Books like The dress doctor by Edith Head

Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: A Comprehensive History of Western Fashion

Explores how iconic fashion pieces and designers shaped cultural identities and social change across history.

Costume-designer Head died before finishing this memoir--so the book at hand consists of fragmentary tape-recorded recollections connected by Calistro's fill-ins of Head's career-history. Also, lots of this same--or similar--material appeared in Head's The Dress Doctor (1959). Still, with passing time, Head was able to be somewhat more candid, and there are choice opinions and anecdotes among her memories of a 60-year Hollywood-costume career. She chats about Clara Bow's waist, Mae West's bosom, and Dorothy Lamour's unlovely feet (as well as her sarongs). There's a detailed discussion of dear friend Barbara Stanwyck's problem with ""a comparatively low rear end""--remedied by widened waistbands on her long waist ""to create an optical illusion that her derriÉre was just as pertly placed as any other stars'."" Similarly, Head reveals how she made tiny Veronica Lake look bigger, how she frumpified Olivia de H. for The Heiress, how Bette Davis' party-dress in All About Eve was accidentally created. And though Head speaks of most of her stars (including Redford and Newman) with genuine affection, she takes neat slaps at Hedy Lamarr, show-offy Paulette Goddard, and (above all) Cecil B. DeMille--""a conceited old goat"" who ""never did an authentic costume picture in his entire career."" With undressed/ half-dressed glimpses, too, of Lana Turner, Gloria Swanson, Judy Garland, and many others: pleasant, sometimes-tart browsing for clothes-oriented film fans

The Towering World of Jimmy Choo examines the world's seemingly insatiable appetite for luxury goods by telling the behind-the-scenes tale of one of the most talked-about brands of our age. Jimmy Choo was a London shoemaker with clients including Princess Diana when Tamara Yeardye, a London society girl, convinced him to launch a factory-produced luxury shoe line. Twelve years later, Jimmy Choo is a household name, and Tamara still presides over what is now one of the most successful luxury brands in the world - one worth some £220 million. In 2008 she herself was on the Sunday Times Rich List. She has become one of the best-known business women in the country, but along the way she was tested at every turn. The story of how the Jimmy Choo brand got to where it is today is one of love, controversy, fashion, finance, celebrity, power, intrigue and, above all, intense ambition. Compelling to followers of both fashion and business, and written with great panache and detailed insider knowledge, The Towering World of Jimmy Choo takes the reader into a complex and mysterious arena full of larger-than-life characters, one whose inner workings are rarely glimpsed by the world at large.

Edith Head: Hollywood's Most Important Costume Designer

Nancy J. Troy examines how French designer Paul Poiret bridged haute couture and mass production, revealing the intertwined links between fashion, art, theater, and the broader consumer market in early twentieth‑century Europe.