This beautiful book explores the beloved writer’s achievements as a storyteller, artist, and naturalist. Beatrix Potter’s universe of characters—Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddleduck—have delighted audiences for over a century. A creative pioneer and determined entrepreneur, she combined scientific observation with imaginative storytelling to create some of the world’s best-loved children’s books. This volume showcases Potter’s charming charac-ters against the backdrop of her exquisite botanical drawings, humorous illustrated letters to friends, Lake District landscapes, and rarely seen photographs. Beatrix Potter’s endearingly hand-painted world of animals and gardens made her one of the most celebrated children’s book authors of all time, yet this is but one facet of her creative life. Drawn to the picturesque English countryside after a London childhood, Potter had a passion for nature that influenced her many achievements as a naturalist, artist, storyteller, and later in life as a fervent conservationist and “gentlewoman” farmer. This book sheds light upon the connections between her art, entrepreneurial success, and legacy in preservation.

Unique exploration of how the cultural renaissance following independence evolved into today's dynamic African fashion revolution At a moment of unprecedented creativity in men's fashion and reflection on gender, this thought-provoking, richly illustrated book explores how designers, tailors, photographers, and artists--and their clients and sitters--have constructed and performed masculinity and unpicked it at its seams. Fashioning Masculinities first strips things back to consider the naked male body and the continued influence of the classical ideal: the Adonis--enthusiastically reconsidered by successive generations from 18th-century (Grand) tourists to Robert Mapplethorpe, Calvin Klein, and even Captain America. The book then transitions to explore the very opposite--"the peacock." For centuries men have used clothing to express status, wealth, and individuality. In this section, everything from richly embellished fabrics, shimmering textiles, voluminous cloaks, bulging codpieces, and highly polished armor to Stormzy's stab vest and Prince's boots is featured--the uniting factor being that they have all been worn with swagger and defiance. The final section surveys the suit: the three-piece tailored garment that has come to epitomize masculine attire. But for all its homogeneity, the suit has taken on myriad personas, from the historicizing cut of the Teddy Boys and the bold iconoclasm of Alexander McQueen to the creativity of Billy Porter's "Tuxedo" Oscars gown. Fashioning Masculinities challenges our preconceptions about menswear revealing the fascinating historical roots of the styles we see gracing the sidewalks, catwalks and red carpets of today.

Capturing the highlights of a major V&A exhibition, this stunning volume celebrates the House of Dior from its foundation in 1947 to the present day. Haute-couture gowns by Christian Dior and the illustrious creative directors who followed him--Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferr , John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri--are showcased here, atmospherically photographed by Laziz Hamani. Archival material--including design sketches by Christian Dior--and press and fashion photography provide colorful context, amplified by introductory texts to each section by V&A Fashion Curator Oriole Cullen. An opening chapter by Cullen looks at Dior's creative collaborations with influential British manufacturers, and his most notable British clients, from Princess Margaret to author Nancy Mitford and ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn. It also revisits Dior's spectacular fashion shows staged in England's most luxurious stately homes, including at Blenheim Palace in 1954.

This reference for collectors, dealers, and scholars discusses colonial Indian furniture and the material culture of British India, in which local craftsmen used their skills to adapt to Western styles, producing a hybrid form which is in some ways typically English but unmistakably Indian. The four chapters by Jaffer (research fellow, Victoria and Albert Museum) provide a contextual background and discuss life in early British India, furnishings and the domestic interior, the availability and acquisition of furniture, and the Indian consumption of Western furniture and decorative articles. The catalogue contains color and b & w illustrations of 200 pieces from the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, accompanied by descriptions, historical details, and notes on provenance, literature, exhibitions, and other relevant facts. Oversize: 9.5x11.25". Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR