American Fashion Accessories: A Book Review

American Fashion Accessories is a yearbook of style and a guide to fashion. It is the definitive volume on what has been moving and shaking the industry for the past half-century. This book is a pictorial and literary tribute to the American fashion accessories designers who decided that Europe was no longer the gold standard for fashion: style is as homemade as apple pie.  American Fashion Accessories is the ultimate album of fashion, an assembly of moods, materials and memories.

American Fashion Accessories features a multitude of styles, many created by CFDA (the Council of Fashion Designers of America) designers. Edited by Candy Pratts Price of Style.com, it includes writing by Jessica Glasscock and Art Tavee. Every section features a photo of a famous accessory that inspired a decade, or even a generation, whether it was a trend-setting article worn by a famous crooner or a simple object that expressed an attitude. Each piece is unique, created by a cutting-edge designer who understood the moment and communicated the mood of the times through style.
 
American Fashion Accessories is like a time-line of style giving readers a tour of fashion through the decades. Accessories from the 1960s were inspired by the burst of artistic energy that broke boundaries. The trends were bold and spirited; in American Fashion Accessories, we see how subtle touches like Faye Dunaway's famous getaway beret from the film Bonnie and Clyde and powerhouse diva Tina Turner's oversized sunglasses combined simplicity with style. Herbert Levine's bold boots call to mind 1960s songstress Nancy Sinatra's anthem "These boots are made for walking"; these boots keep walking even fifty years later.
 
The 1970s saw the advent of the "Au Naturel" look. The "Me generation" wanted to be liberated from its social and style boundaries to "find itself." On a page entitled "Oh those Patchwork Days," Carlos Falchi's signature handbags, made of high-quality scraps of material capture the laid-back comfort of the 70s. Women's Liberation meant freedom from the constrictive, stiff handbags of previous eras. The book features a photo of Bonnie Cashin's Coach revolutionary soft shoulder bag for the 70s woman on the go. Coach has been on the go ever since, and today it is the last word in style for women's handbags.

Madonna's famous dime-store rubber gummy bracelets, worn by the dozen, are included in the book, as are Geoffrey Bean's 80s reinvention of the long glove, with daring fishnets or smooth satin, incorporating feather or ruffles in ornate detail. More examples of 80’s glitz and ostentatious glamour float off the page in a kind of dream-sequence of fashion memory.
 
More examples of contemporary style featured in American Fashion Accessories include John Hardy's body necklaces that seamlessly blend attire and jewelry into one look, and Patricia von Musulin's dramatic sculptural jewelry and her transparent, oversized bracelets. Erica Courtney's exuberantly designed jewels and bold baubles gleam on the glossy page, and the beret makes yet another appearance, this time in a new large-scale, sequin incarnation by Marc Jacobs.
 
American Fashion Accessories is like a fashion accessory itself with its eye-catching photographs, demonstrating the color, elegance and freedom of the American fashion experience. The volume is perfect for your studio or home.

Picture Credits:  "Assouline" - American Fashion Accessories and The CFDA