20+ Incredible Fashion & Designer Books to Add to Your Coffee Table
A thoughtfully curated stack of designer books are unique artforms in and of themselves. They are stylish additions that can spruce up any space, making it more elegant and sophisticated.
Fashion books can also be a fascinating conversation piece, as well as evoke your sense of style and taste when you have guests over. After all, a good designer book inspires, offers valuable insights, and timeless creativity in every page. Here are some of the best ones to add to your home!
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Luxury Designer Books
The Architecture of Chanel
A hardcover book celebrating the 25 years of creative collaboration between Peter Marino and Chanel. It highlights the stunning architecture of 16 Chanel buildings worldwide and how Peter Marino elevated the brand’s luxury retail scene while staying true to Chanel’s timeless and elegant vision.
Thierry Mugler: Fashion Fetish Fantasy
A vintage fashion collectible celebrating Thierry Mugler’s style, fashion, and imagination expressed through vivid photographs and bold designs unique to the famous designer. It covers his various fashion projects in plays as well as in MTV videos.
Gucci: The Making Of
This book is a personalized homage to the world-renowned fashion house, Gucci. It narrates the brand’s origins, identity, and influence among the elite and throughout Hollywood told through unpublished contemporary and archival photographs, contributor essays, and inserts.
Louis Vuitton: The Birth of Modern Luxury
A 560-page book that gives readers an in-depth look into one of the world’s most iconic luxury brands. Originally published 20 years ago, it details the dramatic rise of the House of Vuitton giving readers full access to the brand’s historical images, archival art, sketches, product designs, and avant-garde advertising.
Estée Lauder: A Beautiful Life
This book gives a fascinating look into Estée Lauder’s life, talents, and global influence in the luxury cosmetics industry. Get to know the true visionnaire, matriarch, and businesswoman behind the brand as expressed through family photographs, personal letters, company archives, and illustrations found in this book.
COMME DES GARCONS Fashion Taschen Collectible
This collectible designer book explores Rei Kawakubo’s vision, style, and unique concepts that epitomize the Japanese luxury fashion house Comme Des Garcons. It includes biographical information, photographs, and magazine archives detailing the designer’s unconventional yet creative style and way of thinking.
Tom Ford by Tom Ford and Bridget Foley
Tom Ford pioneered the cool yet sensual 21st-century luxury glamour synonymous to his brand, and this book epitomizes that in over 200 photographs featuring his designs from 1994 until 2004 including his stint as a fashion director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.
Chanel and the Little Black Dress Leather Book
This rich leather-bound hardcover book makes for an ideal gift to art lovers and fashionistas. It features an illustrated biography of the famous designer Coco Chanel, her humble beginnings, influences, remarkable career, and love of the simple yet elegant style.
Chanel No. 5: Story of a Perfume
A two-volume set encased in a deluxe box meant to celebrate the most famous fragrance in the world: Chanel No. 5. The first volume narrates the history and early years of the beloved fragrance while the second one explores the evolution of Chanel No. 5 from postwar years to a contemporary global sensation endorsed by the likes of Gabrielle Chanel, Nicole Kidman, Gisele Bündchen, and Marion Cotillard.
Affordable Designer Books (Less than $100)
Monique Lhuillier: Dreaming of Fashion and Glamour Coffee Table Book
Monique Lhuillier’s coffee table book captures feminine elegance at its finest that celebrates romance and unparalleled glamour. It covers the designer’s evolution 25 years in the making—from bridal gowns, coveted red carpet ensembles, and accessories, to home décor.
Little Guides to Style: The Story of Four Iconic Fashion Houses (Little Books of Fashion, 17) Hardcover
A quintessential collection any fashion aficionado will love, this Little Books of Fashion book set includes Little Book of Prada, Little Book of Chanel, Little Book of Gucci, and Little Book of Dior—all filled with incredible designs, illustrations, texts, and stories of the creative geniuses behind each of the luxury powerhouse brand.
Chanel: Collections and Creations
This book let readers in on the House of Chanel’s private archives, brilliant designs, and motifs created by Coco Chanel herself from the 1920s onwards. It covers five central topics—the camellia, the suit, make-up, fragrances, and jewelry. It also includes archived photographs and original illustrations by Karl Lagerfeld.
Louis Vuitton/Marc Jacobs
This hardcover lends a fascinating study on how two men transformed a nineteenth-century Paris workshop into the best luxury fashion brands in the world today. It details the craftsmanship, high-designs, and collaborations that birthed a new fashion era for Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs.
Yves Saint Laurent
An in-depth look into one of the best French couturiers of the twentieth century along with Coco Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin, and Christian Dior, this book covers Yves Saint Laurent’s celebrated works along with 250 garments from the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent collection. It also details his influences and love of cinema, literature, opera, painting, and sculpture.
Chanel: The Complete Collections (Catwalk)
Lauded as glamorous and chic, Chanel: The Complete Collections offers a comprehensive and fascinating view of Karl Lagerfeld’s designs, key looks, and visions for the luxury brand expressed through catwalk photography. This book is a fully revised edition based on his 1993-2019 Chanel creations.
Valentino: Themes and Variations
This landmark book highlights Valentino’s iconic creations and celebrates his 45 years of fashion career. It delves on his creative process and variations on texture, motifs, pleats, and patterns seen throughout the book including photographs, fabric samples, sketches, and commentaries by the famous designer himself.
Bvlgari Jewelry Coffee Table Book 1st Edition
A rare find and must-have for the lover of the brand, this first edition Bvlgari Jewelry Coffee Table Book features the best collection made by Italy’s greatest jeweler brand. It’s lavishly illustrated and includes both new and archival pictures that detail Bvlgari’s design, trademark pieces, and successful innovations throughout the years.
Prada (Catwalk)
The perfect book companion for Prada lovers, this book opens with a brief history of how the House of Prada came to be along with a bio of Miuccia Prada. It’s VIP access to the brand’s three decades of groundbreaking designs of luxury clothes, accessories, beauty looks, and set designs framed in stunning runway photographs.
The Little Book of Hermès – (Little Books of Fashion) 14th Edition by Karen Homer
Narrated by fashion historian Karen Homer, The Little Book of Hermès details the story of the brand’s evolution into one of the world’s most sought-after luxury brands. Leaf through the most coveted styles seen in the book’s collection of beautiful and unique illustrations.
Assouline Chanel 3-Book Slipcase Set
A 3-book slipcase set celebrating the heritage and timeless elegance of Chanel. It features three volumes: Chanel Fashion, Chanel Jewelry and Watches, and Chanel Fragrance and Beauty translated into lovely images and fashion narratives.
Louis Vuitton Manufactures
This book offers an all-access pass to Louis Vuitton’s many ateliers including the manufacturing process of its luxury bags, watches, trunks, fragrances, shoes, jewelry, and apparel. In addition, it features the brand’s artisans and ateliers that this book is dedicated to.
Now, I’m curious, which of these designer books is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!
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