Fashion Designers A-Z: A Major Publication

From Azzedine Alaïa, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and Coco Chanel, to Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, and Vivienne Westwood, a century's worth of fashion greats from the permanent collection of The Museum at the FIT are celebrated in this limited-edition volume published by TASCHEN.

Photographs of over 500 garments selected from the Museum's permanent collection illuminate each of the featured designers, while texts by the curators explain why each designer is important in fashion history and what is special about the individual pieces featured. In her introductory essay, director and chief curator Valerie Steele writes about the rise of the fashion museum, and the emergence of the fashion exhibition as a popular and controversial phenomenon; and both Steele and contributor Suzy Menkes provide a history of this museum’s role in the world of fashion scholarship and preservation.

Fashion Designers A–Z is available as a series of six Designer Editions. Each edition (a total of 11,000 copies) is bound in a fabric created by one of six designers—Akris, Etro, Stella McCartney, Missoni, Prada, and Diane von Furstenberg—and comes in a Plexiglas box. Crafted by hand at a bindery in the heart of Italy, and stamped with a unique number, every copy is an instant classic, and an addition to your fashion library that is truly one-of-a-kind.

	Reprinted especially for the Akris Edition of 2,000 copies, designer Albert Kriemler´s iconic "Grand Prix" digital photo print was created for his Akris Spring/Summer collection 2012. "In the spirit of the devil-may-care elegance of John Frankenheimer´s 1966 movie Grand Prix" (Kriemler), the race cars whizzing by on silk crêpe found a suitable patroness: H.S.H. Princess Charlène of Monaco wore an Akris shift dress with the "Grand Prix" print to the Formula One races in Monte Carlo.
	Paisley: it's practically synonymous with the Etro name, and the five Paisley motifs selected by Veronica Etro for the Etro Edition of 2,000 numbered copies are classic examples. For decades the company has explored and reinterpreted the classic droplet-shaped vegetable decoration, rich in history and meanings, through experimentation and technology, drawing from the past into the present with timeless international style.
	The Stella McCartney Edition of 2,000 numbered copies is adorned with a Neon Abstract Print on cotton satin from her Summer 2013 collection—available in two different palettes. True to McCartney's modern, fresh, style, the prints pop with color and sensuality.
	For the covers of the Missoni Edition, limited to just 2,000 numbered copies, the Missoni family selected a colorful array of 20 different zigzag-striped knit from its vast archives. The fabrics exemplify the company's optimistic, playful approach to pattern since the 1970s.
	For the Prada Edition of 2,000 numbered copies, Miuccia Prada selected four classic prints from previous collections and re-printed them on cotton: the feminine tiny “hearts,” the Baroque-inspired “bananas,” the abstract geometric “diamonds,” and a floral reissued for Prada from the 1960 Holliday & Brown archives.
	Printed on cotton canvas, the Signature Chain Link print selected by Diane von Furstenberg for the DVF Edition of 1,000 numbered copies epitomizes the designer's balance between retro glamor and modern chic. The first print ever designed by DVF, the Chain Link has been a classic since it was launched in 1972, and was worn by Michelle Obama on the official White House Christmas Card in 2009. Now that is staying power.