Caryn Franklin on Fashion (Paperback)

From Afros, anorexia and African design to witches, waifs and wet look, via Naomi Campbell, John Galliano and Calvin Klein, this is an illustrated A to Z of fashion. It includes behind the scenes looks at contemporary designers and models, and accounts of past masters and mistresses of fashion. The book also provides facts about careers in modelling and fashion design, and uncovers the fictions behind beauty industry claims and marketing ploys.

Franklin, the BBC's answer to Elsa Klensch of CNN's Style, has been hosting The Clothes Show for almost a decade and was fashion editor of i-D magazine. American readers may find her frankness refreshing. Ostensibly a dictionary (ranging from "adornment" to "zeitgeist"), her book is an attempt not only to clarify the terms, trends, and personages of the fashion world but to outline its triumphs and failures and criticize its faults. She warns of the dangers of overemphasizing thinness, of underage models dressed as sexy adults, and of overpaid, spoiled supermodels. Over 150 entries cover basic historic and current terminology, 32 designers, and seven models, while 40 black-and-white photographs show some of the most outrageous designs of recent years. Some of the slang or references to British celebrities may be unfamiliar to American readers. Still, this is an intriguing addition to larger fashion and popular culture collections.?Therese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
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