Late legendary couturiers of modern fashion speaking eloquently about life, design, and inspiration. Vionnet, Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent, McQueen—these names define haute couture, and long after the designers have passed away, their influence on fashion continues to be profound. In an exceptional compilation of the original words of these couturiers, Couture Confessions provides a unique and in-depth look at the lives and work of these fashion icons. In this engaging, beautifully designed book, Pamela Golbin, acclaimed chief curator of twentieth-century fashion and textiles at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs, has ingeniously constructed conversations in the designers’ own words that highlight their compelling personal stories as well as essential fashion "moments"—from designers Paul Poiret, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Madame Grès, Alexander McQueen, Madeleine Vionnet, and Gabrielle Chanel to Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Jeanne Lanvin, Pierre Balmain, and Christian Dior.Featuring striking illustrations by internationally recognized illustrator Yann Legendre, each "interview" asks the questions every fashion lover has always wanted to ask, making these legends approachable, human, and ever more inspiring.

Late legendary couturiers of modern fashion speaking eloquently about life, design, and inspiration. Vionnet, Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent, McQueen—these names define haute couture, and long after the designers have passed away, their influence on fashion continues to be profound. In an exceptional compilation of the original words of these couturiers, Couture Confessions provides a unique and in-depth look at the lives and work of these fashion icons. In this engaging, beautifully designed book, Pamela Golbin, acclaimed chief curator of twentieth-century fashion and textiles at Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs, has ingeniously constructed conversations in the designers’ own words that highlight their compelling personal stories as well as essential fashion "moments"—from designers Paul Poiret, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Madame Grès, Alexander McQueen, Madeleine Vionnet, and Gabrielle Chanel to Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Jeanne Lanvin, Pierre Balmain, and Christian Dior. Featuring striking illustrations by internationally recognized illustrator Yann Legendre, each "interview" asks the questions every fashion lover has always wanted to ask, making these legends approachable, human, and ever more inspiring.

This fascinating publication presents the roles two men have played in turning a small workshop in nineteenth-century Paris into one of the most successful and recognized brands in the world. Known for both craftsmanship and must-have high design, Louis Vuitton the luxury house was started by its eponymous founder in 1854. The first half of this publication traces the innovations by Vuitton, who turned the little-known guild profession of emballeur (packer) into the foremost luxury trunk maker in Paris, with a clientele that included in his lifetime the French nobility as well as the elite of a prosperous empire. Prime and never-before-seen examples of Vuitton’s craftsmanship, along with the fashion that went into them, are the highlights of these chapters. The second half of the book examines the role of Marc Jacobs as Louis Vuitton’s creative director (since 1997), who took the Louis Vuitton house into a new era with a series of collaborations with artists and designers—such as Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, and Stephen Sprouse—as well as designing a line of highly successful and desired clothing for the company. By examining two divergent but often similar careers one hundred years apart, Louis Vuitton / Marc Jacobs is not only a layered study of the evolution of a luxury brand in the past 150 years but also a celebration of technical and design innovations in the new century.

The project that captured a nation's imagination. The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary. "You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything -- as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative." It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He began handing out postcards to strangers and leaving them in public places -- asking people to write down a secret they had never told anyone and mail it to him, anonymously. The response was overwhelming. The secrets were both provocative and profound, and the cards themselves were works of art -- carefully and creatively constructed by hand. Addictively compelling, the cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions. Frank calls them "graphic haiku," beautiful, elegant, and small in structure but powerfully emotional. As Frank began posting the cards on his website, PostSecret took on a life of its own, becoming much more than a simple art project. It has grown into a global phenomenon, exposing our individual aspirations, fantasies, and frailties -- our common humanity. Every day dozens of postcards still make their way to Frank, with postmarks from around the world, touching on every aspect of human experience. This extraordinary collection brings together the most powerful, personal, and beautifully intimate secrets Frank Warren has received -- and brilliantly illuminates that human emotions can be unique and universal at the same time.

Why would someone ever voluntarily become a sex worker? Liara Roux writes about the salacious details leading up to her decision to become a career sex worker, and the unexpected truths she learned while working in the industry. Liara Roux is accustomed to being mislabelled and misunderstood. As a child, Liara’s inquisitive, instinctive, and rebellious nature was frequently problematised in a world designed around the requirements of their neurotypical, cis, heterosexual male colleagues. Coming of age in an oppressively restrictive home, they shuffled tarot and explored self portraiture to rationalise the injustice of chronic pain, toxic lovers, and the cruel silence of divinity. Critiquing capitalism’s mechanisms of exploitation, the conservatism of Western medicine, and the politics surrounding sex work, Whore of New York: Confessions of a Sinful Woman is a candid study of artistic awakening, and both spiritual and sexual growth after abuse, seen through the eyes of a proud outsider.

The incredibly popular Daily Mail column, 'Confessions of a Fashionista', feeds its hungry readers snippets of a life in the glittering yet deranged world of fashion. Now its anonymous author reveals both her identity and the true story of her giddyingly glamorous time in the style industry, with insider gossip on the people who populate it. Propelled by a painful end to a relationship and determined to prove her ex wrong for breaking up with her, our Fashionista lands a place on the Harrods Graduate Scheme. A complete outsider to the fashion world, she sets out on a wing and a pair of Guccis, and finds herself in a whirlwind of couture and craziness. Along the way she learns how to stay sane in a world where hairdressers have egos as big as their clients' bouffants, where dogs fly business class, and if you're eating carbs it can only be because you're pregnant. Confessions of a Fashionista is a book for anyone who's ever been an outsider, for anyone who's ever had a relationship end badly and thought they'd never find true love, and for anyone who thinks that cakes were made to be eaten, not sniffed. By turns hilarious, sad, thrilling, romantic and fun, it is the It book for fashionistas everywhere.

Socialite, fashion icon, television and movie star, recording artist and just plain celebrity: Twenty-two year old Paris Hilton is the great granddaughter of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and is estimated to be worth $30 million. The world first became aware of Paris Hilton through a Vanity Fair profile in 2000. Since then, she has graced the pages of countless magazines, newspapers, and tabloids; modeled on the runways of top designers; appeared on television shows as herself ('Saturday Night Live', MTV Music Awards) and as fictional characters (the new Sky One show 'Las Vegas'); had small parts in movies like 'The Cat in the Hat', 'Win a Date with Tad Hamilton' and the upcoming 'The Hillz'; has begun work on an album; and starred in a hit reality series, 'The Simple Life' (shown here on Channel 4). She has been romantically linked with current boyfriend Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, Rick Solomon (of the notorious sex tape), and Deryck Whibley of Sum 41. 'I think the biggest misconception about me is that I'm this spoiled brat. But I'm not. I'm the total opposite.'

New York's top doorman, Thomas Onorato, raises the ropes and gives readers a sneak peak into some of the world's most exclusive parties. "If you are not on the guest list or if I don't know you or if I don't like you, you are NOT GETTING INTO THIS PARTY!" The doorman. The gatekeeper of the night. These silent observers see it all and yet say nothing. Until now. In Confessions from the Velvet Ropes, New York's top club doorman, Thomas Onorato, lifts the ropes and lets ordinary readers into this exciting world. The book is an entertaining and hilarious collection of tales from the worlds of nightlife, fashion shows and celebrity parties. Highlights include: The night Madonna DJed at an intimate downtown club, Courtney Love's surprise concert that ended in her arrest, the crazed stalker who attacked Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, the aerial attack on Adrien Brody's birthday party, Diddy's surprise appearance at an electro-punk event and more. Onorato was always on hand and brings his insider info and nightlife wisdom to readers of Confessions from the Velvet Ropes. Combining elements of juicy gossip columns, rock star fan memoirs and nightlife social studies, Confessions from the Velvet Ropes is a tell-all with style, including humorous side-bars and tips on how readers might make it past the velvet ropes.

Aime Leduc, a Parisian private investigator, has sworn she would stick to tech investigation - no criminal cases for her. Especially since her father, the late police detective, was killed in the line of duty. But when an old Jewish man approaches Aime with a secret decoding job on behalf of a woman in his synagogue, Aime unwittingly takes on more than she was expecting. When she takes her findings to her client's house in the Marais, Paris's historic Jewish quarter, she finds the old woman strangled, a swastika carved on her forehead. Can Aime solve the crime?

A style and shoes-obsessed American girl with all the right press passes spends Fashion Week in Paris in a funny, charming tale reminiscent of Confessions of a Shopaholic. Alexandra Simons, a fashion correspondent for The Weekly magazine, thought she would never live down her very public, very literal run-in with a six-foot model at the Chanel haute couture show in Paris. Things only start looking up when she attends an avant-garde show at a trendy new dive and finds both a love interest and perhaps the hottest new designer in town! But are things too good to be true? Though Nick Snow, an American consultant working in Paris, makes Alex feel like a supermodel, she gets the feeling that he’s hiding something from her. And Luis-Heinz, the Esperanto-speaking recluse of a fashion genius? He’s nowhere to be found. Following her big scoop— and her heart—Alex embarks on a wild goose chase through the streets of Paris that tests her definition of reality. In between playing detective and finding the perfect accessories for a stakeout, will our intrepid heroine finally get her story—and her man?