Fashion, Italian Style [Hardcover]

Valerie Steele (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2003

Italian fashion, which encompasses designers and companies from Armani to Zegna, has become a dominant force in the fashion world. This work discusses the rise of Italian fashion since 1945, the development of the Italian "look" from the late 1970s to the present, and the many great designers who have contributed to Italy's fashion triumphs. Valerie Steele describes how Florence, Rome, and later Milan all became important fashion centres and how other Italian cities play specific roles within the country's fashion system. She explains the tradition of "classic" men's tailoring, the importance of accessories, the special connection between textile production and fashion, and the reasons why different regions of Italy specialise in different fabrics or goods. She also analyses the integration of the various sectors of the fashion industry, a uniquely Italian model quite different from those found in France, Britain or the United States. Illustrated with photographs of fashion ensembles, runway shots, advertising images and more, this is a celebration of Italian fashion in its many guises.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Steele declares the coming-out party of Italian fashion as a July 1952 show at the sparkling Palazzo Pitti in Florence, which American fashion editor Bettina Ballard's summed up thus: It was so manifestly attractive to discover fashion in a country so full of treasures to see and eat, and people who were so polite and open-armed. Italian designers have buoyantly and sumptuously dressed the world for the 50 years since then. For this exhibition catalogue, Steele, chief curator and acting director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, traces the evolution of Italy's casually elegant style from the birth of the country's fashion in the Roman Empire through the cultural dominance of Italian textiles in the 20th century. She discusses the distinctions between designers like Gianni Versace and Gianfranco Ferre, while also explaining the complex political and industrial underpinnings of the Italian fashion system. But despite some graininess and an indifferent layout, it's the 132 color and five b&w shots that really tell the story here: gorgeous fabrics, classic yet experimental lines and colors, alluring accessories. Short essays like The Rise of Milan and the ‰Italian Look' and A Fellini-like Sensuality get shown up by photos of stunning clothes that strain against their frames. The result is awkwardly instructive and straightforward, too literal to be elegant.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"[The catalogue] beautifully illustrates the hallmarks of the most exclusive Italian design. . . . Steele offers an educated overview of Italian fashion." -- Pamela Klaffke, Calgary Herald

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1St Edition edition (March 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300100140
• ISBN-13: 978-0300100143
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #550,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good text, disappointing photos, November 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Fashion, Italian Style (Hardcover)

As usual, Valerie Steele's prose is lucid and her text based on thorough research and considerable experience. If you are buying this book for the information in it, you're likely to be pleased with it.

If, like me, you're buying the book for photographs of garment details you can use in your own sewing, you may be as disappointed as I was. My impression was that photograph selection was turned over to a layout artist with little or no interest in the subject. Many of the garments were pointlessly shown in more than one photo, some photos were exactly duplicated on other pages, and of all the close-up shots, only one revealed details that were not perfectly obvious in the long shot. Some of the garments were nothing to look at (v-necked blackish thing on top with a black skirt-shape), a number were of extreme fashions (a skirt made of black bras), and too few showed the fascinating, intricate design that has is found many sophisticated Italian fashions. I found fewer than half a dozen women's outfits with details I wanted to remember. There were also some atmospheric shots and a few photos of tailors at work that took up space and weren't particularly interesting.

To be fair, some of book's pages given over to photos of menswear, handbags, and knit garments, which did belong there but weren't what I wanted to see. Metaphorically speaking, I felt as if I'd found a lot of air in the photo package and very little substance.

I have other books of Valerie Steele that have much better photographs--and I'm willing to absolve her of blame for this photo selection. And the scholarship and writing ARE good.

5.0 out of 5 stars Italian Style, January 31, 2011

By 

Natalia - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fashion, Italian Style (Hardcover)

The book is written at a very elementary level, but provides good pictures and discusses many topics although very broadly