French street artist and illustrator Fafi publishes her first book, The Carmine Vault, whose story is centered around a character called Birtak and his desire to join the Paris Opéra Ballet. Published by Rizzoli, it’s available for pre-order now with an April 10th delivery date.
From Suno to Boxing Kitten and many others, the African influence in fashion while not new has made itself more palpable in recent years. In tribute to the movement, Helen Jennings, editor of Arise, has put together a book titled New African Fashion, a glamorous reference to the buzz worthy style and artistic influence with roots in a very vast and diverse continent. Last night marked the New York launch of the book as well as the introduction of Heritage 1960, an African lifestyle site and online shop. Hosted at the Parlor in SoHo, the intimate gathering was a stylish and fun filled affair. On the next page a glimpes at attendees.
Here is a video showing the making of one of the images featured in Christian Louboutin’s book, celebrating his 20 years of history in the business, which goes on sale today. This video shows singer Mika being prepared for a shoot featuring embelished Louboutin sneakers.
Definitely adding this to our collection, the Rick Owens book published with Rizzoli is here:
This luxurious large-format book documents the work of the American designer Rick Owens, a transformational figure in contemporary fashion. Defiantly antifashion, Rick Owens’s honest and intensely personal approach to craft has ironically produced some of the most sublime fashion of the last two decades, propelling him to the front ranks of the international avant-garde. Established in 1994, Owens’s subversive designs have now become some of the most critically admired in the Paris collections. Distinguished by an aesthetic that the designer has himself described as “grunge meets glamour,” this gritty elegance-tempered by a remarkable restraint-has won him a fanatical international following…
In a recently-published book titled “Don’t Call Me Urban,” photographer Simon Wheatley documents London’s Grime scene over a period of about ten years. Vice magazine follows-up with him and digs down a bit on the style worn by the people he photographed. Interestingly, Wheatley wasn’t impressed:
“I’m disappointed with what I saw of grime as fashion, it wasn’t very imaginative. That’s what I’ve always referred to when people compare grime to punk—punk was really something daring, whereas grime was very conformist, really. Not just in the sense of the sports corporations who’d give out their stuff to the main crews, but also most of the ‘designers’ who churn out t-shirts and hoodies with varying slogans or patterns. What about mixing it up a bit, you know? I’d like to see some proper African dress and stuff like that, rather than slavishly following the fashion code that came out of the United States.”
Read more from the interview here. See the cover for the book and one more image on the next page.
Definitely a good book to have if like us you have a weakness for the iconic red soles. “Christian Louboutin” the book is available on pre-order here on October 25th.
For anyone who knew of us about five years ago, we started as a column called Chicks With Kicks on Highsnobiety. Our love for a good pair of sneakers even in our more posh Snobette digs has remained untouched. In the HighSnobette universe, four-inch heels and sneakers are just as sexy as tight jeans, a Fleet Ilya harness or a Chanel suit. Illustrating the love that many of us have for le sneaker Lori Lobenstine of Femalesneakerfiend teamed up with Amanda Lopez to bring you “Girls Got Kicks,” a photo book documenting women and girls in their kicks:
Girls Got Kicks… the first ever photo documentary of the badass females, told from a unique angle: their passion for sneakers. From celebrities like WNBA Rookie-of-the Year Tina Charls, legendary b girl Rokafella, and “Downtown’s Sweetheart” Vashtie Kola, to extraordinary young women famous only for their obsessive love of sneaker, Girls Got Kicks celebrates the beauty and diversity of female sneaker fiends the world over. Whether they’re running home in the rain barefoot to save their precious kicks or tearing them up at the skate park, whether they’re matching them to their wedding dress or their basketball uniform, Girls Got Kicks documents how these sneaker lovers push beyond stereotypes, using kicks to be both athletic and sexy, hip and tomboyish, grown and youthful, as they define who they are—and who women can be—on their own terms.
Launching today at Goliath, you can get your copy here. A peek at the photos on the flip.
Elysa Dimant’s Minimalism and Fashion takes on the historical and artistic aspects of clean lines and restraint .The fashion informer gives an inside look at the book’s content as well as images which you can read and see here. Available on Amazon.
“Don’t try to be what people want you to be, it’s the wrong way,” says Franca Sozzani discussing her latest book I Capricci della Moda, in which she shares her blog entries from last year, the exchanges she’s had with readers as well as an inside look into what makes Vogue Italia so successful. With sub-sites like “Vogue Curvy” and “Vogue Black,” Sozanni also shares that the printed magazine has seen a 20 percent increase in sales. We say take notes U.S. glossies!
