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When the golden age of high fashion and high society converged, and glamour was born. A debutante’s dress is anything but a minor detail, and this sumptuous volume delights in one stunning look after another: lace bodices and silver sequins by Chanel; Vionnet’s luxurious silk brocades; the signature white satin gloves and ubiquitous feathers of the ’30s; fluid frocks by Schiaparelli; the heiress-worthy designs of Claire McCardell and Valentina, especially popular with the ladies of the Whitney...

From the 1787 Wedgwood antislavery medallion featuring the image of an enchained and pleading black body to Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012) and Steve McQueen's Twelve Years a Slave (2013), slavery as a system of torture and bondage has fascinated the optical imagination of the transatlantic world. Scholars have examined various aspects of the visual culture that was slavery, including its painting, sculpture, pamphlet campaigns, and artwork. Yet an important piece of this visual cult...

Works of art such as paintings with words on them or poems shaped as images communicate to the viewer by means of more than one medium. Here is presented a particular group of hybrid art works from the early twentieth century, to discover in what way words and images can function together to create meaning. The four central artists considered in this study investigate word/image forms in their work. F.T. Marinetti invented parole in liberta, among other ideas, to free language from syntactic con...

Fashion Reimagined features 50 outstanding examples of fashionable dress drawn entirely from the outstanding collection of the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, including men's and women's fashions from 1760 to 2022. The book is divided into three sections that reflect three aspects of historicism: Minimalism, Pattern and Decoration, and The Body Reimagined. Each catalogue entry addresses a theme and provides information and insights about the individual designers, fabric and construction details, and...

This volume on avant-garde film has emerged as part of a wider reassessment of 20th century avant-garde art, literature and film carried out in the framework of a research project at the University of Edinburgh. It paves the way for a fresh assessment of avant-garde film and develops its theory as an integral part of a newly defined conception of the avant-garde as a whole, by closing the gap between theoretical approaches towards the avant-garde as defined on the basis of art and literature on...

An exploration of the parallel development of product and graphic design from the 18th century to the 21st, considering the relationship between design and manufacturing, and the technological, social and commercial context in which this relationship developed. The effects of a vastly enlarged audience for the products of modern design and the complex dynamic of mass consumption are also discussed. Part of this dynamic reveals that products serve as signs for desires that have little or nothing...

This original, illustrated monograph recounts haute couture designer Jean Patou’s charmed life and career during the apex of twentieth-century glamour, and is drawn from extensive research into previously unpublished family archives. During the 1920s and 1930s, the French couturier Jean Patou was Chanel’s main rival: day pyjamas, jersey sportswear, swimwear, and the little black dress were all among the innovative designs marking Patou’s relatively brief career as the king of Parisian fashion. H...

Nja Mahdaoui is a visual artist who considers himself “an explorer of signs” and has been described as a “choreographer of letters”. His work inspired by Arabic calligraphy is remarkably innovative as the aesthetic dimension of letters brings forth a strong sense of the poetic. These works arrest us with their astounding ryhthm and rich abstract composition, actually devoid of any textual meaning. Famous for his meticulous use of ink on parchment, Mahdaoui stresses the visual impact of his works...

"Form" has been one of Europe's leading design journals since 1957. Together with its special issues and the website, the magazine offers product designers in-depth coverage of new design trends, materials, and production techniques, with special attention to design processes ('the making of' ). Graphic, corporate, and web designers appreciate "Form" for its articles on current trends in type design, color, and illustration. The "Form Poster Edition" and its many high quality reproductions have...

Craig Martin addresses the transgressive or deviant aspects of design: design that straddles the divide between the licit and illicit, the legal and illegal, in a variety of ways. Martin argues that design is not necessarily for the social good, but that it is immersed in the social realm in all its contradictions and confusions. Through a series of case studies he explores a wide range of social practices that employ illicit forms of design thinking, including: early computer hacking and prese...

Fashion has always been strongly linked with the politics of gender and equality. In this global and interdisciplinary collection, leading authors explore the relationships between the dressed body, fashion, sex, and power, with an emphasis on the role of dress in both reinforcing and challenging social norms. Covering a range of geographic and social contexts, the book explores the role of fashion in empowering both individuals and groups to create transformation and change. Taking us from the...

The Handbook of Interior Architecture and Design offers a compelling collection of original essays that seek to examine the shifting role of interior architecture and interior design, and their importance and meaning within the contemporary world. Interior architecture and interior design are disciplines that span a complexity of ideas, ranging from human behaviour and anthropology to history and the technology of the future. Approaches to designing the interior are in a constant state of flux...

The Chronology of Pattern is a glorious, highly illustrated look at the history of pattern from ancient times up to the present. The book draws the patterns from the worlds of textiles, paintings, manuscripts and architecture. The book is divided into chapters each covering separate centuries. The result is not only a visual delight but an excellent sourcebook that will be useful for all artists who use patterns in their work. This book should be a must on the reference shelves of all those work...