Images, by Jacquemus
Simone Porte Jacquemus understands the transportive power of Instagram. The designer has long used the medium to convey the sun-drenched seduction his brand reflects, associated with the sand-lined shored of Southern France. During lockdown the designer even shot S/S 2020 digital campaign images with Bellad Hadid, Barbie Ferreira and Steve Lacy, showcasing the uplifting results on the social media channel. Now, in his second publication to date, Jacquemus has released ‘Images’, a book of his favourite 321 Instagram images, edited down from the 85,041 pictures he has stored on his phone. The publication is a soothing snapshot of summer, boasting beachside shots, architectural and food close-ups and Jacquemus-clad portraits. They capture the energetic, warm and downtime-focused essence of the brand, whether you’re browsing the book from a sun bed in its founder’s beloved hometown Marseille, or city-bound on the sofa.
Sicily, by Jil Sander, Jil Sander Publishing
We’re all in need of a touch of escapism right now, and lucky for us, Jil Sander’s Lucie and Luke Meier have just released a sun-kissed pictorial road trip around Sicily, lensed by photographer Olivier Kervern. The analogue amalgamation was first presented back in February at Milan Fashion Week at the brand’s Via Sant’Andrea exhibition space, and the sleek volume also serves up a series of portraits depicting the brand’s A/W 2020 offering. While road tripping may feel out of reach, Sicily will feel out-of-the-way enough when this book is held in the palm of your hands.
Sportmax, by Olivier Saillard, Assouline
If you’re set on staying in this January and snuggling up with a stack of new volumes, may we suggest you add Sportmax’s page-turning celebration of its 50th anniversary to your pile. This Assouline-published volume offers a pleasingly pictorial stroll through the five decade history of the sports and casual wear-focused label, founded in 1969 by Achille Maramotti. Sketches and advertising campaign images abound, highlighting the boldy saturated shades that define Sportmax’s aesthetic, and capture the style signatures of the creatives who anonymously worked on the brand’s collections, including Nanni Strada, Jean- Charles de Castelbajac, Odile Lançon and Guy Paulin. Set your timers to snuggle!
Prada Catwalk, by Susannah Frankel, Thames & Hudson
When it comes to a Prada catwalk show, fans of the Milanese label delight in decoding the various archive Prada-isms which appear in each collection, be it S/S 1996’s icky ‘Formica’ prints, S/S 2000’s tessellated lipstick pattern, a heavy brown shoe or a pleated knee length skirt. Now, a new tome houses all of the brand’s catwalk collections in one place, from Miuccia Prada’s debut A/W 1988 runway offering, with its school girl simplicity and utilitarian tailoring, to her S/S 2019 collection, boasting bourgeois takes on its signature nylon fabric, chubby Alice bands and swathes of grunge green satin. The Thames & Hudson published volume, written by fashion critic Susannah Frankel offers commentary on each collection featured, and boasts over 1,300 illustrations, making it the perfect printed tool for Prada fans everywhere, vying to decode the designer’s famed aesthetic, her obsessions and eccentricities and the brand’s boundary-breaking sensibility.
Tokyo Trance, by Cecilie Bahnsen and Josefine Seifert, Moon
‘I feel there is something cinematic and poetical seeing my dresses on Tokyo streets,’ says Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen of the theme of her latest publication, which seems Instagram-cast Japanese modes Natsumi Sekine, Macoto Tanaka and Megumu wearing her cloud-light, quilted and delicately floral embellished designs around the capital’s streets. This image-focused volume, lensed by Josefine Seifert – conventionally a travel photographer – features atmospheric snaps of Tokyo’s backstreets, from the dense electrical cables and blooming roses which festoon its suburban passages, to its tile-lined subways and escalators. Ethereal yet everyday, intimate yet expansive, it offers an insider’s peek into the city which Copenhagen-based Bahnsen has such an affinity with, in terms of Japan’s famed focus on simplicity, craftsmanship and functionality. ‘In a sense it’s about going back to the starting point of my inspiration and the place where my collection first found a home in the world,’ she adds.
Tokyo Trance is available exclusively at Dover Street Market with any Cecilie Bahnsen purchase across all stores
Chanel: The Impossible Collection, by Alexander Fury
Assouline
It’s fitting that this clamshell-cased tome, measuring nearly fifty centimeters in length, is purchased with a complimentary pair of white gloves. For Chanel: The Impossible Collection is a bookshelf treasure equal to the house’s signature bouclé tweed suit or its 2.55 handbag. This enormous edition is a tribute to the famed Parisian maison; its glossy pages packed with fashion show shots, magazine editorials, newspaper cuttings, illustrations and portraits. As part of the volume, author and fashion critic Alexander Fury has also selected 100 iconic looks that represent the house, from the Little Black Dress to the day suit. ‘Let them copy. My ideas belong to everyone. I refuse no one’. Gabrielle Chanel, told The New York Times in January 1971. It’s hard to refuse this book too.
