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Books

Friday May 10th, 2013

New Book Captures the Renegade Spirit of the London Fashion Scene in the ’80s
Books

New Book Captures the Renegade Spirit of the London Fashion Scene in the ’80s

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Part of a trio of magazines that launched in 1980–which also included i-D and The Face–Blitz was the subversive fashion brainchild of university students Carey Labovitch and Simon Tesle.

Former Blitz fashion editor Iain R. Webb has combined his impressive archive of photos with personal anecdotes from the models, photographers, and artists involved with each shoot for this unique take on the history of the mag in As Seen in BLITZ, out this month. Many of the images (including a rather unforgettable collage of Vogue editor Hamish Bowles in a Chanel twinset, a fresh-out-of-Parsons Marc Jacobs) haven’t been seen since they were first published in the pages of Blitz 30 years ago. Here’s what Webb had to say about Blitz‘s heyday.

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Published at 3:32 PM

Wednesday April 17th, 2013

Tuesday April 16th, 2013

Friday April 12th, 2013

Inès de la Fressange on Roger Vivier and Why the Word ‘Sexy’ Has Been ‘Ruining Fashion for 20 Years’
Books

Inès de la Fressange on Roger Vivier and Why the Word ‘Sexy’ Has Been ‘Ruining Fashion for 20 Years’

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Roger Vivier–the brand credited with inventing the stiletto–has a long and rich history, all documented in the new Rizzoli tome Roger Vivier.

To celebrate the release of the book, head designer Bruno Frisoni and brand ambassador Inès de la Fressange sat down with FIT‘s fashion historian Valerie Steele Wednesday evening to chat about the history of Roger Vivier and Frisoni’s own creations for the brand.

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Published at 4:30 PM

Wednesday February 20th, 2013

Narciso Rodriguez and Simon Doonan Toast Sharon Socol’s New Photography Book
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Narciso Rodriguez and Simon Doonan Toast Sharon Socol’s New Photography Book

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Being the wife of a Barneys New York executive certainly has its perks–like, say, snagging your well-connected husband’s ‘plus one’ invite to industry insider events that most people only dream of attending.

Sharon Socol–wife of Howard Socol, who served as Barneys’s CEO from 2001 to 2008–used that exclusive access to her advantage and then some. Toting a 35mm loaded with black and white film, Socol, an avid photographer since age seven, snapped behind-the-scenes photos of fashion shows, parties, and some of the industry’s most legendary characters.

Recently, she compiled those photos into a book titled Plus One: An Outsider’s Photographic Journey Into the World of Fashion–the release of which garnered a crowd of fashion’s elite last night on Barneys’s 9th floor.

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Published at 5:00 PM

Tuesday February 5th, 2013

10 New Style Books To Look Out For This Year
Books

10 New Style Books To Look Out For This Year

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Around here, we love a good fashion book. 2012 brought us winners like Grace Coddington’s memoir, the Sartorialist’s second venture Closer, and the massive Kate Moss Book. Whether you’re looking for a good read to help pass the long days spent inside waiting for spring, or just something pretty to go on your coffee table, we’ve compiled a list of the best style books being released in 2013, plus where to get them. And the releases start now. Mary Blume’s hotly anticipated biography of Balenciaga hits bookstores today.

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Published at 5:07 PM

Wednesday January 23rd, 2013

Tuesday January 15th, 2013

The Vogue ‘Diet Mom’ Starts Book Tour, Says the Glossy Is Partly To Blame for Backlash
Books

The Vogue ‘Diet Mom’ Starts Book Tour, Says the Glossy Is Partly To Blame for Backlash

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Remember that super controversial article that Dara-Lynn Weiss wrote for Vogue about putting her seven-year-old daughter on a calorie-restricted diet? And how that article landed her a book deal?

Well, the book, titled The Heavy, hits stores today and Weiss is making the rounds to promote it. While Weiss remained silent after the intense backlash following the publication of the article in Vogue (Jezebel called Weiss “one of the most fucked up, selfish women to ever grace the magazine’s pages,”) she’s been chatting up a storm to the New York Times, The Cut, and the Today Show.

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Published at 3:52 PM

Wednesday December 19th, 2012

Author Camilla Morton on How Diane von Furstenberg’s Charmed Life Became an Actual Fairy Tale
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Author Camilla Morton on How Diane von Furstenberg’s Charmed Life Became an Actual Fairy Tale

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Camilla Morton is putting a whole new (chic) spin on the classic fairy tales you know and love from childhood.

The fashion writer and internationally bestselling author’s new illustrated series blends the stories of designers’ lives with those of fairy tales. After penning fairy tale memoirs for Manolo Blahnik and Christian Lacroix, the latest designer to get Morton’s magical treatment is Diane von Furstenberg.

Diane von Furstenberg and the Tale of the Empress’s New Clothes tells both the story of how von Furstenberg became the successful woman she is (a story which, mind you, includes a real-life prince), with a reinvented take on the classic fable The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Far from being just the subject, von Furstenberg collaborated with Morton closely on the book and did all the illustrations. We caught up with Morton to chat about why she decided to write the book, what it was like working with Diane von Furstenberg, and which designers she hopes to collaborate with next. Read on.

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Published at 3:30 PM

Wednesday November 21st, 2012

Revelations on Vogue, Anna Wintour, and Cats from Grace Coddington’s Memoir
Books

Revelations on Vogue, Anna Wintour, and Cats from Grace Coddington’s Memoir

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Though Grace Coddington is more of a behind-the-scenes person–her job requires it and she describes herself as shy and reserved (in high school Coddington’s parents arranged for her to eat at a quiet cafe so she “didn’t have to talk to anyone”)–when The September Issue made her a star and forced her to open up while doing press for the doc, she figured “maybe I had a bigger story to share.”

And we’re so glad she did because Coddington’s life story is not only funny and poignant, blunt and inspiring, but it’s also an insider’s history of the fashion industry and how it’s changed from the 1950s to today. Starting her career as a model in the ’50s and becoming an editor at British Vogue in the ’60s before moving on to American Vogue in the ’80s–Coddington has truly seen it all.

Here’s what we learned, in Coddington’s own words.

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Published at 2:15 PM

Tuesday November 20th, 2012

Grace Coddington Will Answer All Your Burning Questions About Cats and Anna Wintour Today on Twitter
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Grace Coddington Will Answer All Your Burning Questions About Cats and Anna Wintour Today on Twitter

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To promote her new memoirs, Grace Coddington will be taking over Vogue Magazine’s twitter (@voguemagazine) today from noon until 1 p.m. EST.

She’ll answer fans’ burning questions about cat psychics (yes she uses one), Vogue, her modeling career and maybe even Anna Wintour. (We assume Coddington’s assistant Stella Greenspan will be the one tweeting Coddington’s answers as Coddington, in her book, outs herself as a technophone who only reads her emails once they’re printed out.)

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Published at 9:45 AM

Monday November 12th, 2012

Decoding #Menswear: A Handy Guide To Understanding What the Hell Men’s Style Blogs Are Talking About
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Decoding #Menswear: A Handy Guide To Understanding What the Hell Men’s Style Blogs Are Talking About

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From the increasingly well-documented street style scene outside of Pitti Uomo (it’s starting to rival the scene outside any major fashion week venue) to the number of nattily dressed gents we see walking down the street in NYC, there’s no question that dudes have been stepping it up in the personal style department.

There’s even a burgeoning menswear (that’s #menswear if you’re scrolling through Twitter or Tumblr) clique, comprised of editors at print publications like GQ and Complex as well as bloggers at sites like Four Pins and Selectism and Hypebeast. They are the arbiters of men’s style, speakers of the language of #menswear. Yes, they have their own language and we dont’ understand at all. Cop some jawns? That dude is sprezzy? Say what?

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Published at 6:23 PM