlreiche Zeichnungen, die den kreativen Prozess von der Idee zum Modell dokumentieren, sowie Fotos von Mannequins und Modenschauen, Einblicke hinter die Kulissen seines Studios und viele seiner Kreationen, die teils erstmals veröffentlicht werden.

In an era dominated by logos and fast fashion, this book invites readers to appreciate the authentic passion designers have for creating beautiful clothing. Pamela Golbin, chief curator of fashion and textiles at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, revives the voices of 11 iconic couturiers through new interviews and extensive primary source material. The resulting conversations, filled with observations and revelations, create a dreamlike narrative. Notable figures like Paul Poiret and Christian Dior share insights about fashion's evolution and personal anecdotes, making their voices resonate as if they were still alive. Golbin's approach, which combines interviews, biographies, and autobiographies, reveals a wealth of knowledge while maintaining an engaging style. Enhanced by black-and-white illustrations, the book transports readers to contemporary Paris, where they can explore a magazine filled with fashion revelations. This compelling collection serves as both an inspiration for fashion enthusiasts and a historical account of 20th-century fashion, featuring legendary designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen. Ultimately, it stands as a remarkable achievement in research and editing, showcasing a treasure trove of brilliant quotes and insights from the fashion world.

This fascinating publication presents the roles two men have played in turning a small workshop in nineteenth-century Paris into one of the most successful and recognized brands in the world. Known for both craftsmanship and must-have high design, Louis Vuitton the luxury house was started by its eponymous founder in 1854. The first half of this publication traces the innovations by Vuitton, who turned the little-known guild profession of emballeur (packer) into the foremost luxury trunk maker in Paris, with a clientele that included in his lifetime the French nobility as well as the elite of a prosperous empire. Prime and never-before-seen examples of Vuitton’s craftsmanship, along with the fashion that went into them, are the highlights of these chapters. The second half of the book examines the role of Marc Jacobs as Louis Vuitton’s creative director (since 1997), who took the Louis Vuitton house into a new era with a series of collaborations with artists and designers—such as Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, and Stephen Sprouse—as well as designing a line of highly successful and desired clothing for the company. By examining two divergent but often similar careers one hundred years apart, Louis Vuitton / Marc Jacobs is not only a layered study of the evolution of a luxury brand in the past 150 years but also a celebration of technical and design innovations in the new century.