Fashion in the library

Books on fashion.

I went to my local library today and tried to see what they would have. I think the last place anyone would go for information about fashion is the library. Books published on clothes are almost inately outdated. The sheer idea of publishing a book about fashion implies documenting the past and fashion is so much about the future - the next pairing of clothes, the next show, the next designer, the next season.

Regardless, the fact is that it's free. Free = good.

I did a simple search in the catalogue for "fashion" and walked away with this: Fashion 101


Fashion 101 - it's a dictionary for clothes. Sorted by clothing type - skirts, pants, tops, shoes, coats. It gives short paragraphs on different types of skirts and who they were made famous by and how to wear them. I found it marginally useful. Probably only worth a skim, though the drawings are nice. It was interesting to find out the names of some items and how they originated eg. Mary Janes or Wellingtons, but other than basic knowledge, the book doesn't add much purpose to helping develop my fashion sense.

I guess now I know how to call certain items when I'm at the store... so as not to look like a fool, but I wouldn't recommend a buy.


The second book I picked up was Vogue Fashion: Overview of 100 years of Style by Decade and Designer
It's sorted by decade and designer as the title suggests. With lots of pics. For a newbie like me, it gives brief blurbs about designers like Lagerfeld and Gaultier. Will give a more thorough analysis when I go through it in depth.


Magazines - Flare.
I used my Roger's gift for the Flare subscription. There's something that caught my eye in this season's issue.


I've walked past this model display eight times a week as I head to class. It's from Burberry's latest collection and was featured in the magazine. And I found this pic off the Sartorialist's Nov 2006 page. I think closed toe looks a lot better than Burberry's open toe version




Is this really coming back? Socks and heels??

What do you think? Will this survive? Does it look good?