Out-of-Print Fashion Books

Hardcover. New York, Assouline, 1st, 2006, Book: Near Fine, Dust Jacket: Near Fine, 80 pages, color illustrated. In publisher's shrinkwrap. t is not unusual to see the colors and hear the rhythms of Africa at runway shows in Paris, New York, or Milan. But despite its influence on Western designers, African fashion is still struggling to make itself known. With the ambitious goal of reinventing urban fashion, many young African designers are breaking away from the expectations imposed on them to infuse ethnic and folkloric themes into their work. This book brings together archival images, illustrations, and photographs to paint a lively picture of this constantly evolving world, featuring designers and labels including Alphadi, Xule Bet, Oumou Sy, Juliette Ombang, Mickael Kra, and more.

Hardcover. London, Carlton Books Ltd, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 304 pages, illustrated in color and b&w. An illustrated fashion history from the 1920s to the present. Chock full of pictures and information, cataloging our love affair with the swimsuit and beach life in general. This book covers the period from the mid-nineteenth century, when the railways first made the seaside accessible to all, right up to the modern day, with supermodels strutting their stuff on the catwalk for Gucci and Versace. There's tons of info on the chronology of fabrics, from heavy felts and wools, up to modern synthetics. And a wealth of illustrations show bathing machines, 30's lido's, knobbly knees contests - and my favourite of all - dozens of vintage adverts for swimwear.

Hardcover. New York, Clarkson Potter, Reprint, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 184 pages. Illustrated in full color and black & white. Beautiful examples of costume and set design by Erte. A bright, clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Rizzoli, 1st US, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 363 pages. Large format with gorgeous color photography throughout. White pictorial dust jacket with some light soiling and wear. Wrinkled wrap-around band. A nice, clean, tight copy. Archeology of Elegance is an exceptional and dynamic collection of 200 superb photographs by sixty-two of today's most acclaimed photographers from Robert Mapplethorpe to Peter Lindbergh, Miles Aldridge, Herb Ritts, Ellen von Unwerth, Nick Knight, David Lachapelle and Jean-Baptiste Mondino, presenting fashion photography as art. During the past twenty years, there is no question that fashion photography has become a driving force for new directions in fashion, design and cosmetics and a vital source of ideas for the visual arts and design-manifesting itself in forms as diverse as punk rock, glamour or high-tech futurism. According to culture critic Ulf Poschardt, fashion photography has become the new, almost self-sufficient leitmedia of international culture, a culture that is expressed increasingly in visual terms. As seen in Archeology of Elegance, this once commercial and functional craft has become, without question, an art form in itself.