Fashion Books You Should Be Reading

The most frequent questions i'm asked on a daily basis are what my sources of information are and what fashion books do I recommend. In this video I hope to answer these questions by reviewing some of my personal favourites from my book collection. There are books here for beginners and others for the seasoned fashion enthusiasts.

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BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:

#fashionbooks

[artapples]

Really interesting list. I 100% agree with the aclaim of Beaton's Glass of Fashion, it's superb. I have just ordered the Burberry Days thanks, it was on my watchlist. And King of Fashion too, but will wait until I get the main Poiret (Harold Yoda) first, but as you say its always good to get the bio's too. I Bought the Schiaprelli/Prada book a week or so ago but haven't started it yet, so looking forward to that. Am reading the wonderful The Designer Scam (Colin McDowell) which frames the significant changes from quality fashion (couture houses, fabrics, outlook etc) to a more fast fashion era (working to the market, mass consumption, diffusion era etc).

Talking of bio's, for McQueen I so much prefer Blood Beneath The Skin (Andrew Bolton) to the Gods & Kings. It goes deeper into his journey and influences. I'm just as much in awe of the McQueen Vault video - which is a must watch for anyone who hasn't seen it.

I have millions of recommends on top of what you mentioned.

For books about thought processes, theories, ideas and analysis ..
>> Thinking Through Fashion: A guide to key theorists (Agnes Rocamora) - a wonderful analysis on where the thoughts and ideas behind collections come from. It's great to see this insight and helps a lot in understanding collections.
>> Fashionopolis (Dana Thomas) - clothing, sustainability, and the wider cost. Dana Thomas' Deluxe How Fashion Lost It's Lustre is also a good read.
>> Critical Fashion Practice: From Westwood to Van Beirendonck (Adam Geczy) - another great in depth analysis on the thoughts and ideas in fashion.
>> Talking Fashion: From Nick Knight to Raf Simons (Jan Kedves) - lovely interviews with loads of intriguing revelations and titbits.

.. with a special shout out too 'Menswear Revolution (Jay McCauley Bowstead)' and 'Manus x Machina (Andrew Bolton)'

Some broadly cultural moments or places books of interest I would recommend are ..
>> Ametora (Marx W David) - looking at mainly Japanese street brands from Kapital, Evisu etc.
>> Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion (Akiko Fukai) - This book is a bit of a masterpiece and looks beyond the usual Yohji, Miyake etc to Takahashi and other lesser known designers too. Wonderful pictures to go along with the text too.
>> Goth: The Dark Subculture (Gavin Baddeley) - looking beyond fashion into the wider Goth influences and culture, but wonderfully draws back to it's identity in fashion. Nicely illustrated too.
>> Fetishism in Fashion (Lidewij Edelkoort) - stunning book, very in depth and analytical, and demonstrating directly how it psychologically and culturally impacts fashion via Leigh Bowery to the avant garde. The easier to get hold of 'Fetish, Fashion, Sex & Power (Valerie Steele)' is also very highly recommended.
>> Punk: Chaos To Couture (Andrew Bolton) - a beautiful look into how punk has transcended it's origins and inspires later fashions. Great examples and photos throughout from McQueen, Galliano, Margiela and many more and placing them directly alongside the original punk creations. Little text (but informative) and very visually outstanding.
>> Punk: An Aesthetic (Johan Kugelberg) - But this one is probably better to get first as it looks deeper into the origins of Punk, Mclaren, Westwood, Seditionaries etc. Loads of great examples throughout.
>> Radical Fashion (Claire Wilcox) - looking at shapes, fabrics, concepts with loads of examples from the likes of JPG, Margiela, Hussein Chalayan, Miyake etc, and also the great 'Fashion Futures (Bradley Quinn)' which complements it wonderfully looking further into fabrics, construction etc via the likes of Iris Van Herpen.

.. and a special shout here too 'Glam Rock (Alwyn W Turner)' - great book, 'Bus Stop: Influence of 70s on Fashion Today (Lee Bender)', 'Ready, Steady, Go! (Shawn Levy) - great look at the personalities of swinging London and how that energy and creativity blossomed then fell.

I'll post up separately my designers recommends later (as this is getting too long xp) :)

[indoora]

There are three I would highly recommend for understanding the fashion industry.
1) The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed The Clothing Business Forever by Teri Agins
2) Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline
3) Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster by Dana Thomas

[paulywally]

Love how your videos aren’t edited to fuck, makes the viewer feel more personally engaged and less like they’re watching another chopped up YouTube vid. Love ya work ✌️

[louise-yokz]

You have an uncanny way of dissecting a text or a fashion collection. Brilliant

[mcqueenvault]

Ayo, you're the best my friend. Thank you so much for the shout out, and adding to my own collections now thanks to your recos! Keep up the great work!

[zee]

thank u life saver . fashion is my hobby and i usually hate reading but this video helps a lot to find things i love in this world and i love to read about it .thank u sm for this video

[MAYKNG]

Thank you! Love your recommendations- they are very considerate of the wide variety of people who compose your audience.

[noahlondon]

as a 16 year old, I really appreciate you putting out this type of content.

[minerbroEDI]

Brilliant collection of books! Everyone must read Walter Benjamin.

[flyfeelings]

I can’t wait for you to have your own magazine honestly. The flavour it will have... rooting for you 👏🏾❤️

[FakherDeNamek]

Thank you for this list ! I'll definitely buy and read some of them ! As a French person, I don't mind about your pronunciation, that doesn't matter and it's not easy to get every French sound. By the way congrats again for the 40k subscribers, glad to see you getting better and better, can't wait for your magazine !

[sammenon]

Thank you so much for this video and all the content you put out! Anyone could tell the passion and appreciation you have for the art. You and The Art Assignment have to be my favourite channel on YouTube 🤩

[darthbee]

I don't even consider myself a fashion aficionado (nor that I am that crazy for (high) fashion to begin with) but since I have to be at least aware of fashion (even just for a wee bit — otherwise I'd just draw people in tshirts and jeans 😅😂😫🙈🙈) I find your explanations helpful (on why certain works/people in fashion are important etc.) and this book recommendation is especially interesting (esp. to me as a dormant bookworm 😄😅🙈).

I'll check them out (along with other recs in the comment section) when I can~~

[indoora]

Now you are speaking my language. Viva la books.

[locutusdborg]

I recommend Ralph Lauren In his own Fashion. Ralph remade the entire industry.

[dalanium]

bought elsa schiaparelli autobio when I was 15 and learned about her as a figure in creating shoulder pads and things like her collab with Dali and her rivalry with coco chanel. might be a good book rec

[courtneymay]

Thank you so much for this, I’ve been looking for these type of video for weeks!!

[hablamosdelibros]

Nice reviews. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject! Love fashion books!

[_emilyallen__]

So many recommendations, thank you for sharing! The Beautiful Fall is actually the next book I'm starting and I'm reading Fashionopolis at the mo, which I really recommend.

[alejandrafigueroa]

I want all of them 🙃
How do you manage to read all of that and be so productive.
Love your content btw!