Design Museum: Fifty Fashion Designers That Changed the World

Design Museum Fifty

by Design Museum, Lauren Cochrane

One of two new titles in the Design Museum Fifty series published in conjunction with London's prestigious Design Museum.

In the world of fashion trends come and go, but the work of a small number of designers has survived to stand the test of time. From pioneers such as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior to the era-defining figures of Alexander McQueen and Paul Smith, explore the stories and examine the work of the 50 most ingenious and influential designers in fashion history.

With stunning photography illustrating the seminal designers selected by the Design Museum in conjunction with Lauren Cochrane, Assistant Fashion Editor at the Guardian , Fifty Fashion Designers That Changed The World is a collection of the most illustrious, innovative taste-makers the fashion world has ever seen.

Contents
Coco Chanel
Yves Saint Laurent
Issey Miyake
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Vivienne Westwood
Pierre Cardin
Miuccia Prada
Karl Lagerfeld
Calvin Klein
Tom Ford
Giorgia Armani
Phoebe Philo
Christopher Kane
...and many more.

Lauren Cochrane (Author)
Lauren Cochrane is a fashion journalist based in London. Currently Assistant Fashion Editor at the Guardian , Lauren has written for Vogue , the Financial Times and Wallpaper* magazine. She was previously Deputy Editor of i-D magazine.

The Design Museum (Author)
The Design Museum's mission is to celebrate, entertain and inform. It is the world's leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture to fashion, and architecture to graphics. It is working to place design at the center of contemporary culture and demonstrates both the richness of the creativity to be found in all forms of design, and its importance.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction

112 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 2015

About the author

Design Museum is a museum founded in 1989, located by the River Thames near Tower Bridge in central London, England. The museum covers product, industrial, graphic, fashion and architectural design. In 2007 the museum was listed by The Times newspaper as number two in their top five museums of the year.

Deyan Sudjic is the current Director of the museum. He succeeded Alice Rawsthorn in 2006. Unlike most large London museums, the entrance is not free, as it is not subsidised by the UK Arts Council. For this reason it operates as a registered charity, and all funds generated by ticket sales aid the museum in putting new exhibitions together. The museum attracts 200,000 visitors annually.


Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't done a book review in so long, so bare with me...but this little book is quite informative. From little tid-bits about Lanvin to Jenna Lyons, this book tells about the fifty designers that changed the world. The ones I loved reading about was YSL, Coco Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Laura Ashley, Valentino, Alexander McQueen and DVF.

Then there were designers I never even heard of-like Madeleine Vionnet, Madame Gres, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Christopher Kane (though the only Christopher Kane I know is the one who plays Stone on The Libarians, but his name is Christian Kane). I honestly didn't know these people existed, but without these people we wouldn't have the designers we know and love. Even though this book review is short AF, it's a really good book and I enjoyed myself a whole lot.

[Aja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential but I do believe a few designers were missing ...

[Gigra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a great overview of influential and important designers, in a brief, easy to follow fashion. Good book if you have a budding interest in fashion.

[Anna L · Rating 3 out of 5]

An album of designers, heavily leaning towards British ones. Not a bad overview, but there are much better ones out there. It would work best as a coffee table book than anything deeper.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a little gem of a book. If you're an admirer of fashion and want to know more about the designers who made fashion what it is today, this is the book for you. Every one of the fifty fashion designers chosen has a page of biography and description of the hallmarks of their designs and their impact on fashion. On the opposite page is a picture of an iconic design of the designer or the designer themselves. This is a great, easy to read set-up, to give an introduction to the basics, so you can further research the designers that stand out for you. The little sections also make Fifty Fashion Designers That Changed the World highly readable, and it's a great book to have on hand when you're trying to pass the time or want to read something in small chunks.

In short, this Design Museum entry in their "Fifty" series is a nice, easy read. It has some beautiful pictures, concise summaries, and altogether enjoyable content.