BELLAS ARTES

In the far east of France, close to the German and Swiss borders, lies the historic city of Mulhouse. During the early 19th century, it became one of the leading centres of textile manufacture in the country. Today it is home to the Musée de l’Impression sur Étoffes, a museum dedicated entirely to the history of fabric printing from the 17th century right up to the present day. Few are the serious fashion designers who have not come to visit this astonishing temple to textiles. This book, however, gives you the key to those vaults, presenting on its broad pages perfectly captured images of its collections that span four different continents – recounting a fascinating artistic and technological adventure across the world, from its origins in India to the most contemporary creations.

The first illustrated book to chronicle the dramatic 1973 face-off between French and American fashion designers, which left an indelible mark on the fashion industry, launched American designers as a global force, and challenged the cultural norms of the time. Images from the archives of renowned fashion photojournalists Bill Cunningham and Jean-luce Huré—largely unseen until now—capture the behind-the-scenes drama, fabulous clothing, iconic models, and glamorous guests at this historic show.

With a keen eye for art and having spent her childhood in Japan, Singapore, and the United States, rising star designer Sara Story brings a unique perspective to all of her projects. Drawing inspiration from her extensive travels and passion for art and fashion, her work combines bold, contemporary art with antique pieces from every corner of the world to create extraordinary homes for her clients and her own family. She exacts her aesthetic vision with a style that combines modern with bohemian, creating well-collected, polished environments that feature crisp, elegant, and comfortable design gestures.

Nothing compares to the Alps” wrote the great French historian Jules Michelet in 1868. At the very heart of Europe, the gigantic Alpine mountain range includes some of the most grandiose natural sites in the world, such as Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, the Matterhorn, and their glaciers. Tourism began in the late 1800s and grew tremendously over the next centuries, especially with the rise of winter sports. This book offers a charming tour of a bygone era, when the first mountain trains and cog railways were carrying men in lederhosen and women in long dresses to the foot of the glacier, when local guides accompanied tourists riding on mules; a time when the first alpinists were considered mad, and skiers were a curiosity.

More than 100 years ago the brothers Adolf ("Adi") and Rudolf Dassler made their first pair of sports shoes. Hundreds of groundbreaking designs, epic moments, and star-studded collabs later, this book presents a visual review of the adidas shoe through almost 200 models.To further develop and tailor his products to athletes’ specific needs, Dassler asked them to return their worn footwear when no longer needed, with all the shoes eventually ending up in his attic (to this day, many athletes return their shoes to adidas, often as a thank you after winning a title or breaking a world record). This collection now makes up the "adidas archive", one of the largest, if not the largest archive of any sports goods manufacturer in the world—which photographers Christian Habermeier and Sebastian Jäger have been visually documenting in extreme detail for years.Shot using the highest reproduction techniques, these images reveal the fine details as much as the stains, the tears, the repair tape, the grass smudges, the faded autographs. It’s all here, unmanipulated and captured in extremely high resolution—and with it comes to light the personal stories of each individual wearer. We encounter the shoes worn by West Germany’s football team during its “miraculous” 1954 World Cup win and those worn by Kathrine Switzer when she ran the Boston Marathon in 1967, before women were officially allowed to compete; custom models for stars from Madonna to Lionel Messi; collabs with the likes of Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Stella McCartneyor Yohji Yamamoto; as well as the brand’s trailblazing techniques and materials.Accompanied by expert texts, each picture tells us the why and the how, but also conveys the driving force behind adidas. What we discover goes beyond mere design; in the end, these are just shoes, worn out by their users who have loved them—but they are also first-hand witnesses of our sports, design, and culture history, from the beginnings of the Dassler brothers and the founding of adidas until today.