Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion

by Joseph Abboud, Ellen Stern

Designers are great white sharks, and we roam the waters ourselves. We often pretend to like and admire each other, but sometimes we don't even bother to fake it. The fashion industry is as hardworking, incestuous, and political as any other, and it's virtually impossible, given the size of designers' egos, to sincerely wish someone else well, because behind every false tribute is 'It should have been me.' So writes Joseph Abboud, who fell in love with style at five. There in the dark of the movie house, he wasn't just some Lebanese kid with a babysitter. He was the hero, in tweeds and pocket squares. That's where he learned that clothes represented a better life—a life he wanted, and would grab, for himself. From his blue-collar childhood in Boston's South End to his spread-collar success as one of America's top designers, he has forged a remarkable path through the unglamorous business of making people look glamorous. He transformed American menswear by replacing the traditional stiff-shouldered silhouette with a grown-up European sensuality. He was the first designer to win the coveted CFDA award as Best Menswear Designer two years in a row and the first designer to throw out the opening pitch at Fenway Park. He's been jilted by Naomi Campbell (who didn't show up on the runway for his first women's fashion show) and questioned by the FBI (who did show up in his office right after September 11 because he fit the profile). He's soared and sunk more than a few times—and lived to tell the tales. Threads is his off-the-record take on fashion, from the inside out. With breezy irreverence, he looks at guys and taste, divas and deviousness, fabric and texture, and all those ties. He takes us to the luxe bastion of Louis Boston, where he came of age and learned the trade, and to the seductive domain of Polo Ralph Lauren, where he became associate director of menswear design. He reveals the mystique of department-store politics, what's what at the sample sale, and who copies whom. He explains the process of making great clothes, from conception and sketch to manufacturing and marketing. Whether he's traveling by daredevil horse, plunging plane, Paris Métro, or cross-country limo, Abboud is an illuminating guide to a complex world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I were into fashion, I would have really loved this book. Abboud's rise in the fashion industry and his journey through the various levels of his career were interesting and showed that every industry has its craziness, politics and hierarchy. The players and the content change, but the game is the same. The higher value, however, of being true to yourself and following your dreams - allowing your skills and interest to take you as far as you can go - those are universal.

I got this for a friend of mine's daughter and wanted to read it before I passed it on. I am glad I did.

[Kes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiography of Joseph Abboud. Each chapter is vaguely thematic and vaguely in chronological order.

What I liked:

- he name drops but not overwhelmingly

- There is a sense of personality

- explanation about the business side of things: ensuring your clothes sell. Back end logistics eg picking/packing from the warehouse. How you design the store.

- early on, he talks about the different type of stores: department stores, private stores

- He likes men’s fashion, which is slower than women’s. He ends the book with a throwaway mention about how his suit designs only subtly change from season to season

- chapter 2 talks about designers flowing between Polo and Calvin

- chapter 19 talks about ties

- chapter 26: when Yves Saint Laurent retired, he said he was tired of the business because marketing had replaced creativity

That being said, the book feels like roughly structured & interconnected musings. Cool if it’s your thing.

[Pete Partin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Auto-bio of Joseph Abboud and his life as a fashion designer. Interesting

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed every page. "Threads" is easy to read and very interesting if you are even slightly curious about clothing, fashion, retail, etc. The part about Abboud's looking into Ralph Lauren's closet is priceless.

[Pam]

Mr Abboud designs clothing far better than he writes. That said, the book was still somewhat interesting.