sartorial
READS
books
MEMOIRS, REFERENCE BOOKS AND Fashionistas
reveal the reads that have inspired them
Edited by ALEXANDER MATTHEWS & SARAH LAURENCE
Phaidon, R210
REFERENCE
The Fashion Book
The most recent edition of
Phaidon’s The Fashion Book
makes for both absorbing
reading and valuable reference.
An abbreviated dictionary, the
book details the who’s who of
the global fashion world in the
20th and 21st centuries, from
designers and photographers
to icons and hair stylists.
Entries are listed in alphabetical
order, each contained on a
page consisting of a short note
describing pertinent facts and
influence and a photograph
or illustration.
Opening the book at random is
akin to falling down a sartorial
rabbit hole as you dart between
the more than 570 entries it
contains. Its cross-referencing
system and index illustrate
the networks of inspiration,
mentorship and collaboration
that exist in the industry, and
the cyclical nature of the art.
INSPIRATION
Living in Style
Rachel Zoe
Rachel Zoe, fashion designer and
stylist to the stars, follows up her
2007 bestseller Style A to Zoe
with a guide for not only dressing
but also entertaining, decorating
and travelling in style. Written in
conjunction with Monica Harel, it’s
essentially a PR exercise designed
to make her style more accessible to
her many fans (she has 1.2-million
followers on Instagram alone).
Grand Central Publishing, R390
MEMOIR
Picador, R499
Lizel Strydom, Missibaba
Chloe (Townsend) and I did our research for our new collection at
the art reference section of the Sea Point Library. What a brilliant
time lapping up art books – even nature’s art – such as National
Geographic magazines dating back decades.
Drawing creative inspiration from art, Black Antoinette by Olaf
Hajek, the illustration artist, is a favourite! I love his use of colour
and his illustrations are just magical fantasies. The exquisite Kenzo book is an explosion of pattern, colour,
collage, cutout, pop-up – pure beauty! A visual dialogue between
two great designers, Kenzo Takada and Antonio Marras, creating a
new fashion world of detail with its own individual language. 26 MARCH 2015
While it may be tempting not
to take the rail-thin, perpetually
stressed Zoe too seriously (especially
when she confides that she never
wears shorts because of her
“chickeny” knees), the breadth of
her achievements is impressive –
and exhausting. These include her
reality TV series, The Rachel Zoe
Project, which aired in 15 countries,
and the launch of her collection
in 2011. Although not a serious
fashion tome, this is a fun read,
offering insights into the life of a
talented powerhouse.
Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
and Ian Kelly
This serious biography explores not
only Westwood’s life and career
but also decades of British history
and the way in which the fashion
industry has developed alongside
music and modern art. As Dame
Vivienne Westwood (once the pariah
of the British establishment) counsels,
“everything is connected”.
Biographer Ian Kelly spent over
a year immersed in the designer’s
world, becoming a close friend and
confidant in the process, and getting
to know her family, her company’s
insiders and the nonsensical
intricacies of the fashion industry.
Westwood is complex and
fascinating. She has never shied
away from publicity, overt sexuality
or tackling the world’s most pressing
issues and yet remains trusting and
childlike. “You have to look for
the beauty. In everything. In every
moment. And everyone,” she says.
I consumed the 500-page biography
in gulps, cramming it in and then
decelerating to wallow in Kelly’s
sinuous prose. In a world where
clothes are designed to become
unfashionable almost upon wearing
them, Vivienne Westwood reminded
me of why I’m so drawn to the industry
and shows how fashion, as a wearable
expression of art, can change the
world for the better.
Diana Tadjuideen, Diane
Christian Dior et Moi is a
fairly interesting biography
of an exceptional man. Le
Petit Livre de Chanel is a
nice, small and complete
book about Coco Chanel’s
life and her fashion habits.
books
Jackie Burger, Salon58
Craig Port,
The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited by Karl
Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld is a coffee-table and eternal
reference book that pays homage to the art of reinvention
and timeless style. The Little Dictionary of Fashion by
Christian Dior is an elegant and eloquent little book
that underwrites a personal style approach that (in the
words of the master himself) “Simplicity, good taste and
grooming are the three fundamentals of good dressing and
these do not cost money.”
MEMOIR
#GIRLBOSS
SoPHia Amoruso
Sophia Amoruso seems an
unlikely woman to be heading a
multimillion-dollar online fashion
company; it’s perhaps because
of this that her book has become
the manifesto of feisty women on
the path to success everywhere.
Amoruso is frank about her past
– “I went from a broke, anarchist
‘freegan’ dead set on smashing
the system to a millionaire
businesswoman who today is as at
home in the boardroom as she is in
the dressing room,” she writes.
The entrepreneur who, in a single
year, “had a profile on Forbes, was
on the cover of Entrepreneur, listed
on CNNMoney’s 40 under 40, (and)
Inc.com’s 30 under 30”, becomes
somewhat insistent that luck had no
Portfolio, R320
part to play in her remarkable story.
She maintains that her success
is rather due to hard work and
persistence.
While #GIRLBOSS certainly
inspires, it’s written for a younger
audience, and the writing
occasionally becomes irritatingly
hackneyed.
Katherine-Mary Pichulik, Pichulik
Africa Adorned by Angela Fischer archives an iconic
woman photographer’s documentation of adornment in
African tribology and exposes the importance in craftsmanship and ceremony.
I read Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden
Herrera in high school and it gave me a window
into a woman and a style that oozed independence,
intelligence and the exotic. I would research her
wardrobe after this and mimick elements in my attire.
Kahlo and her skull jewels introduced me to an aesthetic
that would inform the early manifestations of Pilchulik.
Craig Port
The Beautiful Fall by
Alicia Drake tells the
incredible, excessive story
of the great friendship
and even larger fallout of
Yves Saint Laurent and
Karl Lagerfeld. Fashion
Brands by Mark Tungate
dissects the essence and
history of the modern
fashion industry, from
high street to
haute couture.
Arie Fabian, Fabiani
Helmut Newton
Sumo is powerful, sexy
large-scale black-andwhite photography
by the definitive
Helmut Newton.
Hotel Lachapelle offers
dream-life fantasy and
an explosion of colour
and character with
photographs by David
La Chapelle
HISTORY
Fashion Muse: The inspiration behind iconic design
Debra Mancoff
Art historian Debra Mancoff ’s sumptuously illustrated book explores the
relationship between fashion designers and their muses. It’s divided into
chapters categorising types of muses (such as The Classical Muse, The Muse
in the Mirror, Model as Muse, and Shock Value) and each regales the reader
with stories of partnerships between designers and their inspirations (such
as Hepburn and Givenchy, or Schiaparelli and Dali) from past to present. Prestel, R460
Zebra Press, R250
REFERENCE
The Style Bible
Simon Rademan
South African couturier Simon
Rademan has compiled his
experiences into a comprehensive
style bible that contains elements as
diverse as “undergarments”, weight
loss, manners, how to spend less at
your wedding and 125 tips designed
to keep you off his worst-dressed
lists (once published in Rapport but
now only on his website, so you
need not worry unduly).
A curious mixture of both
style and elements, the book is
presented well, written cleverly
and accompanied by line sketches
that adeptly capture iconic style
moments in history or shape and
movement of a garment. However,
it also contains several cringe
elements. Among the quotes
scattered through the pages – some
more relevant than others – are
several attributed to the designer
himself. And, then there is a quote
by Karen Carpenter: “I was just
tired of being fat, so I went on a
diet.” Carpenter died of heart failure
caused by anorexia.
It’s clear Rademan is knowledgeable. Among the prosaic detailing
of every textile, celebrity diet and
garment known to (wo)man (skirt,
blouse, coat … useful if you’ve just
arrived from another galaxy), are
fascinating historical details and
canny insight into the perpetually
changing fashion industry.
However, these (and the excellent
chronological style encyclopaedia
that concludes the book), are
mired down by banal, somewhat
patronising statements, such as
“washing one’s hair is not only
hygienic and practical; it also has
the ability to cure a blue mood”.
It attempts to be an allencompassing manual, but a clearer
idea of target market and more
editing would have resulted in a
more authoritative guide.
MARCH 2015 27