The handbag is the basic accessory in women's fashion, and this richly illustrated volume explores the styles decade by decade. Examples of the main trends are shown in over 500 color photos, along with samples of the eras' most remarkable and unusual high-quality pieces. Significant manufacturers and designers also discussed, and a price guide is provided.
"Features everything from the early-day drawstring purses to the latest Chanel bag." --Marie Claire Exploring the changing styles and uses of bags from the Middle Ages to the present day, this gorgeous book--featuring specially commissioned photography of bags from the Victoria & Albert's world-famous collections--includes everything from delicate drawstring purses to must-have designer handbags by the likes of Chanel, Moschino, and Prada.
This volume is an unprecedented history of Louis Vuitton’s women’s bags, the most coveted line of accessories in women’s fashion. At the heart of Louis Vuitton are its City Bags, a range of women’s bags that dates back to the turn of the twentieth century. Featuring the trademark monograms of the house, the City Bag story began with the Steamer, a resort bag designed in 1901 to be packed inside a much larger steamer trunk. These bags have in a hundred years formally diversified into a dizzying array of handbags for every conceivable function demanded by the modern woman. Profoundly influential, City Bags are now known to millions by their descriptive names (Keepall, Bucket, Papillon, Alma, Locket, Noe, Speedy) and are still evolving into more fantastical forms. Lavishly illustrated with new and archival photography, historical graphics, landmark editorials, and ad campaigns, the volume traces the history of these specific bag families, and examines the earliest specimens and today’s most sought-after collectibles, including Vuitton’s collaborations with Takashi Murakami, Stephen Sprouse, Richard Prince, Yayoi Kusama, and Rei Kawakubo and one-off projects by Zaha Hadid, Shigeru Ban, Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Andrée Putman, and of course, Marc Jacobs. Louis Vuitton: City Bags is an ambitious volume on the creation and cultivation of a cultural phenomenon.
An Investigation into 16th and 17th Century Needlework. Jacqui Carey has been meticulously analysing English textiles that have survived from the late-sixteenth to early-seventeenth century. The object-based research revealed a range of 'lost' needlework stitches, and this book aims to re-establish an understanding of these stitches by looking specifically at sweet bags. These highly decorative little purses provide the focal point for looking at the context, structure and potential methods of some needlework dating from the Elizabethan, Jacobean and later Stuart periods. Beautifully illustrated, with full references, this book will be a welcome addition to both the textile historian and the practical craftsperson.
This charming account of life in Appalachia at the turn of the century is one of the three most important books from the early twentieth century that, as Dwight Billings writes in his foreword, have "had a profound and lasting impact on how we think about Appalachia and, indeed, on the fact that we commonly believe that such a place and people can be readily identified." Originally published in 1924, it was advertised as a "racy book, full of the thrill of mountain adventure and the delicious humor of vigorously human people." James Watt Raine provides eyewitness accounts of mountain speech and folksinging, education, religion, community, politics, and farming. In a conscious effort to dispel the negative stereotype of the drunken, slothful, gun-toting hillbilly prone to violence, Raine presents positive examples from his own experiences among the region's native inhabitants.
The handbag has never been more important in fashion than it is today. Whether Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, or Chanel, the It bag of the season is a much-coveted designer item that indicates supreme style cachet—and for which the fashion-minded do not hesitate to spend. In this lush volume, filled with a range of rich historical and contemporary images, fashion authority Caroline Cox explores the history of this must-have accessory, beginning with its development in the nineteenth century with the reticule—essentially a pocket with a handle—to the slouchy, greatly oversized bags popular today. In six chapters, each devoted to a decade, Cox not only highlights the most noteworthy bags in fashion design, but looks at their evolution within the social context of the day. Featured bags include Vuitton's revolutionary Noe bag for the female traveler, Art Deco clutch bags molded in Bakelite, the Hermès Kelly bag endorsed by Princess Grace of Monaco in the 1950s, and the It bag of the moment, the Marc Jacobs Stam. This book is a fascinating history of handbag design examined within the context of changing society and women's roles in it. Filled with a collection of important handbags, diverse imagery, and a fun, informative text, this beautifully designed volume is a must-have for handbag aficionados and lovers of fashion alike.
Part of the 'Belair World of Display' series, this work provides primary school teachers with practical ideas for display using the art of the 20th century as a starting point. It contains 16 chapters, each covering an art movement, with several activities, display ideas and cross-curricular links.
An insider's hilarious, whirlwind account of his years spent globe-trotting in search of the holy grail of handbags: the Birkin For more than twenty years, the Hermès Birkin bag has been the iconic symbol of fashion, luxury, and wealth. Though the bag is often seen dangling from the arms of celebrities, there is a fabled waiting list of more than two years to buy one from Hermès, and the average fashionista has a better chance of climbing Mount Everest in Prada pumps than of possessing one of these coveted carryalls. Unless, of course, she happens to know Michael Tonello . . . Michael's newfound career started with an impulsive move to Barcelona, a vanished job assignment, no work visa, and an Hermès scarf sold on eBay to generate some quick cash. But soon the resourceful Michael discovered the truth about the waiting list and figured out the secret to getting Hermès to part with one of these precious bags. Millions of dollars worth of Birkins later, Michael had become one of eBay's most successful entrepreneurs—and a Robin Hood to thousands of desperate rich women. With down-to-earth wit, Michael chronicles the unusual ventures that took him to nearly every continent, from eBay to Paris auction house and into the lives of celebrities and poseurs. Flirting with danger, Michael recounts the heady rush of hand delivering his first big score to famed songwriter Carole Bayer Sager in Paris; how he had to hire thugs to rescue a bag that one of his "shoppers" held for ransom; and the story of the Oscar-worthy performances that allowed him to snag "reserved" bags from other, less dogged Birkin seekers. Whether he's relating his wining and dining, buying and selling, dodging and weaving, laughing and crying, or schmoozing and stammering, Michael is a master raconteur who weaves together tales of hunting Birkins in the world's most posh locales, memories of meals that would make any gastronome salivate, anecdotes of obsessed collectors with insatiable desires, and sweetly intimate stories about his family, friends, and finding true love. The result is a memoir that is distinctive, fun, page-turning, and as addictive as its namesake.
