This monograph on couturier Elsa Schiaparelli chronicles the work of one of history's most influential and eccentric couturiers. Endowed with a strikingly imaginative and experimental approach to fashion, she cultivated the combination of the witty and the surreal, the cutting edge and the elegant, from her jewellery and shoe designs to her collaborations with Salvador DalĂ­, Jean Cocteau and Alberto Giacometti.

The book follows a biographical chronology detailing her life and career, with chapters organized into collections, collaborations and themes such as surrealism, her use of colour and her perfume line. Beautiful photography of her finished designs, along with close-up details, and illustrations of her personal sketches showcase the brilliancy of her innovation.


The Little Book of Chanel

by Emma Baxter-Wright

Published 11 October 2012

This monograph on Coco Chanel chronicles the life and legacy of one of history's most influential couturiers. From her early forays into millinery, through her revolutionary inventions in sportswear and jersey fashions for women, through the classics that have made her name, such as the Chanel cardigan jacket and the little black dress, to the global empire the brand is today under the helm of Karl Lagerfeld, this beautifully illustrated monograph offers a fascinating account of Chanel's evolution and innovation.

Detailed photographs and sketches of her designs, along with fashion photography and catwalk shots, pay tribute to one of the world's most highly regarded fashion houses and the woman behind it.


Little Book of Yves Saint Laurent is the pocket-sized and exquisitely illustrated story of 60 years of innovative fashion design.

An enigmatic, daring and astonishingly creative designer, Yves Saint Laurent is credited with the elevation of haute couture to fine art, turning the fashion show into a spectacle of breathtaking proportions, and revolutionizing the gendered norms of womenswear.

Describing Saint Laurent's beginnings in Algeria as a precocious boy making miniature garments from fabric scraps, Little Book of Yves Saint Laurent depicts, in beautiful photographs and insightful text, the designer's ascent from fashion student to the right-hand of Christian Dior. Going on to found his own fashion house in 1961, Saint Laurent created his famous 'le smoking' trouser suit, brought the leather jacket to the mainstream and astounded the fashion world with his blend of elegance and artistic drama.

Little Book of Yves Saint Laurent is a stylish gift for any lover of fashion.