Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibition is the most prestigious of its kind, featuring subjects that both reflect the zeitgeist and contribute to its creation. There’s no better way to read fashion history than from the pen of a Pulitzer Prize-winning like Robin Givhan.

Day, better known as Dapper Dan, blazed the trail that gave way to the modern high-end streetwear movement.

Plus, the best books about fashion can also convince any naysayer that the industry is worth paying attention to while reaffirming the passion of those of us who have long paid attention to its power (and shortcomings). First published in 1954, the book is a chronicle portraying the most emblematic characters of fashion’s golden age, from Coco Chanel to Christian Dior. A must-read fashion book to understand how cheap clothing is shaping the world, but not in a good way. Read the best guide on dressing and behaving most fashionably, such as The Little Dictionary of Fashion by Christian Dior or Kate Spade’s New York: All in Good Taste. Who better to be inspired by, other than the one and only Christian Dior, while documenting the creation of his fashion house?

If you watched and liked the film House of Gucci, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Lady Gaga and Alan Driver, you must read the book. It digs into the impacts of youth-driven movements, of hip hop, and of creatives like Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. Frocks laden with arsenic or hats laced with mercury by design are just a glimpse of what the author has to illustrate. Explore the glamorous life of a former columnist for Harper’s BAZAAR and later editor-in-chief at Vogue, and one of the most influential editors of all time, Diana Vreeland.Although modesty could be considered an oxymoron in fashion, the American journalist Hafsa Lodi breaks down the movement with a deep investigation that reveals the answer to the question: “Is modest fashion a contradiction? If you’re interested in the technicalities and traditions of the fashion industry, Inside Haute Couture is the book you’ve been waiting for. Handbags have had an interesting history across the various purposes served and different designs they have embodied.