| 商家名称 | 信用等级 | 购买信息 | 订购本书 |
 |
 |
The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History |  |
 |
|
The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History | |
On November 28, 1973, the world's social elite gathered at the Palace of Versailles for an international fashion show. By the time the curtain came down on the evening's spectacle, history had been made and the industry had been forever transformed. This is that story.
Conceived as a fund-raiser for the restoration of King Louis XIV's palace, in the late fall of 1973, five top American designers faced off against five top French designers in an over-the-top runway extravaganza. An audience filled with celebrities and international jet-setters, including Princess Grace of Monaco, the Duchess of Windsor, Paloma Picasso, and Andy Warhol, were treated to an opulent performance featuring Liza Minnelli, Josephine Baker, and Rudolph Nureyev. What they saw would forever alter the history of fashion.
The Americans at the Battle of Versailles– Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston, and Stephen Burrows – showed their work against the five French designers considered the best in the world – Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior. Plagued by in-fighting, outsized egos, shoestring budgets, and innumerable technical difficulties, the American contingent had little chance of meeting the European's exquisite and refined standards. But against all odds, the American energy and the domination by the fearless models (ten of whom, in a groundbreaking move, were African American) sent the audience reeling. By the end of the evening, the Americans had officially taken their place on the world's stage, prompting a major shift in the way race, gender, sexuality, and economics would be treated in fashion for decades to come. As the curtain came down on The Battle of Versailles, American fashion was born; no longer would the world look to Europe to determine the stylistic trends of the day, from here forward, American sensibility and taste would command the world's attention.
Pulitzer-Prize winning fashion journalist Robin Givhan offers a lively and meticulously well-researched account of this unique event. The Battle of Versailles is a sharp, engaging cultural history; this intimate examination of a single moment shows us how the world of fashion as we know it came to be.
网友对The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History的评论
I'm a bit of a fashion outsider as I pretty much have little or no fashion sense for myself. However, I do love looking at and reading about fashion as I consider it another art form on the same level as painting, sculpture, etc. I particularly enjoy the history of fashion and this book really delivers on that front. The book deals with one particular chapter in fashion which was a fashion show held in Paris in 1973 that showcased American and French designers side by side. It wasn't marketed as a competition but everyone pretty much knew that's what it was. The book goes in depth on every designer that participated and how they got to the pinnacle of their profession. The actual event is covered in blow-by-blow detail. Most fashion insiders will know how the whole thing turned out but since I didn't, the sense of anticipation and the end result were satisfying. It's a pretty well paced read and not boring at all. I read it in a couple of days.
The only thing I do wish it had were pictures that illustrated the various designers and their creations, their studios, and the room in Versailles where this all took place. I spent a lot of time Googling things so that I could get some context with it. I did eventually purchase the film documentary "Versailles '73" that gave me the visuals but some illustrations in the book couldn't hurt and would make it more enjoyable.
An interesting book while it deals with fashion history, contemporary event and the designers and model who participated in the 1973 Versailles show, but it unfortunately otherwise descends into a repetitive polemic on the extent of black model participation in runway shows.
I savored every moment of this recount of the 1973 fashion show at Versailles. After you read the book, watch the documentary "Versailles 73" - that is, if you're a true lover of fashion history. Ms. Givhan has a flowing writing style and manages to share the full story without unnecessary or wasteful pages.
Buy this book, read it, feel the magic. This is a special adventure in literary time travel. Robin Givhan is a gifted writer, who tells the story of a little-known event in fashion history in a way that makes clear its deeper cultural reverberations - then and now.
If you like a well written, well researched book you'll love this book. It's an important piece of American history, fashion history and Black history. I can't think of a person I would not recommend reading this book. It's a great read.
喜欢The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History请与您的朋友分享,由于版权原因，读书人网不提供图书下载服务
