The Fashion Book

£5.96 from Amazon

I borrowed this book from my aunty on Tuesday and I've been unable to stop flicking through the pages; it's a great reference book for anyone on a fashion course because it's absolutely bursting with designers, models, illustrators, photographers and icons over the past 150 years, from Coco Chanel to Kurt Cobain.

I'll admit that I was surprised at first to turn the page and find a photo of Kurt Cobain with his baby daughter, labelling him as an icon. But as the book goes on to explain in one of it's many short descriptions, Cobain's classic casual wear was 'cleaned up' and became a mainstream movement known as "Heroin Chic" and his girlfriend, Courtney Love, inspired Marc Jacobs grunge collection in 1993.

There's a small amount of boobies on show as you flick through the book (weird, considering the book is supposed to be about fashion, which would imply that the people photographed should be wearing clothes, but I guess that's what is known as artist license, right?)

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't heard of everyone in the book by a long way, so it's really nice for me to find people that I have heard of, and finding out about the people behind the brands we've all heard of. For instance, did you know that Max Factor make-up was originally created by a guy called Max Factor?

There are lots of black and white photos of beautiful women, but there are also illustrations, advertising campaign images and colour photographs - it's a genuinely fantastic and varied book!

I'm hoping to get a copy of the book for myself, I think it will be a great reference for my photography course next year, but it's also just nice to flick through.