Fashion houses such as Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Tod’s are immortalizing their signature styles in tomes worthy of their high-fashion reputations. All done up in black and white, the photography books are clean, crisp and way too handsome to take to the beach!
Dolce & Gabbana Campioni
Davide Astori
Ariaudo Lorenzo
Along with their burgeoning couture business — we’re all waiting with bated breath — Dolce & Gabbana have expanded from sexy Italian-influenced ready-to-wear to include a full line of color cosmetics (overseen by none other than maestro Pat McGrath) and a range of books. The latest, Dolce & Gabbana Campioni (€170, Rizzoli), follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, but it’s the first to bare Domenico Dolce’s name solo on the cover. Previous imprints include Uomini and David Gandy, each focusing on the male form, but one more general and one focusing solely on the brand’s longtime Light Blue fragrance spokesmodel.
With Campioni, Domenico Dolce steps behind the lens to capture the next generation of Italian soccer players. More established players have been photographed in previous releases such as Milan Soccer Player Portraits, Calcio and more (yes, you can have an entire Dolce & Gabbana library if your tastes lean towards black-and-white photography of near-naked or impeccably dressed men), but this is the first time young upstarts have been the feature. The tome bows in Dolce & Gabbana boutiques this month and will be available in bookstores worldwide in September.
For more information, visit www.dolcegabbana.com.
Bonaccorsi Family
Guglielmo Miani
Tod’s Italian Portaits
One of the most sought-after looks in menswear (#menswear for the E-generation), is the Italian look known as sprezzatura or sprezz, as it were. Marked by a laissez-faire attitude towards traditional tailoring, it takes all the rules of Italian dressing and throws them out the window leaving guys looking casual and put together, but not appearing as if they’ve tried too hard. The king of the look is Tod’s Diego Delle Valle, who’s been snapped by Tommy Ton and the Sartorialist with every step of his gommino-soled driving mocs.
To celebrate his look — and the guys who taught him all the rules to break — Tod’s Italian Portraits (€59, Skira) collects portraits of all the guys who have influenced Delle Valle as well as those whom he sees as carrying the sprezz tradition into the next generation. In addition to fashion, the book explores Italian heritage, which just so happens to include trips to the tailor, and the everyday life of guys who wear loafers with no socks, white jeans no matter the season and a blazer with everything. In short, it’s a manual for modern gentlemen.
For more information, visit www.tods.com.
The Little Black Jacket
Olivier Theyskens
Ricardo Tischi
The Little Black Jacket ($98, Steidl) is the latest release from BFFs Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld. It features just as many guys as gals in classic Chanel tweed.
Celebs fromz Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour to Georgia May Jagger will definitely get the lion’s share of attention when you flip through the book, but don’t skim over style greats such as Olivier Theyskens and Givenchy’s Ricardo Tischi (alongside Alexander Wang, Kanye West, Theophilus London and Mark Vanderloo). Their out-there spins on the classic Chanel black jacket are meant to illustrate that it works with any styke. But seeing them side by side with the women wearing it only confirms to us that some things (couture crossdressing and Marc Jacob’s Met Ball ensemble) are better left to those in the industry. What we do love, however, is the simple, pared down photographic style, which lets the jacket truly take center stage no matter who’s wearing it.
Fore more information, visit thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com.
Photos courtesy Dolce & Gabbana, Tod’s and Chanel
