Paula Wallace

An exponent of artisan craftsmanship and theatrical fantasy often compared to Alexander McQueen and Sarah Burton, Guo Pei dresses Chinese state dignitaries and American celebrities alike in richly bejewelled creations of imperial opulence. The designer s first monograph, published on the occasion of her first solo exhibition, offers insight into the growing global influence of China and the complexities of its cultural transition. The premier China-based fashion designer to figure prominently on the world stage, Guo Pei produces ornate embroidery and intricate designs that derive from the ancient traditions and symbols of her Chinese heritage, rendered in glamorous silhouettes. Andrew Bolton describes the approach as an auto-orientalist couture unprecedented in the millennial history of Chinese dress. The grandeur of her work, from the aureate cape Rihanna wore to the 2015 Met Gala to a gown festooned with 200,000 crystals featured in the Beijing Olympics, distinguishes Guo Pei as a worthy heir to the grand tradition of haute couture. Lush photography reveals the unprecedented detail achieved through the thousands of hours committed to each garment s workmanship, a signature of Guo Pei s atelier. This landmark volume presents a tableau of Guo Pei s resplendent work: expansive, unconventional, and otherworldly.

This lavish volume reflects on the life of Andre Leon Talley and his impactful ascent to the height of global fashion. Many of Talley s most iconic looks from his suits and straw Breton boater in Paris of the late seventies to the opulent custom capes and coats he made famous are newly photographed and presented alongside archival imagery. From his days as Diana Vreeland s apprentice at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to Andy Warhol s Factory and Interview Magazine, to Paris bureau chief for Women s Wear Daily, to positions at W, The New York Times, Ebony, and Vogue, where he served as the magazine s first African American creative director, Talley s exuberant personality and voice guided thousands through the glamorous world of high fashion. Essays, stories, and memories from industry luminaries who experienced his singular character reflect on a legacy in fashion spanning more than four decades. A posthumous commemoration of Talley, this celebratory volume offers a rare view into his world, the people who shared it, and the creation of one of the most iconic figures in fashion history.

Ring Redux presents more than a hundred avant-garde rings by renowned international artists who explore this age-old jewellery form with great vitality and relevance to society today. In the essay “Riffs on Rings”, Ursula Ilse-Neuman provides valuable insights into the astonishing variations on one of the most intimate and enduring forms of body adornment, revealing the profound and subtle differences in how these artists evoke the ring’s potential to express ideas that extend beyond its ornamental role. The skill and audacity infused in these intimate sculptural forms is captured in stunning new colour photographs. In the “Artists’ Voices” section, the jewellers provide valuable perspectives on the conception and execution of their works. The collection of rings presented here has been acquired over five decades by Susan Grant Lewin and will be exhibited at the SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia.