Download Free Cool Couture Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Cool Couture and write the review.

Cool Couture is a home sewer’s guide to professional, designer-quality construction and finishing. Fashion designer Kenneth King provides step-by-step instruction in the basic, reliable techniques of classical couture. He provides his own shortcuts, careful instruction, and advice to help home sewers of every level produce impeccable results. Each technique is presented with simple how-to drawings and detailed step-by-step instruction. Fashion-forward photographs of the designer’s own couture garments and tight shots of fabrics and construction and decorative detail show the finished effects. This book is an essential reference book of couture techniques for home sewers.
The DIY Couture collection is 10 stylish, easy to make pieces of clothing that can be endlessly reinvented in different fabrics, textures and colours. Anyone who enjoys sewing and creating something unique will love using this book to make their own couture wardrobe. The book begins with a Useful Techniques section, followed by Collections: inspirational photographs of the pieces styled different ways. Next, each of the 10 garments, from a Goddess dress to a cool romper suit and hoody, is clearly explained, including a spread showing all the variations (e.g. fastenings, necklines and hems) possible for each garment. Finally, clear step by step illustrations and photographs show you how each piece is made. With no complex sewing patterns, even beginners at sewing can make their own beautiful clothes. With simple, visual instructions and cool styling, DIY Couture will inspire people to join the handmade revolution. Where eco-fashion meets street style, this is the antithesis of fast-fashion. Absolutely no patterns required!
"Lively text and fun illustrations describe how to draw cool fashions"--Provided by publisher.
The sewing expert on PBS's SEWING TODAY show offers professional shortcuts and helpful hints. Kenneth King guides readers from choosing the right fashion fabrics all the way to the finishing touches. Get a peek into an expert's "bag of tricks" as he explains the secrets of edge finishing, piping, pockets, the tailored shoulder, and much more.
In Kansai Cool anthropologist, writer and filmmaker Christal Whelan offers profound insights in the only collection of essays to focus on Kansai, Japan's ancient heartland. Kansai--the region in Western Japan that boasts the ancient capitals of Kyoto and Nara, the bustling commercial city of Osaka and the cosmopolitan port city of Kobe--has a character all its own, right down to its dialect, mannerisms, and cuisine. It is home to some of Japan's oldest history and an area where the country's most time-honored arts and crafts still thrive. Worldly and otherworldly, spirited and spiritual, trendy and traditional, it's a place where past and future live side-by-side, sometimes at odds. Part Japanese travel book, part cultural commentary, these 25 spirited essays and 32 pages of color photos paint a broad yet penetrating portrait of the unique Western Japan region, covering such diverse topics as: The needs of the spirit--shrines, temples and the call to pilgrimage The arts in Kansai--dance, painting, anime, and combat The relationship between hi-tech and old-tech Material culture--bikes, robots, and dolls The culture of fashion in Kansai--from kimonos and obis to modern fashion designers, and the Lolita complex The meaning of landscape-- human-made islands and the mystical power of water The hidden meaning of food--an anthropology of coffee and traditional cuisine From the deep-seated ancient beliefs of Kyoto to modern teen otaku culture, costume play and haute couture of Kobe and Osaka--Whelan delves below the surface to let readers eager to travel to Japan experience how art, science, faith and history swirl together in the Kansai region to produce this unique wellspring of Japanese culture.
From the Chanel suit to the Wonderbra, via Jackie Kennedy, Ziggy Stardust and Alexander McQueen, respected fashion journalist and editor Paula Reed explores each of the styles and visionaries that have defined the way we dress. Spanning fifty years - from the 1950s to the 1990s - and accompanied by striking photographs throughout, Fashion Evolution is the definitive story of the style moments that changed the world.
The Consumer Society Reader features a range of key works on the nature and evolution of consumer society. Included here is much-discussed work by leading critics such as Jean Baudrillard, Susan Bordo, Dick Hebdige, bell hooks, and Janice Radway. Also included is a full range of classics, such as Frankfurt School writers Adorno and Horkheimer on the Culture Industry; Thorstein Veblen's oft-cited writings on "conspicuous consumption"; Betty Friedan on the housewife's central role in consumer society; John Kenneth Galbraith's influential analysis of the "affluent society"; and Pierre Bourdieu on the notion of "taste." "Consumer society--the 'air we breathe,' as George Orwell has described it--disappears during economic downtruns and political crises. It becomes visible again when prosperity seems secure, cultural transformation is too rapid, or enviornmental disasters occur. Such is the time in which we now find ourselves. As the roads clog with gas-guzzling SUVs and McMansions proliferate in the suburbs, the nation is once again asking fundamental questions about lifestyle. Has 'luxury fever,' to use Robert Frank's phrase, gotten out of hand? Are we really comfortable with the 'Brand Is Me' mentality? Have we gone too far in pursuit of the almighty dollar, to the detriment of our families, communities, and natural enviornment? Even politicians, ordinarily impermeable to questions about consumerism, are voicing doubts... [and] polls suggest majorities of Americans feel the country has become too materialistic, too focused on getting and spending, and increasingly removed from long-standing non-materialist values." —From the introduction by Douglas B. Holt and Juliet B. Schor
It is broadly recognized that black style had a clear and profound influence on the history of dress in the twentieth century, with black culture and fashion having long been defined as 'cool'. Yet despite this high profile, in-depth explorations of the culture and history of style and dress in the African diaspora are a relatively recent area of enquiry. The Birth of Cool asserts that 'cool' is seen as an arbiter of presence, and relates how both iconic and 'ordinary' black individuals and groups have marked out their lives through the styling of their bodies. Focusing on counter- and sub-cultural contexts, this book investigates the role of dress in the creation and assertion of black identity. From the gardenia corsage worn by Billie Holiday to the work-wear of female African-Jamaican market traders, through to the home-dressmaking of black Britons in the 1960s, and the meaning of a polo-neck jumper as depicted in a 1934 self-portrait by African-American artist Malvin Gray Johnson, this study looks at the ways in which the diaspora experience is expressed through self-image. Spanning the late nineteenth century to the modern day, the book draws on ready-made and homemade fashion, photographs, paintings and films, published and unpublished biographies and letters from Britain, Jamaica, South Africa, and the United States to consider how personal style statements reflect issues of racial and cultural difference. The Birth of Cool is a powerful exploration of how style and dress both initiate and confirm change, and the ways in which they expresses identity and resistance in black culture.
Discover your inner confidence and how to navigate the exciting world of modeling—whether or not you become a model. Regardless of your weight, health, size, religion or nationality, author Claudia Mason believes there is a supermodel in all of us. Discovered at age thirteen, Mason has lived through the journey from unknown to supermodel and shares with us here her wealth of knowledge. Though teens may hate to admit it, they are still in the earliest stages of adulthood and need guidance—especially if their guardians are clueless to the inner workings of the entertainment industry. Modeling is a demanding career that places tremendous pressure on a young person to perform well, look perfect, and win the job and good graces of the adults around them. Scary stuff for teens, as well as for their parents. So who to turn to? Whom to trust? Where to go? It’s here where Mason lends her invaluable advice and expertise. Join her as she opens the doors of the industry to you and provides you with the tools you’ll need to safely thrive in this fast-paced industry. Mason starts with tips for getting into the business and goes on to explain the necessary role of chaperones for models under eighteen. Learn how to become assertive and work with agents and bookers, and how to manage your money from your newfound success. Mason also touches on more serious issues by discussing how to navigate a work place that so often intersects with the world of “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Discover advice for helping your teen stay true to themselves and come out ahead. And finally learn about what to expect after the too-short window for modeling closes and also about ways to build a brand that lasts. Through Mason’s The Insider’s Guide to Teen Modeling and Finding the Supermodel in YOU, teens will learn how to be happy, confident models who can survive the frontlines of fashion. The expertise Mason passes along to would-be models is equally relevant for all teens, as well as adults.