The idea that one can’t be both fashionable and bookish
seems as outdated as that pair of square-toed loafers circa 1991.
Luckily, this yule’s shelf of glam reads includes tomes appealing to
both brains and beauty, from Rebecca Moses’ dreamily illustrated
guide to a creative life to a pop-up book on shoes that pays tactile
tribute to Courreges’ majorette boots and Manolo Blahnik stilettos.
Give any one of these as a gift to inspire an evening in by the fire — or
out on the town. KATHERINE BOYLE AND RYMA CHIKHOUNE “Minimalism and Fashion” by
Elyssa Dimant ($75, Collins) Perhaps anticipating the current fervor
for ’90s monastic-chic, this restrained
(yet stuffed with photos) treatise on
less-is-moreism chronicles pared-back
constructions of seasons past and present.
Think Yohji Yamamoto’s rib cagelike
wool bodices, circa 1989, and Jil
Sander’s black, sleekly bleak column
dresses from recent runways.
