Coffee Table Book Wishlist

I hope everyone is enjoying their time with their family and friends, sampling fantastic food, walking around in the crisp winter air, and of course curling up with a few marvelous reads!  I always have books on my wish lists for the holidays and birthdays, and this year was no different.  There were more than a few new YA titles that were on my list of course, but I wanted to share just a few of the coffee table books I was hopeful to get and anxious to dive into while I have a few days off of work.

It's always nice to really take advantage of this time of year and everything wonderful that comes with it...one of those things for me is cozying up in a great big sweater, a mug of a delicious and oh so yummy latte or cocoa in one hand, pouring over a great new book in the other.

I Love Your Style:  How to Define and Refine Your Personal Style by Amanda Brooks

The former muse and creative director for designer label Tuleh, and author of the blog "In Her Eyes" for Men′s Vogue, Amanda Brooks is a lifelong fashion chameleon with an unerring eye for the elements of personal style. Smart, glamorous, media-savvy and remarkably practical, Amanda has spent her entire life constructing a unique, eclectic and intimately personal sense of style. With classic roots, bohemian flair, a taste for designer luxuries, and a love for bargains everywhere, Amanda has looked to every imaginable source of fashion inspiration-from high-fashion runways and magazines, to thrift stores and classic movies, to her neighbors in downtown New York and old family photo albums. In I Love Your Style, Amanda helps women of all ages begin to cull through the frighteningly vast world of fashion, from its staid basics to its trendiest moments.

I Love Your Style is a sumptuous full-color look-book and style bible, complete with more than 400 classic and modern photographs, that will both empower and inspire women to dive into the challenge of defining, or refining, their personal style. With fully illustrated chapters, sidebars, shopping lists, and personal stories devoted to a range diverse styles and shopping techniques-Classic, Bohemian, Minimalist, Street, High-Fashion, Cheap Chic, Vintage-Brooks walks readers through every angle of the fashion world, from the basic pieces and accessories that define a style, to the small details, combinations, and adaptations that can make it your own.

With its focus on embracing creativity, personal history, originality, and the freedom to pick and choose aspects from any distinct "style"-and with no "rules," "commandments," or lengthy lists of "don′ts" in sight-I Love Your Style is a must-read for budding fashionistas, or anyone who finds herself frustrated in front of the mirror each morning.

Chanel:  Collections and Creations by Daniel Bott

Chanel's combination of tradition, originality, and style has always made it the most seductive of fashion labels. Here the House of Chanel opens its private archives, revealing a galaxy of brilliant designs created by Coco Chanel from 1920 onwards. Dazzling clothes, intricate accessories, beautiful models, and timeless design leave no doubt as to the lasting fame of her name and embody everything that has come to symbolize the magic of Chanel.

The book explores five central themes—the suit, the camellia, jewelry, makeup and perfume, the little black dress & follows the threads from past to present to show how these key items have been rediscovered and reinvented by new designers.  It includes many previously unpublished archive photographs and original drawings by Karl Lagerfeld, as well as glorious images from some of the greatest names in fashion photography.

 

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, Harold Koda, Tim Blanks, Susannah Frankel, & Solve Sundsbo

 

Arguably the most influential, imaginative, and provocative designer of his generation, Alexander McQueen both challenged and expanded fashion conventions to express ideas about race, class, sexuality, religion, and the environment. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty examines the full breadth of the designer’s career, from the start of his fledgling label to the triumphs of his own world-renowned London house. It features his most iconic and radical designs, revealing how McQueen adapted and combined the fundamentals of Savile Row tailoring, the specialized techniques of haute couture, and technological innovation to achieve his distinctive aesthetic. It also focuses on the highly sophisticated narrative structures underpinning his collections and extravagant runway presentations, with their echoes of avant-garde installation and performance art.Published to coincide with an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized by The Costume Institute, this stunning book includes a preface by Andrew Bolton; an introduction by Susannah Frankel; an interview by Tim Blanks with Sarah Burton, creative director of the house of Alexander McQueen; illuminating quotes from the designer himself; provocative and captivating new photography by renowned photographer Sølve Sundsbø; and a lenticular cover by Gary James McQueen.Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty celebrates the astounding creativity and originality of a designer who relentlessly questioned and confronted the requisites of fashion.

 

W: The First Forty Years by Christopher Bagley & Stefano Tonchi

 

One of the world’s leading fashion magazines, W will celebrate its 40th anniversary with this volume—a collection of the most influential and iconic features and photos culled from its first four decades. W is renowned for its groundbreaking, provocative, often controversial fashion stories by such photographers as Steven Klein, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Bruce Weber, Mario Sorrenti, Tim Walker, Juergen Teller, and Paolo Roversi, among many others, the best of which fill these pages. Divided into three sections—Who, Where, and Wow—this volume shows why W’s unique blend of unparalleled access, cultural smarts, and visual panache has always kept it at the forefront of not only the world of fashion, but also in art, design, style, beauty, celebrity, and society. Appearing in these pages are many of the world’s most talented, beautiful, and accomplished from a vast array of fields, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Madonna, Damien Hirst, Alexander McQueen, Daphne Guinness, Beyoncé, Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Moss, the Beckhams, Tilda Swinton, and Jackie Kennedy. In addition to a foreword by the book’s editor, Stefano Tonchi, W: The First 40 Years also includes newly commissioned essays from writers Lynn Hirschberg, Marian McEvoy, and Vince Aletti. Longtime W contributor Christopher Bagley has edited the text and written revealing captions that draw upon the magazine’s most memorable interviews and reporting.

Happy Times by Lee Bouvier Radziwill

Happy Times is the credo of a woman who, having witnessed historical moments and shared the lives of individuals struck by fate, has made the deliberate choice to remember only what's beautiful. Lee Radziwill offers a unique perspective of happy times -- from the Bouvier sisters' first trip to Europe to fond memories of Christmas in Palm Beach with President Kennedy, from her years in London to summer days in Conca, Lee Radziwill has enjoyed a very colorful and successful life. With anecdotes, pictures, notes, and drawings, Happy Times is a very personal look at a highly publicized life.