books part 1

I will be writing a research paper, and have been doing some research.
Here is a bibliography of all of the books I may be using in my research paper:
The descriptions are from a book collecting contest I entered at Young Research Library.

1. Hollander, Anne. Seeing Through Clothes. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993.
This book is about the history of clothing from around 300 B.C. to modern times. This is a book I have had out of the UCSC and UCLA library. It is what I read when I need inspiration writing my fashion column. It was recommended to me by a design professor who has worked with both set and costume design extensively. Reading it strengthened my interest in fashion history, and gave me the idea to write a theoretical/analytical/playful fashion column for the Bruin.

2. Miyake, Issey. Making Things. Scala: New York, 1999.
This book is a documentation of a 1998-99 gallery showcasing the work of Issey Miyake. He has been a big inspiration to me, breaking the mode in which we create clothes and think about fashion. This book is valuable to me, not only because it is a collector’s item, but also because it is a comprehensive (full color and beautifully designed) look at Issey Miyake’s life’s work.

3. Wilcox, Claire. Vivienne Westwood. London: Victoria and Albert, 2007.
Providing an overview of the work of Vivienne Westwood, this book is very important to me as someone who has been trying to change the face of fashion. I would love to follow in Vivienne Westwood’s footsteps and revolutionize fashion, but rather than turn it into punk, as she did, I would love to turn it into comfort without sacrificing any of the fun and creativity in fashion.

4. Barthes, Roland. The Language of Fashion. Oxford: Berg, 2006.
A group of essays by Roland Barthes about fashion compiled into a book. Barthes was a literary critic, social theorist, philosopher and whose work in semiotics extended to fashion. As someone who researches and theorizes about clothes, Barthes is a must.

5. Carter, Michael. Fashion Classics, From Carlyle to Barthes. New York: Berg, 2003.
This book summarizes and interprets writings by fashion theorists and historians. It is nice because it summarizes works I would eventually like to read, but have not yet had the time to dive into in depth as a busy college student.

6. Kalman, Tibor and Maira. (un)Fashion. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 2002.
A book about unconventional and often unintentional fashions across cultures. It shows what varying cultures use for warmth, protection, warfare and decoration to name a few. Very inspiring. It shows what different cultures think of as fashion, and what is incidentally fashionable, though often intended as objects used for a myriad of functionalities.

7. Smith, Courtenay and Sean Topham. Extreme Fashion. Munich: Prestel Publishing, 2005.
An exploration of the fashions of functionality. In a world where function doesn’t necessarily have to sacrifice style—it can aid its invention.

8. Rood, Dharmishta. How to Make a Clothing Line in Less Than 10 Days. (self-published, 2006).
A fun, loosely autobiographical book about D.I.Y.I (Do-It-Yourself) fashion. After participating in last spring’s fashion show, put on by the ‘Fashion and Student Trends’ club here at UCLA, I created a book, documenting my process and designs in a fun playful manner.

9. Borrelli, Laird. Fashion Illustration Next. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2004.
An inspiring book using digital art for fashion illustration. I mostly create with a computer or just hands on with a sewing machine so it is not only inspiring but reassuring that people can create dynamic interesting fashion illustrations (often more interesting than pencil and paper—but not always) on a computer, which is where my design training lies.

10. Hammond, Lee. Draw Fashion Models. Cincinnati: North Light Books, 1999.
A book of instructional illustrations on fashion drawing. It is nice because it shows the proportions of the body, and then breaks down fashion into types of fabric and parts of the body. It is very easy to sketch from.

11. Jones, Terry and Susie Rushton, ed. Fashion Now. Cologne: Taschen, 2006.
This book is a short reference of 92 modern designers. The designers are presented along with their ideologies and styles. Along with the expected pictures of their designs, it is nice to be able to see the designer’s face rather than just their clothes—each designer has a portrait below the write-up on their work.

12. Dover Publications, Inc. Ereté’s Fashion Designs. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1981.
A collection of fashion illustrations from 1918-1932. The drawings are simple yet stylistic and offer a perspective into an earlier time of fashion, when women’s fashions were more elaborate yet the drawings of them were more simplistic.

13. Leopold, Allison Kyle and Anne Marie Cloutier. Short Chic. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.
A book about dressing “tall” as a short woman. Topics include “creating the illusion of height,” “coming to terms with proportion” and “can a short woman wear a fur jacket.” As a woman who is 5’3” I find this both very comical and very interesting. What have disproportionate fashion sketches done to our body image?

14. The Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto. Shoes in Indian Culture. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2002.
A book of Postcards with pictures of shoes from India. As a designer I take a lot of inspiration from eastern spirituality and Indian culture and also have a special interest in shoes and what they mean about a culture.

17. Fresener, Scott and Pat Fresener. How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit. New Jersey: Union Ink Co., 2005.
An instructional book on screen-printing. A very useful reference for the art project/social experiment I am about to embark on, as it involves screen-printing.

18. Katzenberg, Gloria. Art and Stitchery, New Directions. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974.
A book about sewing and embroidery and the various ways to use thread, yarn and fabric. These innovative designs are not only inspiring for fashion, but when used as inspiration for computer based graphics, give new breath to my design work.

19. Color Photography. New York: Ziff David Publishing Company, 1969.
A combination of stunning photography and historic fashions from the 60s/70’s era. I look at it both for design inspiration and photography, and of course fashion.

23. Bassler, Jim. WAC 133 Textiles of the World: The Americas. Los Angeles, UCLA Academic Publishing, 2007.
A course reader on various textiles from North Central and South America.