Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano - Hardcover

Thomas, Dana

4.22

1,557 ratings by Goodreads

9781846146138: Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846146135 ISBN 13: 9781846146138

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2015

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In Gods and Kings Dana Thomas, author of Deluxe, tells the story of how John Galliano and Alexander McQueen changed the face of fashion

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the fashion world was dominated by two very different but equally successful and turbulent figures. But, within twelve months, Alexander McQueen had committed suicide, and John Galliano has professionally imploded. Who was to blame? And how was fashion changed by their rise and fall?

This is the story of Galliano and McQueen, the two working class British boys who shook fashion to its core. With their complicated and deeply seductive designs, they moved from the raucous art and club scene of London to the old-school heart of French couture. Dana Thomas, who witnessed their arrival in Paris and who interviewed more than one hundred people close to both designers, presents their lives in rich detail. Highlighting the similarities and differences in their temperament, charisma and style, she explores both their individual talent and the changing nature of fashion over the 80s, 90s and noughties. The result is a deeply engrossing, fast-paced and original read. Galliano and McQueen weren't simply driven and gifted: they wanted to revolutionize fashion in a way no one had in decades. And for a while, they succeeded.

Dana Thomas began her career writing for the Style section of the Washington Post and served as Newsweek's European culture and fashion correspondent for fifteen years. She has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, WSJ, Financial Times, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and was the European editor of Cond� Nast Portfolio. She is a contributing editor for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and is the author of The New York Times bestseller, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre. She lives in Paris.

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Review:

A page-turning tale of fashion's highest flyers (i-D)

Fascinating... a well-told story of poetry, art and angst (Tatler)

A vivid, arresting account (Evening Standard)

More than a delicious read (InStyle)

Riveting... [Dana Thomas] is terrific at describing the shock value of their shows (Mail on Sunday)

Thomas has spoken to more than 100 fashion insiders to put together a portrait of an era dominated, in her account, by these two uncontrollable and wild talents... Thomas's narrative flits deftly between the "parallel professional journeys" of two men with a similar rebellious streak (Telegraph)

Conjures up the particular madness of the fashion treadmill, with its constant quest for newness and the inevitability that a triumph would be followed by a fall (New Statesman)

Occasionally titillating and ultimately poignant (T, The New York Times Style Magazine)

Those who have read Deluxe, Thomas's fashion-world expose, will know she tackles subjects many steer clear of. She's done it again with Gods and Kings, a dual biography of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. Their rise is a romp to read but most fascinating is their fall (Monocle)

A must read (Attitude)

About the Author:

Dana Thomas has written for The New York Times magazine, the New Yorker, WSJ, the Financial Times, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and was the European editor of Cond� Nast Portfolio. She is a contributing editor for T: The New York Times Style magazine, and the author of The New York Times bestseller, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre. She lives in Paris.

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