{"product_id":"gods-and-kings-the-rise-and-fall-of-alexander-mcqueen-and-john-galliano-9781594204944","title":"Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano","description":"\u003cp\u003eMore than two decades ago  John Galliano and Alexander McQueen arrived on the fashions scene when the business was in an artistic and economic rut. Both wanted to revolutionize fashion in a way no one had in decades. They shook the establishment out of its bourgeois  minimalist stupor with daring  sexy designs. They turned out landmark collections in mesmerizing  theatrical shows that retailers and critics still gush about and designers continue to reference.  Their approach to fashion was wildly differentGalliano began as an illustrator  McQueen as a Savile Row tailor. Galliano led the way with his sensual bias-cut gowns and his voluptuous hourglass tailoring  which he presented in romantic storybook-like settings. McQueen  though nearly ten years younger than Galliano  was a brilliant technician and a visionary artist who brought a new reality to fashion  as well as an otherworldly beauty. For his first official collection at the tender age of twenty-three  McQueen did what few in fashion ever achieve: he invented a new silhouette  the Bumster.  They had similar backgrounds: sensitive  shy gay men raised in tough London neighborhoods  their love of fashion nurtured by their doting mothers. Both struggled to get their businesses off the ground  despite early critical success. But by 1997  each had landed a job as creative director for couture houses owned by French tycoon Bernard Arnault  chairman of LVMH.  Gallianos and McQueens work for Dior and Givenchy and beyond not only influenced fashion; their distinct styles were also reflected across the media landscape. With their help  luxury fashion evolved from a clutch of small  family-owned businesses into a $280 billion-a-year global corporate industry. Executives pushed the designers to meet increasingly rapid deadlines. For both Galliano and McQueen  the pace was unsustainable. In 2010  McQueen took his own life three weeks before his womens wear show.  The same week that Galliano was fired  Forbes named Arnault the fourth richest man in the world. Two months later  Kate Middleton wore a McQueen wedding gown  instantly making the house the worlds most famous fashion brand  and the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a wildly successful McQueen retrospective  cosponsored by the corporate owners of the McQueen brand. The corporations had won and the artists had lost.  In her groundbreaking work Gods and Kings  acclaimed journalist Dana Thomas tells the true story of McQueen and Galliano. In so doing  she reveals the revolution in high fashion in the last two decadesand the price it demanded of the very ones who saved it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45279833915445,"sku":"ByrdShop_1594204942","price":37.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781594204944.jpg?v=1780612879","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/gods-and-kings-the-rise-and-fall-of-alexander-mcqueen-and-john-galliano-9781594204944","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}