My Current Library List

As I can't afford to buy the big beautiful fashion books, I have taken to checking them out at the library. Well, it also hinders me that they are big and I don't have the shelf space.

1. The Golden Age of Couture Paris and London 1947-57 by Claire Wilcox - Or perhaps this one should be more appropriately renamed, "Why we love Balenciaga and Christian Dior." Fantastic picture of YSL at Dior's funeral in 1957. Great pictures of the evolving world of fashion. Behind the scenes photos of designers at work, fabric swatches, and a well-written detailed history of fashion at the cusp of something glorious.

2. Mommy Dressing, A Love Story, After a Fashion - By Lois Gould, this memoir by the daughter of fashion designer Jo Copeland seems dysfunctional and yet captivating. The few passages that I scanned caused me to spontaneously add this to my pile as we left the library.

3. Strapless, John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X by Deborah Davis - After I saw Madame X in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, I was captivated. I had seen the work in books but to see her in person, um painting ;) and hear the juicy story behind her saucy shoulders and cleavage, I had to know more. I stumbled across the book and felt it might make great summer reading.

That's just the tip of the iceberg!