Icons of Vintage Fashion: Definitive Designer Classics at Auction 1900-1990
This is a photographic record of 1,000 clothing items sold at auction. Each full-color photo is accompanied by brief design details and auction history. Where available, delightful bibliographic and provenance notes (“from the personal collection of Mademoiselle Chanel”) complete the entries. Though it’s doubtful anyone will claim, “I read it for the articles,” there is narrative as well to enjoy here: biographies of select designers, interviews with vintage dealers and museum curators, histories of iconoclastic items (“the Carré Hermès”), and more. Sufficiently gorgeous for a coffee table yet suitable for academic libraries serving fashion-design programs and larger public libraries. --Genevieve Grove