Fashion Biographies

   

        Biographies, memoirs, and the occasional salacious celebrity designer exposé. All free as of posting, but some require an archive.org account to "borrow" for reading from a library. As always, let me know if you come across anything I should add, or if a link breaks.

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- Antonio Berardi: Sex and Sensibility, by Tamsin Blanchard, 1999.

- Beauty and the Beene: A Modern Legend, 1999, by Laura Jacobs. 

- Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow, by Detmar Blow, 2011.

- Carolina Herrera: International Fashion Designer, by Janet Riehecky, 1991.

- Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, by Axel Madsen, 1990.

- Chic Savages, by John Fairchild, 1989. Memoirs from the former publisher of WWD.

- Christian Dior, by Richard Martin. 1994. 

- Christian Dior: The Man Who Made the World Look New, by Marie France Pochna, 1996.

- Coco Chanel, by Jeremy Wallis, 2002.

- The Dawn of the Golden Age: A Spiritual Design for Living, by Paco Rabanne, 1999. One of several        books that the famed Spanish Space Age designer of the 1960s, Paco Rabanne, wrote on new age spirituality. Not a biography, and has very little to do with fashion, but like, who knew? 

- Edith Head's Hollywood, by Edith Head and Paddy Calistro, 1983. With foreword by Bette Davis.

- Ferré by Vogue, by Gianfranco Ferré, 1993.

- From A to Biba: The Autobiography of Barbara Hulanicki, 2007.

- Giorgio Armani, by Germano Celant and Harold Koda, 2000.

- The Glitter Plan: How We Started Juicy Couture for $200 and Turned It into a Global Brand,                  by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, Gela, 2014. Don’t tell me this isn’t important to your      personal histories of fashion.

- Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren, by Michael Gross, Michael, 2003.

- The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, by Sara Gay           Forden, 2001.

- House of Klein: Fashion, Controversy, and a Business Obsession, by Lisa Marsh, 2003.

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- The House of Worth, 1962. Exhibition catalog from Brooklyn Museum with extensive personal             history of Charles Frederick Worth. Intro by James Laver.

- In My Own Fashion: An Autobiography, by Oleg Cassini, 1987.

- Isaac Mizrahi, by Lisa Petrillo, 2011.

- Issey Miyake, by Laurence Benaïm, 1997. 

- It Seemed Important at the Time, by Gloria Vanderbilt, 2004.

- Jimmy Choo, by Kerrily Sapet, 2011.

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- Jean-Paul Gaultier, by Farid Chenoune, 2005.

- Liz Claiborne: The Legend, The Woman, by Art Ortenberg,  2010.  

- Living for Design: The Yves Saint Laurent Story, by Axel Madsen, 1979.

- Marc Jacobs, by Mary Boone, 2011.

- Marc Jacobs, by Leslie Wolf Branscomb, 2011.

- Obsession: The Lives and Times of Calvin Klein, by Steven Gaines and Sharon Churcher, 1994.

- Oscar de la Renta, by Louis Carrillo, 1996.

- Patou, by Meredith Etherington-Smith, 1983.

- Perry Ellis, Jonathan Moor, 1988. 

- Ralph Lauren, by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, 1988.

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- Rosa Genoni, by Fanny Podreider. A short biography, written by the daughter of the foremost Italian designer of the early 20th century.

- Rose Marie Reid: An Extraordinary Life Story, by Carole Reid Burr and Roger Petersen, 1995.

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- Roots of Style: Weaving Together Life, Love and Fashion, by Isabel Toledo, 2012.

- Scaasi: A Cut Above, by Bernadine Morris, 1996.

- Simply Halston, by Steven S. Gaines, 1991.

- Stella, by Marc Parent, 2000. Biography of Stella Maret, a prominent model who worked for Jacques     Fath in the 1950s. Includes interview with Azzedine AlaÏa.

- Valentino, by Ronald Reis, 2011.

- Vera Wang, by Anne Todd, 2007.

- Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History,       by Maureen Orth, 1999.

- Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography, by Alice Rawsthorn, 1996. 

 

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