IN MY SHOES: A Memoir by Tamara Mellon with William Patrick (Penguin)
The autobiography of Tamara Mellon, co-founder of the Jimmy Choo footwear empire, has been described by The Telegraph (UK) as “compulsively candid and “rip-roaringly readable”.
Mellon has grown the brand Jimmy Choo into a billion-dollar business. Vogue photographed her wedding where she wore Valentino; and Vanity Fair covered her divorce and the criminal trial that followed. Her memoir goes into detail that has never before been made public – from her troubled childhood to her time as a young editor at Vogue to her partnership with cobbler Jimmy Choo.
FourEyes – New Zealand Street Style (Beatnik)
The creators of the FOUREYES blog – Alex Blanco, Chin Tay, Danny Simmons and Mino Kim – have published their very first book which celebrates New Zealand’s unique street style.
FOUREYES is a collection of some of the favourite photographs the four bloggers have taken on the streets over the past two and a half years since the blog’s launch in April 2011. It’s a beautiful book.
WEARABLEART (Craig Potton Publishing)
As coffee table books go this one is particularly stunning. The lavish large format book shows the beauty, diversity and creativity of the World of WearableArt annual competition, now in its 25th year. It features new photographs of the best garments that have been entered over the years, both in a studio setting with close-up details, as well as photographs taken onstage during the awards show.
ROCK THE BOAT (Stretton Publishing)
This book is not strictly fashion but it’s written by successful New Zealand fashion designer Annah Stretton and is an inspiring and motivating read if you are a woman, a woman running a fashion business or any business for that matter, or plan to go into business.
Rock The Boat falls into the self help category where Stretton shares insights she has learned along the road to success. The book is also filled with wisdom from other successful risk takers including Dame Suzie Moncrieff (founder of World of WearableArt) and thought leadership expert Sacha McMeeking (Fullbright Harkness Fellow 2010).
THE PRINCESS AND THE FOAL (HarperCollins)
Also not strictly fashion but the author is former fashion editor Stacy Gregg, and now best selling children’s fiction writer. The Princess and the Foal is based on the real life story of HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, a former Olympic show jumper and flag bearer for Jordan, and currently the head of the international governing equestrian body. When her mother, Queen Alia, is killed in a helicopter crash, three year old Princess Haya is devastated. When she is six her father gifts her an orphan foal, and so begins a story about love, bravery and the unbreakable bond between a girl and her horse as the Princess determines to defy convention and prove herself by riding in the toughest equestrian competition in Arabia – The King’s Cup.
COLLETTE DINNIGAN OBSESSIVE CREATIVE (Penguin)
As the news sinks in that celebrated Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan is discontinuing her label after 25 years, fans can rejoice that her delicate and ethereal designs have been immortalised in a book. Collette Dinnigan Obsessive Creative is lavishly illustrated, featuring many of Dinnigan’s own fashion drawings and sketches, but also photographs from the designer’s personal albums, and behind the scenes images capturing backstage in Paris. The book charts her life from her Bohemian childhood to her first runway show in Paris in 1995, and she writes about maintaining her place at the top of the highly competitive and driven world of international fashion.
