Height of Fashion (Hardcover)

~ Lisa Eisner (Editor), Roman Alonso (Editor), Amy M. Spindler (Introduction), Lorraine Wild (Designer)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Remember the day you knew you looked your very best, and someone grabbed a camera to immortalize your wonderfulness? Height of Fashion is a beguiling, utterly original album of 231 enlarged snapshots of kids, teens, and adults showing off their Easter outfits, their party finery, their funky fashion and designer suits, their shags and Afros and punk dye jobs. Not to mention, when the occasion warrants, their birthday suits.

Sometimes that "height of fashion" feeling derives from proximity to fame (posing with the Beatles, or Ronald Reagan, or Miss Wyoming), but more often it comes from the importance of a particular event--a bar mitzvah or a wedding or the day a beauty salon owner just felt like doing a handstand while roller-skating at the beach in a vintage dress. (Quotes from the subjects of some of the photos evoke snippets of memory--and offer some wry observations about style aspirations.)

Who are all these people? Well, a few are celebrities, many occupy large and small positions in the worlds of fashion, design, and film, and some may be "just folks." But since everyone is identified by name only, fame takes a back seat to sheer nostalgia. Whether the subject is a windblown Faye Dunaway in a black dress and a convertible, on her way to meet Marcello Mastroianni, or a small, beaming woman posing on a Miami sidewalk in the Jackie Kennedy-style suit she made for her 1964 wedding, what matters is that somebody is having a moment of personal glory and that somebody else can't resist taking a picture. Fashion is fickle, but these snapshots evoke the enduring power of dreams and fantasies in our lives. --Cathy Curtis

Review

…vintage cool in a totally different way. -- New York Magazine, December 2000

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Greybull Press; 1st edition (April 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967236614
• ISBN-13: 978-0967236612
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,016,872 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you've got style, it always shows., August 14, 2000

By A Customer

I picked this book up at my local bookstore and just couldn't put it down. I eventually ordered it from Amazon and have been recommending it to all my friends. Besides the fact that it's full of insider media types and celebrities, one of the most fun aspects about this book is that it proves a point: style is all about attitude. The people in this book have plenty of both. Whenever I feel self-conscious about my personal style, I'll think of the brave souls in Height of Fashion, and then go for my look.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly candids,more amusing than anything, May 31, 2000

By A Customer

Most of the photos in this charming book are candids,taken by non-professionals,in fact often by the subjects' family members or friends.There IS one STUNNER of Tracee Elliss Ross(Diana's daughter) by Mario Testino that is worth the price of the book alone.But the others show the subjects not at their HEIGHT of fashion,it seems to me,but in their most embarrassing fashion faux pas fazes,when they were following ridiculous(often 80's) trends.Also,many of the people submitted pics of themselves as children,so if you're expecting adult models and celebrities,you'll find few here.Still,I was quite pleased with the book.Even the design of it is pleasing,the size,the quality of the paper e.t.c.All in all,pretty cool.