cover image Iconic Dresses: 25 Moments in Twentieth Century Fashion

Iconic Dresses: 25 Moments in Twentieth Century Fashion

William Banks-Blaney. Quadrille (Chronicle, dist.) $35 (192p) ISBN 978-1-84949-670-4

The great couturiers of yore%E2%80%94Fortuny, Chanel, Lanvin, Vionnet, and Balenciaga, to name a few%E2%80%94are best known for their groundbreaking dress designs. Many of these designs still exist in the rarefied world of vintage couture. Banks-Blaney is an expert in this milieu, and the owner of a London store that houses some of these treasures. This book is a celebration of the 25 dresses that the author considers the most important ever made, as well as those contemporary designers most stylistically influenced by them. The photographs are breathtaking, with the frocks elegantly modeled by celebrities and mannequins. Each chapter covers both the garment and its designer, which for the most part works as an organizing principle until some designers are revisited later in their careers. The two chapters on Yves Saint Laurent, for example, are redundant. Still, Banks-Blaney's knowledge and enthusiasm are contagious, and anyone with an appreciation for couture will relish the sight of Chanel's "Ribbon Dress" from 1924, a black silk georgette confection that "sways rather than floats... and has within it an intense body-skimming eroticism and sense of imminent reveal." Color photos. (Oct.)