5 Fashion Memoirs that inspire

A fair chunk of my bookcase is dedicated to fashion, and there's nothing more inspiring than sitting down with a memoir penned by a favourite designer or style icon.

Here are five of the best fashion memoirs that are both chic and motivating!

Grace: A Memoir: Coddington's memoir is a fascinating look into her life and her career, and the striking cover makes this a perfect book for the coffee table!

Tory Burch In Color: This is perhaps my favourite book of the last six months and one which I was waiting for forever! In Color is a great read and reference if you're interested in business, as well as finding out more about what has inspired this global success story.

The Woman I Wanted To Be: I had DvF's memoir for Christmas and it is such a fascinating read! von Furstenberg writes about her mother's survival through the Holocaust, building a successful business and helping to empower other women. This is a must read.

DV: Diana Vreeland: I love Diana Vreeland so much (I want to be like her when I grow up!) This is an absolute classic and was one of the first ever fashion memoirs I read. Unique is cool!

Happy Times: If you love the Kennedy's and the glamour of the 60s and 70s, this memoir is for you. Radziwill is one of the world's most glamourous women, and I dare you not to be inspired by the pages of amazing and personal photos in these pages.

Which fashion memoirs do you love? Let me know your recommendations in the comments! 

In Review: Snowdon: A Life in View

© SNOWDON: A Life in View by Antony Armstrong Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, Rizzoli New York, 2014.

I absolutely love the work of the 1st Earl of Snowdon, so it was a real joy to take a look at his new publication, A Life In View. Curated by the legendary photographer himself, and his youngest daughter Frances von Hofmannsthal, Snowdon: A Life in View looks back on an exceptional life through a selection of 175 iconic full-colour and black-and-white fashion photographs and portraits taken throughout his expansive and influential career. The book also features articles and texts by friends and colleagues of Snowdon who have written about different aspects of his work: Alexandra Shulman on being his editor at British Vogue, Suzy Menkes on his work for Issey Miyake in the 1980s, A.A. Gill on his documentary work, Grace Coddington on being his model and editor, and Lisa Immordino Vreeland on his correspondence with Diana Vreeland. 

Princess Margaret, 1959. Photograph by Snowdon / Courtesy of Trunk Archive

At the start of his photography career in the early 1950s Snowdon focused on theater, fashion, and society subjects, and began a six-decade career with British Vogue. In 1960, he married Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, in the first globally televised Royal wedding.  In the early 1960's Snowdon worked with The Sunday Times magazine on a range of documentary subjects from mental health to loneliness, and in 1965 Private View was published—an extensive and beautiful book on the London art scene which has now become a cult classic. 

Nureyev/Fontaine in Sunday Times Magazine, 1961. Courtesy of Snowdon.

Over his prolific career Snowdon has photographed a vast range of cultural figures like Cecil Beaton, Charlie Chaplin, David Bowie, Marlene Dietrich, Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Serge Gainsbourg, Yves Saint Laurent, and Jack Nicholson that are featured in the book, amongst many others. In addition to iconic portraits, and legendary fashion images, archival material in the book includes previously unpublished Polaroids, private scrapbooks, and letters. As his daughter, and collaborator on this book, Frances von Hofmannsthal, states; “This book of stories and photographs only makes up a small fraction of my father’s work. The idea is not that it be a complete view, but a very personal one, put together with affection and curiosity, with a love and a lifetime of familiarity.”

Diana Vreeland. Photograph by Snowdon / Courtesy of Trunk Archive.

If you're in London make sure you go along to a special Snowdon exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.  Snowdon has given 130 original prints including many of his iconic images to the National Portrait Gallery, and this gift is being celebrated by a display of his photographs curated by Helen Trompeteler, the National Portrait Gallery’s Assistant Curator of Photographs.

The exhibition runs until the 21 Jun 2015, with free admission. To find out more about the exhibition click here. 

Marlene Dietrich, Cafe de Paris, 1956. Photograph by Snowdon / Courtesy of Trunk Archive.

October through Instagram

Inspiration from Diana Vreeland's Memos | Lee Radziwill and her daughter Christina photographed by Cecil Beaton | Revas by Tory Burch | the remarkable tales from the women of the US Senate | unexpected presents from friends overseas | fall colors | tennis anyone? | Grand Designs Live | Women in Public life seminar at the Pierhead in Cardiff

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In Review: Memos: The Vogue Years, Diana Vreeland

I've always admired Diana Vreeland, and was delighted when 'Memos: The Vogue Years' was released earlier this month.

Edited by her grandson Alexander Vreeland, and featuring contributions by Polly Mellon, Grace Mirabella and Susan Train, Memos chronicles how Vreeland transformed Vogue from a society magazine to a daring, and contemporary publication. Vreeland was Editor of American Vogue from 1962 to 1971, and under her tenure, the publication was given a new lease of life.

Memos tells the story of this transformation through fascinating and witty personal correspondence, many containing amendments in Vreeland's own distinctive and fantastic handwriting. We learn about some of Vogue's most celebrated stories through Vreeland's own words, and have an insight into her relationships with individuals including Cecil Beaton, Norman Parkinson, Richard Avedon and Snowdon. We are also treated to an education of fashion at the time, with memos and letters to and from designers such as Chanel, Gucci, Valentino, Oscar de la Renta and Diane von Furstenberg.

Each chapter of Memos is introduced by commentary from Vogue editors who worked with Vreeland, giving readers a truly inside look at her unique management style. Vreeland did not believe in meetings, brainstorming, or consensus, electing instead to communicate with her staff, photographers, designers and writers through one-on-one conversations and daily correspondence. At the beginning of each day, Vreeland dictated memos by phone from her Park Avenue apartment. When she arrived at the Vogue office—which was never before noon—she annotated the typed-up results, sometimes adding her initials with a colorful felt-tip pen before the missives were dispatched by one of her assistants.

This really is the perfect book for any individual looking for a personal and behind-the-scenes insight into the world of fashion publishing, and where better to begin with the legend that is Diana Vreeland!

© Diana Vreeland Memos: The Vogue Years Edited by Alexander Vreeland, Rizzoli New York, 2013.

Instagram: My July

Instagram

Poppin' peonies | Revenge rewatch (Victoria Grayson is my favorite character!) | blue and white wedges from Gap | inspiration from Diana Vreeland | a follow from Wendy Davis | peacocks | chillin' with Bruce Springsteen | getting my prep on | a Tory Burch favorite