2005 has been a vintage year for fashion books. International publishers churned out covetable titles, ranging from slick coffee-table beauties to more ponderous, academic offerings.

The most hotly anticipated title of the year was The Snippy World of Michael Roberts, by the fashion director of The New Yorker magazine. Featuring Roberts’ distinctive, collage-style artistry, the book is a work of curious and colorful creativity. Jean-Paul Goude’s wacky and graphic influences from the ’70s and ’80s is in our early forecast and his timely tome So Far So Goude chronicles the
illustrator/photographer’s life, showing over 300 of Goude’s drawings. early forecast and his timely tome So Far So Goude chronicles the illustrator/photographer’s life, showing over 300 of Goude’s drawings. For bad hair days, there’s Camilla Morton’s, How to Walk in High Heels. To make modern living a little easier, Morton and a credible list of insiders — including Manolo Blahnik and Anya Hindmarch — offer advice on everything from the art of wearing a hat with style to devouring an oyster in public without losing all dignity.

From high heels to no heels at all: Thames & Hudson’s brick of a book, Sneakers: The Complete Collectors Guide, is an essential investment for all devotees of Nike, Adidas, Puma, or any other brands in between. Continuing on the shoe-book trail, The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say About You, by JC Report contributor Meghan Cleary, sets out to establish whether you are a "Stiletto girl, Clog girl or Ballet Flat girl." Shoes: The Complete Sourcebook, by John Peacock, unravels the entire history of footwear from ancient times to the present day; meanwhile, Four Inches is a wholly contemporary affair. The book is based on a simple formula: beautiful and racy girls, with Kate Moss as the cover star, are snapped by various hot-shot photographers wearing nothing but four-inch heels by Jimmy Choo. One-dimensional as the topic may seem, the venture came about with a good cause in mind, proceeds benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation to support women affected by HIV and AIDS.

Speaking of Kate, her well-documented private endeavors have resulted in the entire fashion industry being somewhat slaughtered in the media. Proving fashion is not all about artifice and evil, a few new titles emphasize the intellectual aspects of style. My Mother’s Wedding Dress, by Justine Picardie, argues that the content of our wardrobes is much more than simple rags of clothing — they are part of our personal history and heritage. In the same vein, Dressed in Fiction, by Clair Hughes (to be published in December) demonstrates the power of clothes to tell an accurate story.

Exploring film, on-screen flair, and Anita Ekberg’s voluptuous curves, the renowned French film critic Jean-Pierre Dufreigne presents La Dolce Vita Style. The title follows last year’s bestseller Hitchcock Style, by the same author. Here’s hoping that Assouline will consider extending the list yet further, with future titles celebrating the distinctive styles of cinematic heroes such as Polanski, Lynch, and Buñuel. Leaving the screen for the street, Fruits, the Japanese magazine, publishes its second book celebrating distinct Japanese street style.

Currently, there’s no shortfall of dandy-esque offerings hitting the market. Alice Cicolini’s version, The New English Dandy, peels through the many sartorial layers of the modern British dandy: on show are the East End Flaneur, the Neo-Modernist and the New Briton. Writer Ian Kelly tells the story where it all started, with his biography Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy.

To underscore all things fashion, Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles has just been reprinted — this is an essential resource for established and aspiring fashion industry folks alike.
- Emma Holmqvist

Photos:
The Snippy World of New Yorker Fashion Artist Michael Roberts

La Dolce Vita Style
How to Walk in High Heels: The Girls Guide to Everything
The New English Dandy
The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say about You