Scan barcode
A review by megelzbth
Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano by Dana Thomas
3.0
What an interesting read. I took my damn time!
I am a huge believer in McQueen's work. Always have been. His ability to deconstruct garments and tailor anything to a T boggles my mind. In the same way I'd marvel at Lee's creativity, I'd be wondering how people even understood the jumbled mess that Galliano spewed out continually. But this book gave such great insight into how they each became the creatives they were. How they manipulated fabric, what materials they used - the boundaries they stretched. Just knowing more about their personal lives and their upbringings was really good. The author has done a tremendous job with her research. I definitely have a new found respect for Galliano as a designer that was not there beforehand.
Unfortunately, there are a few things that let me down.
Firstly, the business talk. There's a lot of it, and I understand that fashion and business can no longer be mutually exclusive (this book is an entire example of that), but there was a large chunk of it 3/4 though where I was bored; especially when Thomas started going on about Bernard's business with Gucci and Tom Ford - I was nearly ready to skip pages.
Secondly, while the paragraphs and paragraphs of the development of each collection and the individual outfits descriptions were great, I felt the need for more photographs to be included - even still, just a better selection of images. If you aren't a fashion obsessive, you would definitely need more than what's given. I guess there's always Google, but only if you can be bothered. The images also, like most of the content, should've have been in a tighter chronological order.
Lastly, even though I'm personally not a huge admirer of Galliano's past work (or himself, really), there is a huge air of bias towards McQueen which is really evident in the last quarter of this book. I think if you're writing a dual biography you need to be more mindful of that.
I don't believe you need to be a 'fashion-forward' person to enjoy this is. It is very business orientated and the way the industry is changing again, right now, it is a necessary read from that perspective as well as a creative one.
It is a terrible shame that we no longer have McQueen, but I will now view Galliano's work at Maison Martin Margiela with a different perspective. I continue to hope that the fashion industry as we know it, will see such wonderfully wild designers again who have a genuine passion for the craft and not just the business.
We're going to have a damn good discussion at Book Club about this one!
I am a huge believer in McQueen's work. Always have been. His ability to deconstruct garments and tailor anything to a T boggles my mind. In the same way I'd marvel at Lee's creativity, I'd be wondering how people even understood the jumbled mess that Galliano spewed out continually. But this book gave such great insight into how they each became the creatives they were. How they manipulated fabric, what materials they used - the boundaries they stretched. Just knowing more about their personal lives and their upbringings was really good. The author has done a tremendous job with her research. I definitely have a new found respect for Galliano as a designer that was not there beforehand.
Unfortunately, there are a few things that let me down.
Firstly, the business talk. There's a lot of it, and I understand that fashion and business can no longer be mutually exclusive (this book is an entire example of that), but there was a large chunk of it 3/4 though where I was bored; especially when Thomas started going on about Bernard's business with Gucci and Tom Ford - I was nearly ready to skip pages.
Secondly, while the paragraphs and paragraphs of the development of each collection and the individual outfits descriptions were great, I felt the need for more photographs to be included - even still, just a better selection of images. If you aren't a fashion obsessive, you would definitely need more than what's given. I guess there's always Google, but only if you can be bothered. The images also, like most of the content, should've have been in a tighter chronological order.
Lastly, even though I'm personally not a huge admirer of Galliano's past work (or himself, really), there is a huge air of bias towards McQueen which is really evident in the last quarter of this book. I think if you're writing a dual biography you need to be more mindful of that.
I don't believe you need to be a 'fashion-forward' person to enjoy this is. It is very business orientated and the way the industry is changing again, right now, it is a necessary read from that perspective as well as a creative one.
It is a terrible shame that we no longer have McQueen, but I will now view Galliano's work at Maison Martin Margiela with a different perspective. I continue to hope that the fashion industry as we know it, will see such wonderfully wild designers again who have a genuine passion for the craft and not just the business.
We're going to have a damn good discussion at Book Club about this one!