By Stuart Mitchner

With the holiday season in mind, I’ve been surveying a formidable array of luxury coffee table books published by Abrams, Assouline, Phaidon, and Tachsen. My reason for beginning with Abrams isn’t merely alphabetical; it’s because the renowned poet, screenwriter, and novelist Marguerite Duras (Hiroshima mon amour) wrote the introduction to Yves Saint Laurent: Icons of Fashion Design & Photography (Abrams 2020).

While the Abrams press release calls the book “a gorgeous homage to the uncrowned king of haute couture,” Duras offers something more compelling. How does Saint Laurent go about doing what made him designer royalty? The penultimate paragraph of her introduction, from a 1987 essay, begins: “It is like a road. From the night of the intellect comes forth a road and to start the journey down that road one word is needed, or two: ‘hips,’ let us say, and ‘strut.’ Then the hips sway into motion along the road and the rest comes after: legs, arms, the top of the body — they rise out of those sinuous hips swathed in pink, the rest black or a wild blue or a secret red they call amarante, from Cayenne, like the flowers of the same name, like people, like Rimbaud, like Mozart.”

Duras ends with a last paragraph that could have been gleaned from one of her novels: “Sometimes I call Yves Saint Laurent by the name of another man. It happens in winter, at night, there is snow, and from behind a wall, and across time, someone who is not sleeping composes music to be sung.”

There you have the poet and the power. The publisher offers basic information: “An incredible collection of Yves Saint Laurent’s designs, beautifully captured by the leading fashion photographers of the 20th century.” This “indispensable coffee table book traces the success of Saint Laurent’s haute couture and ready-to-wear designs from 1962 to 1988 through the lens of the world’s leading fashion photographers, including Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, William Klein, and more. Their lush photographs document Saint Laurent’s groundbreaking designs, as worn by the most beautiful women of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, including Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Mounia, and Veruschka.”

Carolyn Bessette Kennedy

The “beautiful women” offer a smooth transition to CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion (Abrams 2023) by Sunita Kumar Nair. The celebrity theme is underscored with a foreword by Gabriela Hearst, award-winning designer to First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and a preface by Edward Enninful, OBE, editor-in-chief of British Vogue, who says the book offers “a chance for us — her fashion family — to honor her legacy and what she left behind: her class, her dignity, and of course, her timeless style.”

CBK includes never-before-published personal anecdotes from friends and family as well as tributes from Graydon Carter, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Manolo Blahnik, Wes Gordon, and Tory Burch, who comments: “Carolyn Bessette Kennedy defined the understated cool of the ’90s. She had an effortless and laid-back approach that looks as stylish and chic today as it did then.”

Assouline’s Panther

Founded in 1994 by Prosper and Martine Assouline, Assouline has published more than 1,700 titles on subjects including architecture, art, design, fashion, gastronomy, lifestyle, photography, and travel. Among the most striking cover art featured here is Assouline’s Cartier Panthère (2015). According to the publisher, “the panther is the proud leader of the pack of precious animals that make up the famous Cartier menagerie. No other creature or jewel is quite so indissolubly and emotively connected to outstanding 20th-century women of style, to ideals of modern femininity…. A symbol of power, seduction, and triumph since ancient times, the image of the panther never fails to arouse fantasies and dreams.”

Cartier Panthère includes articles by art historian Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter, jewelry historian Vivienne Becker, jewelry expert Joanna Hardy, and fashion editor André Leon Talley. The book also chronicles the panther in art history, the evolution of Cartier panther jewels, the techniques involved in creating them, and the influence of the panther in fashion, design, and popular culture, along with a chronology of 100 years of Cartier panther jewels.

Louis Vuitton’s Ateliers

Introduced by historian Nicholas Foulkes, Louis Vuitton Manufactures (Assouline 2022) features commissioned photographs that showcase Louis Vuitton’s manufacturing locations and the artisans who bring their creations to life. The book fosters the idea that an atelier can be a place of fulfillment and individuality, where “savoir-faire can be learned, respected, and transmitted — and innovation nurtured — by artisans who routinely challenge the image of a traditional workshop.” There are Louis Vuitton ateliers throughout France and beyond, from Switzerland to Italy and even Texas. Featuring photographs commissioned exclusively for this book, the volume showcases the artisans who express their talent through Vuitton’s creations (trunks, bags, fragrances, watches, shoes, high jewelry, and ready-to-wear), while carrying the founder’s techniques into the 21st century. Louis Vuitton Manufactures is dedicated to the ateliers and the people who work there.

A Beautiful Life

Estée Lauder: A Beautiful Life (Assouline 2021) is crafted like a personal album with the help of Lauder’s granddaughters, Aerin and Jane, who co-wrote the foreword, wherein they say their grandmother “embodied the American dream. She had incredible drive, creativity and intuition, and was a brilliant marketer. She understood women and their aspirations” and she “truly believed that everyone could be beautiful. To this day, whenever we leave the house we can still hear her telling us to put on some ‘glow.’”

Estée Lauder’s legacy was enhanced by her eye for interiors, a reputation for hosting fabulous dinner parties, and notable friends such as Princess Grace of Monaco; Hubert de Givenchy; Diana, Princess of Wales; Nancy Reagan; and Frank Sinatra. Calling Lauder a “beloved tour de force,” Aerin and Jane, along with Assouline, present an in-depth look “through her personal letters, family photographs, company archives, and more.”

Tennis, Anyone?

I should have added sports to the long list of Assouline’s subject areas. Federer: A Visual Biography (2024), Assouline’s latest coffee table book, is the result of a close collaboration with sports journalist Doris Henkel, Federer himself, and his wife, Mirka. Offering readers a look into his private moments and record-breaking career, the biography features never-before-published photographs and memorabilia from his childhood “as well as snaps from Roger’s and Mirka’s own camera rolls,” along with “handwritten insights about his journey on and off the court.” A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Roger Federer Foundation, supporting childhood educational projects in Southern Africa and Switzerland.

Doris Henkel covered tennis for almost 40 years, the last 30 as a freelancer for newspapers and magazines mainly in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Neue Zürcher Zeitung. She followed Roger Federer’s entire career and attended 30 of his 31 Grand Slam finals, as well as Olympic matches and a multitude of tournaments.

Phaidon’s Garden

According to Gardens Illustrated, “great care has gone into the selection of the images” in Garden: Exploring the Horticultural World (Phaidon 2023). Edited and introduced by Matthew Biggs, the author of 15 gardening and plant-related books, “this is not just a book filled with great pictures; the writing is an essential component, and once you have done an initial exploration of its pages, it is an engaging and informative read.”

As the publisher notes, Garden “takes readers on a journey across continents and cultures to discover the endless ways artists and image-makers have found inspiration in gardens and horticulture throughout history. With more than 300 entries, this comprehensive and stunning visual survey showcases the diversity of the garden from all over the world — from the Garden of Eden and the grandeur of the English landscape garden to Japanese Zen gardens and the humble vegetable plot.”   

Garden features work by a “diverse range of both lesser-known and iconic artists, including Pierre Bonnard, Roberto Burle Marx, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Gertrude Jekyll, Claude Monet, Marianne North, Crispijn de Passe, William Robinson, Alma Thomas, and Howard Sooley.”

A graduate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Biggs is a panel member on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time and the author of the children’s book A Home for Every Plant, also published by Phaidon.

A Very Special Hotel

As Living Etc. points out, “It’s not often a hotel is so special it gets its own coffee table book just a year or so after opening but our favourite staycation spot has done just that.” Edited by Dominic Bradbury, The Fife Arms (Phaidon 2024) “is an impressive tome that takes a deep dive into the considered decor, art, and culture of this dazzling country inn.”

The publisher notes that this is “an updated edition of the first book to be created about this “lavish, darkly beautiful destination hotel…. Art-world superstars Iwan and Manuela Wirth saw the poetry in a run-down hotel nestled in the depths of the Scottish Highlands, not far from Balmoral Castle, and utterly transformed it. Every inch of The Fife Arms’s interior has been imaginatively and intelligently considered in the context of place with each room telling the story of a person, event, or theme, connected to its Braemar location.”

Among the hotel’s specially commissioned artworks: Zhang Enli’s ceiling mural in the drawing room; Subodh Gupta’s sculpture for the Fire Room; and Guillermo Kuitca’s wall mural in the Clunie Dining Room — as well as works by Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, and HRH Queen Victoria. The updated edition includes new photography of recently acquired works, including Picasso’s Tête de Femme and Keith Tyson’s Still Life with Stars and Antlers.

Bradbury is a writer and freelance journalist specializing in architecture and design. Among his books are the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces, the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses, and the Atlas of Interior Design, all published by Phaidon.

From Phaidon’s Kitchen 

Reviewing The Chocolate Spoon: Italian Sweets from the Silver Spoon Kitchen (Phaidon 2023), American Cake Decorating says, “Every aspect of this beloved ingredient is covered in depth in this book: its history, composition, various types, and the secrets behind working with chocolate successfully.” The Chocolate Spoon features 100 of the best Silver Spoon chocolate recipes, accompanied by all-new photography and design, as well as 30 core recipes for working with chocolate, each with step-by-step photography. Recipes include simple cakes and cookies, candies, and more elaborate desserts, as well as mousses, ice creams, parfaits, and drinks.

Originating in 1950, Il Cucchiaio d’Argento, first published in English by Phaidon as The Silver Spoon, is, in the publisher’s words, “the ultimate compilation of traditional home-cooking Italian dishes. A global bestseller, this book, together with its many offshoots, has taught home cooks around the world how to cook like an Italian and enrich their lives with fresh ingredients and delicious recipes.”

All of Mies

Mies (Phaidon 2024), by American architectural theorist Detlaf Mertins, puts Ludwig Mies van der Rohe “back at the center of the architectural debate” according to Barry Bergdoll, acting chief curator of architecture and design at MoMA. Architectural Review says that Mertins’s “hefty and lavishly illustrated volume is ambitiously comprehensive…. It challenges us to question all previous assumptions we may have entertained about the architect.” One of the book’s greatest virtues “is a deeply ingrained historiographic consciousness” that “asks us to reconsider the very genre of the architectural monograph.”

Accompanied by more than 700 drawings, photographs, plans, and diagrams, Mertins’s book traces the aesthetic and intellectual context for all of Mies van der Rohe’s work, with in-depth discussions of his most important buildings and projects, including the Barcelona Pavilion in Spain; the Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic; S. R. Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, USA; and the New National Gallery in Berlin, Germany.

Two from Taschen

The luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany, completes this coffee table book special with volumes about exploring remote destinations and the world of great paintings.

Presented by photographer David De Vleeschauwer, travel journalist Debbie Pappyn, and others, Remote Experiences: Extraordinary Travel Adventures from North to South (Taschen 2022) is “An inspiring book on extreme travel,” according to thedailybeast.com. A review on bbc.com says that De Vleeschauwer and Pappyn “are hoping to encourage others to travel slower and more purposefully, and to take better care of the planet we all share.”

The publisher comments: “Remote Experiences is the visual account of the extraordinary journeys of photographer David De Vleeschauwer through the world’s most uncharted territories. In pursuit of the best of travel, he has been passionately exploring the world for more than two decades.” Focused on twelve unexpected destinations, the book’s “photographic reportage brings to life an eclectic collection of memories…. From the plains of Botswana to the outer realms of Antarctica aboard a superyacht icebreaker, this unique guide outlines its own geography of the world.”

De Vleeschauwer’s work has been featured in top publications including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and National Geographic. Pappyn is a Belgian travel writer and journalist who regularly contributes to Monocle, Condé Nast Traveler and other leading titles worldwide.

Exploring Great Art

According to the publisher’s statement, Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen’s What Great Paintings Say: 100 Masterpieces in Detail (Taschen 2020) “puts some of the world’s most famous paintings under a magnifying glass to uncover their most … subtle elements and all they reveal about a bygone time, place, and culture. Guiding our eye to the minutiae of subject and symbolism,” the authors “allow even the most familiar of pictures to come alive anew through their intricacies and intrigues. Is the bride pregnant? Why does the man wear a beret? How does the shadow of war hang over a scene of dancing? Along the way, we travel from Ancient Egypt through to modern Europe, from the Renaissance to the Roaring Twenties. We meet Greek heroes and poor German poets and roam from cathedrals to cabaret bars, from the Garden of Eden to a Garden Bench in rural France.”

Rose-Marie Hagen (1928-2022) was born in Switzerland and studied history, Romance languages, and literature in Lausanne. After further studies in Paris and Florence, she lectured at the American University in Washington, D.C.

Rainer Hagen was born in Hamburg and graduated in literature and theater studies in Munich. He later worked for radio and TV, most recently as chief editor of a German public broadcasting service. Together they have collaborated on several other Taschen titles.

Fashion in Film

The pairing of screenwriter Marguerite Duras with Yves Saint Laurent reminds me of two outstanding treatments of fashion in film. Made in 2017, The Phantom Thread features an extraordinarily convincing performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as a haute couture dressmaker based on English-American fashion designer Charles James. Equally as impressive is The New Look (2024), a television series about fashion designers Christian Dior (memorably played by Ben Mendelsohn) and Coca Chanel (Juliette Binoche), with the fascinating addition of Maisie Williams (Arya from Game of Thrones) as Dior’s niece. In both films, the designers were convincingly depicted as artists, whose craft was comparable to that of poets and painters.