The fashion books I've read this year (so far)
What I thought, what I learned, and if you should read them too.
At the beginning of the year I proclaimed on Instagram that I was going to start a Style Analytics bookclub. For the rest of 2024 I was going to tackle one fashion book per month — and the first three were: The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake, Gods and Kings by Dana Thomas, and The Price of Illusion by Joan Juliet Buck.
And, in trying to be completely honest, a few things went wrong: I felt like I was rushing through these books in order to meet deadlines, I felt the urge to read non-fashion books in between to (kind of) reset my brain but causing me to miss deadlines, and the posts on IG where I discussed the books did not reach the people who were interested in the book club. In one instance, my post on The Beautiful Fall was flagged and taken down by Instagram for bullying. Sure, I had some harsh words for both Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent (more on that later) but to call a rich, dead, fashion designer an “undiagnosed narcissist” seems pretty base compared to the other things I have been reading on that app.
Anyways! Thanks for listening to my little excuses. For now, I figured I would start the conversation here. I’ll give you a brief overview of the book, what I learned, and if I recommend you to read these books as well.
The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake
The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake covers the lives of Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent, with a focus on their time in Paris during the 1970s. The book paints a very romantic view of Paris at this time filled with in-depth descriptions of the city, the parties, and the lives of the people who surrounded Karl and Yves at this time.
This was my favourite part of this book, getting a glimpse into the socialites, designers, and artists that all occupied these circles in Paris at the time — leaving me with a plethora of new references and people to dig into further. For me, Betty Catroux became a fascination for a number of weeks when I found that she contributed to the popularisation of androgynous dressing in Europe. Honestly, a deep dive into her photos in the 60s and 70s are an incredible source for outfit inspiration.
As a side note, is something I am trying to do more of: letting my interests guide my inspiration, rather than leaving it up to the TikTok algorithm.
Now, the goal of this bookclub was for me (and you) to learn about fashion together. What I was really hunting for was the history behind groundbreaking pieces and collections and creative directors. I didn't study fashion formally and wanted to collect as many references as possible. This is a high-bar to place on a book, I realise this, and in the case of The Beautiful Fall, I don’t think the author and I had the same goals. In the book, we only really get brief mentions of the Karl and Yves’ greatest collections or interesting fashion moments, but I left knowing the personal lives of these men better not completely understanding why these men were so important to fashion. I wanted to know the collections and pieces that stood the test of time, that are continuing to impact fashion today, that were completely new and innovative at the time they were created. Yes, I know from the book that Karl was designing for Chanel, Fendi, Chloe, and his namesake label at the same time. But what was he designing? I had to look this up later.
This doesn’t mean I regretted reading the books, in fact I would actually recommend this one. It was a joy to read and so beautifully written, I gained insight into the other famous people in fashion at the time, and I learned why Yves and Karl were the way they were — which in the end, wasn’t so great. My original review of the book was a bit nasty, not because of the book itself but who the book revealed Yves and Karl to be. Yves seemed to infantilise himself, relying on the endless care from Pierre Berge and the women he surrounded himself with. There were a few instances of his muses and friends saying how Yves would never ask them about themselves, but only call them in a manic state for reassurance. Karl on the other hand was a character, even to himself — telling endless lies about his life in order to reach the highest seats in fashion. He was a workhorse with a dream which I can appreciate, but his obsession with curating and maintaining his image came at a cost to the people around him.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe432e546-d708-41e5-9270-712c35bd662c_2773x2508.png)
Gods and Kings by Dana Thomas
To put it plainly: this book was my favourite of the three. It was exactly what I was looking for through this bookclub exercise. Gods and Kings is similar in proposition to The Beautiful Fall, where it follows two designers who were in competition through their most successful years. In this case, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano through the 90s and 00s.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b9eef97-0a09-4e7d-b782-88901b7aecc3_2560x2033.jpeg)
While a similar structure to The Beautiful Fall, the content of this book is completely different. Here, we get an in-depth look into nearly every important collection that these two designers put together. From their time at Central Saint Martins, to their tenures as creative directors at various other brands (mainly Dior for Galliano, and his namesake brand and Givenchy for McQueen). The book covers the events happening around the creation of these collections, the creative processes, the innovative pieces that would later have a lasting impact of fashion, the energy at the shows, and how the collections were received. What I also loved about this book was the acknowledgement from the author that we are looking back at time. While The Beautiful Fall keeps the reader situated in the 1970s, Dana Thomas breaks this wall — saying things like “the collection would later be regarded as McQueen’s best work, but it wasn't received well at the time”.
Now, I think I would have been the most disappointed had this book not met my expectations. A bit dark, but what got me into fashion was picking up an American Vogue at a Chapters bookstore in 2010 and seeing the retrospective on McQueens life and work, and falling in love with (specifically) the Irere collection — which Alex Cooper called Irene when she wore the shipwreck dress to her wedding reception (cry).
By coincidence, I was reading this book during the last Met Gala, where John Galliano was relaunched into society via Anna Wintour by dressing the Gala’s cohost Zendaya (twice!) and putting Kim K in a controversial look. Galliano is back in the spotlight and everyone is speculating on where his next job will be (Chanel? Givenchy?). This book is the perfect resource bridging the gap between his first bout of fame and his resurgence. I would really recommend that any fashion-curious person pick this one up.
The Price of Illusion by Joan Juliet Buck
This was the book that I struggled the most with. Not because it is a bad book or badly written — it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I started reading The Price of Illusion in the same seating as finishing Gods and Kinds and was asking myself — what is this? For the first three chapters.
The Price of Illusion is a memoir by Joan Juliet Buck, who is an American fashion journalist, writer, and served as the editor in chief of Vogue Paris (now Vogue France) from 1994 to 2001. The book was pitched to me, both my a follower and the GoodReads summary, as a look into working in fashion editorial in the 90s. This, for me, was so exciting. As someone who has watched a number of the key lighthearted 90s and 00s romcoms, working at a fashion magazine was the job to have during this era (or at least in these movies) — and I was so excited to read about what it was really like.
However, Buck’s time at Vogue Paris was only a very small part of the book. The book focuses heavily on Buck’s family, who worked in the film industry in the 50s and 60s. While this may be interesting to some people, classic film just isn’t my medium and I wouldn’t have picked up a book on film production in this era otherwise. Instead of fashion or Vogue, the book focuses heavily on the events in her life (well duh, it’s a memoir), caretaking for her parents, her struggle with mental health, and her relationships and interactions with famous people such as Anna Wintour, Donald Sutherland, Karl Lagerfeld, and oldtimey Hollywood actors.
I wanted to hear about the people, and the parties, and the collections, and the actual experience of working in fashion at such a high level at this time. Instead, the book tends to glaze over these aspects, and focuses more on family dynamics.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3659fcfa-5800-4eee-b885-c02ac598dfd2_951x400.webp)
Even her being fired from Vogue Paris, which is positioned as the climax of the book by having an exert of that moment positioned at the very beginning of the book is quickly run over. It is still unclear exactly why or what instances led to her being fired, as if she was defending her ego via this book and not entirely over the whole situation. Now — these were my thoughts when I first finished the book and I can understand that they may be a bit harsh. This book is a memoir, and me expecting the life experiences of someone else to teach me something about fashion is a bit of a ridiculous request.
So — what did I learn? Well, nothing about fashion but I did get a life lesson in the prologue of the book. After Buck is fired from Vogue Paris, she continues to write features for American Vogue under the direction of Anna Wintour. During this time, she is asked to write a feature on the wife of the Syrian dictator, Asma Al-Assad. The article went live only a few weeks before the Arab spring when Bashar al-Assad murdered 20,000 of his own people who were protesting his regime. Asma was quickly renamed ‘The First Lady of Hell’ and Buck was slammed for writing a fluff piece about her (you can read more about the instance here). Buck has since proclaimed that she felt pressure from American Vogue but had a gut feeling that it was not the right thing to do.
What I learned was that if you really have a gut feeling about something, don’t do it. This applies in any aspect of your life but especially when your work is public facing — living within the morals and guidelines you set for yourself is much more important than any short-term opportunity of payout. Of course, with Style Analytics, I’ve made a point to not use my platform to promote brands or services that I don’t believe in or that don’t align with my morals — and this has led to me turning down ~90% of paid posts that have been offered to me. (Reading this book coincidentally coincided with an offer for a 3-post series with Musinsa that would have paid my rent for three months. An offer I considered but ultimately turned down.)
The fact that Buck was fired from Vogue and ultimately blacklisted from the fashion industry because of an article that she didn’t even want to write in the first place reiterates the importance of following your gut and acting within your own moral guidelines.
Next up!
(my friend and fellow Substack writer) has just lent me her copy of ANNA by which I am excited to get into later this week. This is a 400-page autobiography of Anna Wintour, covering her life but also the current dynamics of working in fashion and at Condé Nast. Amy also writes one of my favourite fashion Substacks, Back Row.I am also looking to pick up a copy of Delux by Dana Thomas which uncovers the secrets of high-fashion brands and the downfall of the luxury industry. After loving Gods and Kings to the extent that I did — I am really excited to read Dana’s other work.
However! I want to read another 3-5 fashion books before the end of 2024 so please send me the fashion books that you’ve read, loved, and learned from.
Thanks for reading!
With love,
Molly
I really enjoyed Andre Leon Talley's book.