4 fashion books to read in January 2025

What better way to start the year than by digging into newly published fashion books to find the right amount of inspiration? January marks the return of Fashion Week and runway season. The big houses and smaller labels present their men’s ready-to-wear collections before haute couture takes the streets of the capital by storm. Alongside this program, publishing houses unveil their new literary releases and, among them, beautiful works to nourish one’s imagination.

From the heart to the hand, Dolce & Gabbanaby Franco Cologni

From January 10 to March 31, a major exhibition dedicated to Dolce & Gabbana brings together in the Grand Palais more than 200 unique creations from the fashion house, selected by the commissioner and curator Florence Müller (we owe him exhibitions like Yves Saint Laurent: Retrospective at the Petit Palais in 2010 or Christian Dior: designer of dreams at the Museum of Decorative Arts in 2017). This is spread over ten immersive rooms covering 1,200 m2 and almost as many inspirations which have nourished the work of Dolce & Gabbanaincluding Italian Art history, music, opera, ballet and, of course, cinema. The public can also enjoy this fascinating dive into the creative magic of the house through the pages of a beautiful book, published by Rizzoli.

Dancing on the volcano, Fashion and luxury conquering our imaginationsby Sophie Abriat

For her first book, the journalist Sophie Abriatdeciphers the strategies of fashion and luxury houses to give substance to their products and the way in which they have greatly expanded their scope to the point of capturing our imaginations. “You can now dine Dior, see a Saint Laurent film, sleep Armani or read Chanel”she announces. Immersed in this environment for around ten years, this collaborator of M Le Monde et T, the magazine of Time analyzes these highly symbolic changes (she mentions, among other things, the feminist slogans used during parades, the provision of equipment against Covid-19 and cultural patronage) in Dancing on the volcanoan essay of more than 200 pages published by Grasset on January 15. Through clear and striking writing, enriched with anecdotes and quotes from experts, Sophie Abriat invites you to observe the industry in a new light.

LOUVRE COUTURE, Art objects, fashion objectsyou. Olivier Gabet

This is one of the most anticipated events of 2025. The idea of ​​the Louvre Museum’s first fashion exhibition is to bring its permanent collections into dialogue with outfits from great designers, Christopher Balanciaga has Iris Van Herpen. Combining the history of fashion and academic arts, this cultural event will be an opportunity to look back on past creations of an art long considered minor in the eyes of artistic institutions. In the middle of The Mona Lisa and Cana Nuts will thus slip in, among others, some designer dresses Chanel. “Author’s exhibition, LOUVRE COUTURE is a bias. That of continuity between the stories of fashion, collections, art and taste. That, too, of an original rereading of the museum and its works, on the scale – this is unprecedented – of an entire department” explain Laurence des Carspresident and director of the Louvre museum. A dialogue which continues, and is detailed, in a beautiful book published by Editions de la Martinière.

Writings on fashion, The art of surprisingby Colette

Last January 1, while the work of Colette fell into the public domain, as is the case for the pens that had disappeared for more than seventy years, the desire to return to the writer arose. Especially since a certain number of his publications have been collected and re-edited. Among them, we are delighted to discover his writings on fashion. Inhabited by a spirit as free as it is curious, Colette enjoys analyzing and commenting on the world around him thanks to his sensory vision that we know well. The condition of women of his time is obviously treated there, as is the importance of appearance which punctuates each of their lives, including his own. Because it refers as much to elegance and beauty as to inconstancy and artifice, fashion intrigues and fascinates the French writer, who observes with a learnedly critical eye this phenomenon and the elements which constitute it. Clothes, shoes and hats, haircuts and makeup (Colette still managed a beauty institute, let us remember)… Each of these stylistic manifestations is as much a truth about the intimacy of women as it is the mirror of the changing era in which they are part.

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