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From Elizabeth Keckly's designs as a freewoman for Abraham Lincoln's wife to flamboyant clothing showcased by Patrick Kelly in Paris, Black designers have made major contributions to American fashion. However, many of their achievements have gone unrecognized. This book, inspired by the award-winning exhibition at the Museum at FIT, uncovers hidden histories of Black designers at a time when conversations about representation and racialized experiences in the fashion industry have reached all-time highs. In chapters from leading and up-and-coming authors and curators, Black Designers in American Fashion uses previously unexplored sources to show how Black designers helped build America's global fashion reputation. From enslaved 18th-century dressmakers to 20th-century “star” designers, via independent modistes and Seventh Avenue workers, the book traces the changing experiences of Black designers under conditions such as slavery, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement. Black Designers in American Fashion shows that within these contexts Black designers maintained multifaceted practices which continue to influence American and global style today. Interweaving fashion design and American cultural history, this book fills critical gaps in the history of fashion and offers insights and context to students of fashion, design, and American and African American history and culture.
This book is the first in-depth exploration of the revolutionary designers who defined American fashion in its emerging years and helped build an industry with global impact, yet have been largely forgotten. Focusing on female designers, the authors reclaim a place in history for the women who created not only for celebrities and socialites, but for millions of fashion-conscious customers across the United States. From one of America's first couturiers, Jessie Franklin Turner, to Zelda Wynn Valdes, the book captures the lost histories of the luminaries who paved the way in the world of American fashion design. This fully illustrated collection takes us from Hollywood to Broadway, from sportswear to sustainable fashion, and explores important crossovers between film, theater, and fashion. Uncovering fascinating histories of the design pioneers we should know about, the book enlarges the prevailing narrative of fashion history and will be an important reference for fashion students, historians, costume curators, and fashion enthusiasts alike.
"This collection of personal photos, scrapbooks, and reveries feature the choice hotels, restaurants, tips, and destinations of over 100 designers"--P. [4] of cover.
The most comprehensive, fully illustrated book on women designers ever published - a celebration of more than 200 women product designers from the early twentieth century to the present day
On November 28, 1973, the world's social elite gathered at the Palace of Versailles for an international fashion show. By the time the curtain came down on the evening's spectacle, history had been made and the industry had been forever transformed. This is that story. Conceived as a fund-raiser for the restoration of King Louis XIV's palace, in the late fall of 1973, five top American designers faced off against five top French designers in an over-the-top runway extravaganza. An audience filled with celebrities and international jet-setters, including Princess Grace of Monaco, the Duchess of Windsor, Paloma Picasso, and Andy Warhol, were treated to an opulent performance featuring Liza Minnelli, Josephine Baker, and Rudolph Nureyev. What they saw would forever alter the history of fashion. The Americans at the Battle of Versailles– Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston, and Stephen Burrows – showed their work against the five French designers considered the best in the world – Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior. Plagued by in-fighting, outsized egos, shoestring budgets, and innumerable technical difficulties, the American contingent had little chance of meeting the European's exquisite and refined standards. But against all odds, the American energy and the domination by the fearless models (ten of whom, in a groundbreaking move, were African American) sent the audience reeling. By the end of the evening, the Americans had officially taken their place on the world's stage, prompting a major shift in the way race, gender, sexuality, and economics would be treated in fashion for decades to come. As the curtain came down on The Battle of Versailles, American fashion was born; no longer would the world look to Europe to determine the stylistic trends of the day, from here forward, American sensibility and taste would command the world's attention. Pulitzer-Prize winning fashion journalist Robin Givhan offers a lively and meticulously well-researched account of this unique event. The Battle of Versailles is a sharp, engaging cultural history; this intimate examination of a single moment shows us how the world of fashion as we know it came to be.
A celebration of the many contributions of women designers to 20th-century American culture. Encompassing work in fields ranging from textiles and ceramics to furniture and fashion, it features the achievements of women of various ethnic and cultural groups, including both famous designers (Ray Eames, Florence Knoll and Donna Karan) and their less well-known sisters.
"Offering an alternative, female–focused history, Women in Design is an essential new tome dedicated to the innovators who have shaped the design world" – ELLE Decoration Featuring more than 100 profiles of pioneering women designers, some who have achieved global recognition such as Ray Eames, Charlotte Perriand and Zaha Hadid, it also introduces the fascinating and often untold stories of lesser–known designers, who have similarly shaped and enriched the story of design. An excerpt from the book: "This book is, first and foremost, a celebration of some truly remarkable women whose careers in design have been exceptional. They can rightly be called exceptional because, despite the odds stacked against them, the women featured here created significant bodies of work within what was – and to a certain extent still is – the male–dominated field of design. By highlighting their extraordinary achievements, our intention is to contextualize the role of women in design over the last one hundred years or so in order to trace how the status of female designers has evolved, while at the same time assessing where it stands today. In the past, all too often the work of female designers was overlooked in the literature on design, while also being woefully under–represented in exhibitions and museum collections. This book seeks to redress these outstanding omissions. The primary reasons for this paucity of representation are that – as in other male–dominated professions – women were often either largely excluded from certain areas of endeavour or had no option but to take on subordinate roles. Women designers and their work have, also, all too often been assessed through the lens of the patriarchy, meaning they have either been entirely defined by their gender or their contributions have been subsumed under that of their 'more famous' husbands, brothers, fathers or lovers. This book attempts to tell a very different story, one that appraises their activities within the wider landscape of the feminist movement – both past and present. It is only now that women designers working in developed free–market economies are beginning to enjoy anything like equality with their male counterparts when it comes to professional access and recognition, let alone parity of remuneration. As for women living elsewhere in the world, having any kind of professional career, let alone one in design, is still often largely an impossible dream."
Step into the private quarters of more than 100 American designers and get another point of view of couture's most celebrated names-including Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, and Donna Karan. A copublication with the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
New York Fashion Week has served many purposes throughout its long history, but it has always remained at the center of the American fashion world. During World War II, Fashion Week challenged the dominance of French couture; in the 1970s and 1980s, it was a showcase for American sportswear stars who became household names; in the 2000s, it was the stage for celebrity designers using the runway as a vehicle for entertainment; and now, it is the place to see and be seen by contemporary reality TV and social media stars. Now, this illustrious history is told as it’s never been told before, in a book packed with designer interviews, backstage ephemera, and exclusive photographs culled from all 75 years of New York Fashion Week. Part historical overview, part scrapbook, and part fashion-industry field guide, American Runway will bring to life the people, places, and over-the-top runway productions of New York Fashion Week—and will sate the appetites of die-hard fashion fans and casual fashionistas alike.
The Psychology of Fashion offers an insightful introduction to the exciting and dynamic world of fashion in relation to human behaviour, from how clothing can affect our cognitive processes to the way retail environments manipulate consumer behaviour. The book explores how fashion design can impact healthy body image, how psychology can inform a more sustainable perspective on the production and disposal of clothing, and why we develop certain shopping behaviours. With fashion imagery ever present in the streets, press and media, The Psychology of Fashion shows how fashion and psychology can make a positive difference to our lives.