No comments about Japanese Costume and Textile Arts (Heibonsha Survey of Japanese Art).

1 comments about Rose Marie Reid: An Extraordinary Life Story.

1. This is an unbelievable story about a woman with faith and solid principles. Her story is truly inspiring and motivating. I can't believe how much this woman accomplished despite many obstacles. This is a story for everyone.

5 comments about Projects for Prada Part 1.

1. The content and design of this thick book is great. Unfortunately the quality of the manufacture of this book in no way reflects the merchandise produced by PRADA. Prior to removing the book from the shrink-wrapped plastic it was obvious that a stain from the glue had soaked thru the cover. After reading the volume for about 30 minutes the cover completely seperated from pages. Utterly disappointing.



2. It seems like Koolhaas can never get out of graphic design architecture. At one point he became interesting but is now becoming like fashion designers where trend and surface have more meaning. Perhaps, he should quit architecture and become a graphic or fashion designer. Delirious Koolhaas.
   The Prada Boutique in Beverly Hills is quite nice. I recommend seeing his real buildings instead of buying books and if you have to buy his books, I recommend you first read "Delirious New York" and look at his competition entries for Park de la Villette and early works.



3. enough with the picture books and a little more substance please. i enjoy koolhaas but he is making more money on books than his buildings. the prada store sucks and he is becoming a sellout. spend your money on something else or save it because all of his new books are garbage. just because you have a lot of pictures and images does not mean you should put it into one UNEDITED book.



4. The other review here is quite good and explains the book quite nicely, so I will try not to be redundant. But I really found this book brilliant from a retail sales standpoint. I once had a professor of music history ask the question, "what can music be?", and this book asks the similar question of "what can shopping be?" Much credit has to be given to Prada for their investment of time and money into projects that really stretch the boundaries of the luxury shopping experience (and thanks to Rem Koolhaas and OMA/AMO for their incredible designs). And to prove that all these concepts are not merely theorized ideas neatly bound in a book, you simply need walk into the Prada SoHo 'Epicenter' store to see what it's all about.



5. Do you love Prada? Do you hate Prada? Does the sight of those mint green walls and that little metallic triangle bring you a rush of assurance? Or does it intimidate the hell out of you?
   One thing you'll conclude by the time you wallow through "Projects For Prada Pt 1" brought to you by Oma/Amo's Rem Koolhaas and the Fondazione Prada Edizioni, is that Prada IT is certainly not resting on their laurels.
   Speaking of laurels, if you have always suspected the Prada company as being somewhat imperial (in the very Roman sense of the expression) then "P for P 1" is going to do very little to dispel your paranoia. In fact it'll probably amplify it. Big time.
   A mere six pages in and you're hit full frontal with the boldfaced word "Expansion" before being treated to a hilarious series of conceptual maps that poses the idea of Prada vs Population, Prada vs GDP, Prada vs National Debt before concluding with the totalitarian proposition of "Prada World".(What you wouldn't give to see the look on Patrizio Bertelli's face when he saw that in the proofs .)
   From that ambitious point, as they say in the streets, It's on.
   The section titled "Tourism" treats you to what is in essence an exploded view of the brand's flagship store in Milan, the Prada workspace (showroom, buyer's space, prototypes. )
   You then segue into an elegant distillation of Koolhaas's idea of where the Prada brand could legitimately evolve, from what the brand's idea of luxury is (or is that " will be"), to the indispensable visual elements that all the stores should carry.
   After all the preamble you finally get to the nitty gritty of what Koolhaas plans for each Prada store slated to be opened in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
   And that means the already infamous shoe theater in NY, the underground shop windows of LA and most architectually daunting of all, the eight story Prada tower in SF complete with a mind boggling swiss-cheese facade.
   And Rem's not done with you yet.. The perverse video outakes of the behind the scene meetings , a terribly abstract series on the proposed materials for the shops his flowcharts on where Koolhaas intends to take the Prada web-site and terrifying details like RFID tags for the purposes of inventory control,point of sales efficency and theft control (Damn!) .
   The idea of a high-tech Prada loyalty card is brand perfect , as are the futuristic dressing rooms , kiosks and in-store display panels.
   Of course Koolhass wouldn't be Koolhaas without the naughty and unlikely gestures (Prada vomit?), the out-there propositions for ad campaigns or that sustained idee fixe of the "Prada army" . But that facetiousness is totally within the Koolhaas program. After all this is the man who gleefully designed the ...Hermitage Guggenheim AND Guggenheim Las Vegas museums.
   Whether meant ironically or in scary earnest the book does lay bare the brutality and the complexity of both Koolhaas' and Prada's ambition. Somebody who knows these things once told us that Prada Sport does not seek to compete with other designer lines, but rather, has its sights set on Nike . And reading P for P Pt 1 has completely persuaded this reader that sentiments such as these are characteristic of Prada culture.
   The Prada store as the Disney-world for millionaire semioticians the world over, intellectual perversity as the ultimate luxury proposition, Rem Koolhaas for sale to the culture -at large. These questions and more will riddle you as you go deeper into....PRADAWORLD
   But whatever side issue that will swarm in the wake of this book, one things for sure. It sure is rife with some killer one-liners.(E.G "Luxury is Rough." Amen to that!)
   Every designer should have it by the bedside just to help them get that competitive spirit cracking . The world's most famous architect as the driest stand up comedian ever. Who would have thought.
    

1 comments about Xtreme Fashion.

1. The latest fashion trends tout street styles and technical designs which are extreme in taste and presentation, and the hottest new designers of new trends are profiled in Xtreme Fashion, with powerful visual takes on 'Hoodlum Welding Gear', 'House of Harlot' designs and more. Here are cutting edge fashions paired with profiles of their creators which cover ideas and startling, often spontaneous, concepts in fashion design. A 'must' for any college-level collection on fashion design - and many a public library holding.

1 comments about Les Girls: Photographies Daniel Frasnay.

1. I bought this pretty quickly. I love photography & France. One of my friends worked at the Lido. She's not in the book but there is a photo of Bardot & Vadim having dinner! Frasnay's interview is very interesting. He is a pioneer in his photo technique.

2 comments about High Style 2004.

1. I highly recommend this book if you like dolls. It is full of great pictures.



2. I bought this book via amazon.de in Germany and I must say, it is absolutly wunderfull.

   So many beautyful photos of the nice Tyler dolls, my w8sh llist in growing up after looking into this book.

   After some of the photos I will make clothes for my Tyler on my own, the photos are a wunderfull inspiration for sewing Tyler clothes.

   I still can`t wait until the new issue will be out - I must have it too!

2 comments about A Comprehensive Guide to Digital Glamour Photography (Digital Photography).

1. This book is marginal in content, has few new or exciting ideas, and is smaller than the books American photographers are used to seeing from Amherst and some of the other publishers.
   
   This was going to be the first book I ever returned to Amazon but before I could send it back I misplaced it somewhere...and its no loss.



2. This book is more oriented to the post-processing process, the how to's in photoshop

1 comments about Electric Tattooing by Men, 1900-2004 (Triangle Tattoo & Museum).

1. For the first time since the early 1970s there is a book showing the "real" tattoo artists. Some of the photos go back to the 1900s. Many of the historical photos were from Tattoo Archive in Berkeley California, along with the collection from Lyle Tuttle a noted Tattoo Artist and collector. The later photos were donated by each featured artist.

   Author Madame Chinchilla, has shown the progress from "hand-poked" tattooing of Gus Wagner to the modern work of today. The unique way of presenting the artist and his machine(s), shows the true nature and feeling of their style of tattooing. The text is a combination of the authors and the individual artists. A real credit to the publisher.

   The only "down side" to this book is a few of the photos are not the best quality. The historical photos are expected, but a few of the later ones sent in by the artists are a bit "fuzzy." All the photos are in black & white, most present themselves very well, others could be better. The publisher also has a similar book on "Tattoo Women."

No comments about Fashion Fabrics: 1960s (Schiffer Design Book).

3 comments about Comme Des Garcons (Universe of Fashion).

1. It has often been said that Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garcons have straddled the fine line between fashion and art since Rei started Comme des Garcons in Tokyo in 1969 (it became a company in 1973 and debuted in Paris in 1981).
   
   This book, while not containing much in the way of text, serves as a wonderful companion piece to the fashion of Comme des Garcons. Particularly Cindy Sherman's works incorporating the clothes from the 1990s. It demonstrates that CdG is not just concerned with the clothes but the whole creative picture including advertising and invitations.
   
   The essay is also well informed and insighful.
   
   Great stuff.



2. One can only assume that the author of this book felt that (s)he also had the genius touch and creativity of Comme des Garcons' Rei Kawakubo. Unfortunately this is not the case. The essay is pointless, dull, and without enlightenment. The photographs--reprints of Comme des Garcons publicity materials--do not describe, critique, or illuminate the fashion or design work done by Kawakubo or Comme des Garcons, a dubious artsy pose instigated by Kawakubo herself. Only Grace Mirabella's foreward and the one-page company history at the end offer anything of interest to those fascinated by Kawakubo's amazing and uniquely original designs. What a waste.



3. I was so excited when I saw a book had been published about Comme des Garcons and I was so disappointed when I got it in my hands. The book is full of very "arty" photographs of the designs but so arty that one can not even really see the clothes!

   I have almost every book in the Universe of Fashion series and they are all superior in every way to this one - I was really sad about this as I LOVE Japanese design...therefore I still have to give it at least 3 stars.