V A Publishing: 14 books

Paul Poiret’s autobiography tells the extraordinary story of

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was one of the leading fashion

Christian Dior rocketed to fame with his first collection in 1947 when

Bettina Ballard, Paris-based correspondent and later Fashion Editor for US Vogue, was at the centre of the fashion world from the 1930s to the ’50s and an intimate of Coco Chanel, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Elsa Schiaparelli. With journalistic flair, she captures the spirit of pre-war Paris, the...

Originally published in 1966, Quant by Quant is the hugely

Ginette Spanier discovered her talent for ‘selling very expensive things to very rich people’ at Fortnum and Mason in the 1930s. This uninhibited and amusing account takes her from hiding in occupied France to the world of haute couture, as Directrice of the House of Balmain from 1947 to 1976...

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Carmel Snow (1887 – 1961), the notorious publishing rival of Vogue editor Edna Woolman Chase, left Vogue in 1932 to become fashion editor, then editor of Harper's Bazaar. This vibrant memoir recalls the glamour and all-consuming work of her passionately conducted career. Determined and opinionated,...

Vogue was a newly formed weekly society magazine when Edna Woolman Chase arrived on its staff in 1895 at the young age of 18. Alongside its second owner, Condé Nast, she went on to remodel it into the institution we know today. Just a few days before he died, Condé wrote to Edna to express his deepest...

The bestselling fashion classic for both the style-conscious and the desperately in need. Christian Dior reveals the secrets of style in his indispensable guide that covers everything from what to wear to a wedding and how to tie a scarf to how to walk with grace.

Jean Dawnay (now Princess George Galitzine) describes her rise from airline steward to the top of the modelling world in the late 1940s and ’50s. Photographed by greats such as John French and Cecil Beaton and working with Balmain, Carven, Lanvin, Pucci and Christian Dior, where she was a house...

Barbara Hulanick has written a new foreward to her best

The working life of a women in retail in the 1930s was tough, but not beyond the no-nonsense Ethyle Campbell. Quite unlike any other book about the rag trade in the ʼ30s, this semi-autobiographical account of Campbell’s time as a fashion buyer for a London department store rings with her slangy...