I don’t know about you, but if I could, I’d fill an entire wall with a library of just fashion books. I’d turn to them on grey days, or days where I needed a little dash of inspiration.
There are a few new releases I have to add to my list (a larger space to store them, by the way, is also on that list).
The first two are from two of the chicest French chicks I know of.
Inès de la Fressange, former muse to Uncle Karl and renowned model, has written a guide to Parisian style, along with Sophie Gachet.
While de la Fressange may not originally be from Paris (surely St. Tropez is a stylish enough substitute – sigh), she knows a thing or two about style. Since her famous fallout with Uncle Karl in the late ’80s, she has designed her own line, run a string of clothing boutiques, been appointed to Eleanor Lambert’s International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1998 – and has been a consultant to Roger Vivier and Jean Paul Gaultier.
I still have a signed copy of the Chanel mag campaign from an ’80s September past. I couldn’t go to meet her in person when she was in Toronto back then – my mother had insisted that school was more important. However, being a mother who understood her daughter at a very early age, she went to the department store where the model was going to be for the signing, on my behalf and came home with the signature!
While she generally left modelling for other pursuits years ago, de la Fressange did rock the runway for JPG’s couture show in 2009, at the age of 51.
The French beauty also reunited with Karl, and made an appearance at the SS11 Chanel show.
I love her own explanation of Parisian chic in the promo video for the book, by publisher Rizzoli.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubu_EevoDkM]
The New York publisher of chic choice, is also behind the upcoming book by another famous French femme…
The photo above was taken at Vogue’s birthday fête, celebrating 90 years of Parisian printed perfection.
Celebration is also the theme of Roitfeld’s upcoming bio, Irreverent – which looks back at the career and life, to date of the woman who left the French rag mag a few months ago and is currently working with Barneys.
No stranger to muse-dom, Mme Roitfeld has famously worked with Mr. Darling, styling his campaigns for Gucci with Mario Testino. And speaking of Uncle Karl, according to Rizzoli, he once said that if you close your eyes and imagine the ideal French woman, it would be Carine Roitfeld.
The book is by Roitfeld, with additional text by Cathy Horyn and Amy Larocca; edited by Olivier Zahm and a contribution by Ms. Wintour herself. It will be out in October.
Parisian Chic: A Style Guide is out now.
There are a few more tomes on the list, my dears, but they will have to be shelved for a future post ( I had to!).
Images: Book covers courtesy of Rizzoli. All others from Zimbio.
