Vintage Fashion and Couture: From Poiret to McQueen

About this book

A sumptuous survey of vintage fashion and couture from the 1910s to today. Vintage Fashion and Couture: From Poiret to McQueen tells the story of fashion through the work of its key design talents and the memorable women who have worn their designs. It explores designers careers through a dazzling range of clothes and accessories and explains what makes each item so desirable and why it was so important for the fashion world. It describes the designers role among their contemporaries and their influence on the world of fashion. The author a world-renowned expert in vintage fashion organizes the book by decade with each chapter focusing on a number of important designers and the most influential style icons. Fashion pieces are shown in color photographs with descriptive captions that include the current vintage price range making it a practical resource for vintage shoppers. The designers and style icons in the book are: 1910s: Poiret Lucille Fortuny Gallenga Paquin Liberty & Co. Style icon: Lillie Langtry 1920s: Patou Lanvin early Chanel. Style icon: Baba dErlanger 1930s: Schiaparelli Molyneux Mainbocher Vionnet. Style icon: Duchess of Windsor 1940s: War & Fashion in Europe the emergence of American designers Diors New Look. Style icon: Lauren Bacall 1950s: Balmain Balenciaga the death of Dior and the emergence of Yves Saint Laurent Chanels post-war look. Style icon: Grace Kelly 1960s: Mary Quant the Boutique Movement the Space Age comes to fashion Pop and Op Art influences Givenchy Design in America. Style icons: Twiggy Audrey Hepburn 1970s: Biba Ossie Clark & Celia Birtwell Yves Saint Laurent the birth of Rive Gauche. Style icon: Bianca Jagger 1980s: Valentino Body Map Roberto Capucci Azzedine Alaa John Galliano Mugler Vivienne Westwood Comme des Garons. Style icon: Princess Diana 1990s: Jean Paul Gaultier Versace Martin Margiela Junya Watanabe Bodycon Antony Price. Style icon: Kate Moss The New Century: Alexander McQueen Christopher Kane. Style icon: Daphne Guinness. The final section Buying Vintage is an inside look in which the author a world leader in vintage fashion reveals how and where to buy the best vintage pieces as well as how to spot fakes and forgeries.