The New French Couture: Icons of Paris Fashion - Hardcover

Dimant, Elyssa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006221599X ISBN 13: 9780062215994

Publisher: Harper, 2016

Synopsis

With more than 175 color high-fashion photographs, this stunning, comprehensive, and authoritative handbook on modern French couture, covering the finest Parisian houses of couture including Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, and more and the creative directors who are redefining their legacies for the twenty-first century.

While trends emerge from New York, London, and Tokyo, the fashion capital of the world remains the City of Light. From Coco Chanel to Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Dior to Raf Simons, Hubert de Givenchy to Riccardo Tisci, the evolutionary arc of French fashion and its most revered houses grows richer with each season and with a continuous infusion of imaginative new talent.

The New French Couture identifies the fashion leaders whose longstanding ateliers have endured, and the creative pioneers who continue to reinvent and reinterpret their signature iconography, including Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, Raf Simons at Christian Dior, Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, Alexander Wang at Balenciaga, and Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent. Though haute couture remains the exclusive domain of a few houses, the Parisian fashion panorama is rife with gifted luxury establishments who specialize in hand-craftsmanship, exquisite design, precious materials, impeccable production, and a celebrity clientele.

The New French Couture provides a dazzling tour through the advertising, editorial, runway, and behind-the-scenes lives of these exclusive ateliers, revealing the evolution of each brand, their definitive looks, and fashion moments. Here, too, are profiles of those who have made Paris their home, reimagining contemporary French luxury more independently of the fashion conglomerates, such as Hussein Chalayan, Jean Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaïa, and Phoebe Philo for Céline.

Breathtaking in scope and vision, beautiful, sophisticated, and informative, The New French Couture provides a comprehensive glimpse at the breadth of the Paris s impressive and abiding fashion authority.

About this title

Review:

“Delving into the history and exploring the icons of Paris’s major historic houses, The New French Couture offers a smart, visually enticing view of contemporary French fashion.” (Stefano Tonchi, edior in chief, W Magazine)

From the Back Cover:

A gorgeous, groundbreaking survey of the evolution of the world’s renowned French ateliers, from the vision of their founding designers to those today who both preserve the signature iconographies and bring their own interpretations to bear on modern couture fashion.

The world awaits Paris’s flawless fashion presentations year after year, just as the evolutionary arc of French fashion grows richer with each season and each new talent. The New French Couture identifies those fashion leaders whose long-standing ateliers have persevered, and whose current creative pioneers continue to reinvent the signature iconographies upon which each house was founded. Saint Laurent, Dior, Chanel, Lanvin, Givenchy, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Balenciaga have all made undeniable contributions to fashion, both historically and today, through their distinct and potent visions.

With more than two hundred images by fashion’s top photographers, this beautifully designed volume provides an exclusive tour through the evolutions of these eight ateliers, revealing each brand via an encapsulated history of definitive looks and fashion moments. Fashion icon and blogger Leandra Medine contributes to an exposition that highlights designers who have carved out new visions for French luxury in the contemporary era, including Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Céline, Rick Owens, Alexander
McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, and Yohji Yamamoto, among others.

The New French Couture is a comprehensive survey of the revolutionary creative talents who are bringing their genius to bear on the City of Light today via the ateliers that have defined and defended fashion for nearly a century.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 006221599X
• ISBN 13: 9780062215994
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280