VIRTUAL ADVENT CALENDAR: DECEMBER 14TH: BOOK FETISH

FIXED BIKE
EUR 47.00

JUST IN THE OSLO BOUTIQUE
This book is the complete guide to specifying and buying your dream bike. Each chapter covers a particular part of the bike, from the frame, to forks, headsets, wheels, tyres, hubs, gear components, chains, brakes, saddles, handlebars, pedals, water bottle cages, and accessories. Including beautiful studio images of the latest kit, the chapters feature interviews with the top designers and manufacturers, and maintenance tips from professional mechanics.

SAVILE ROW
EUR 73.00

Here is the definitive story of Savile Row, the internationally renowned epicentre of gentlemen’s style.

Introduced by Tom Ford, it is a rich visual history of the street synonymous with elegance, sophistication and timeless attitudes. Including rare archival material and previously unpublished images, alongside specially commissioned photography and fashion shoots, this lavish celebration brings together the Row's tailors, the personalities, the dramas and private tales, the suits and their accoutrements, the fabrics and the cuts, as never before.

An exclusive bonus section offers a complete resource for anyone wishing to have a suit specially made for them.

MASKE
EUR 49.00

The clothes we wear invariably telegraph information about our identity, our place in society and the stories we wish to convey about ourselves. The fantastically colorful costumes specific to African and Caribbean rituals and celebrations go several steps further, transforming ordinary people into mythic figures and magicians, tricksters and gods, and symbolizing the roles their wearers play in the ancient dramas that form the cornerstones of their cultural heritage. Phyllis Galembo began photographing the characters and costumes of African masquerade in Nigeria in 1985, and since then she has continued developing her theme throughout Africa and the Caribbean. This volume collects 108 thrilling carnival photographs from Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Zambia and Haiti. In magnificent color shots, Galembo's subjects pose in striped bodysuits that cover the entire body, including the face; or outfits made entirely of bunched greenery; or a lacquered wooden mask topped with a headdress featuring full-body models of other characters; or an oversize misshapen animal head and plywood wings. The carnival characters, rooted in African religion and spirituality, are presented in chapters organized by tribal or carnival tradition and are accompanied by Galembo's personal commentary, shedding light on the characters and costumes portrayed, and on the events in which they play a pivotal role. Maske is a serious contribution to ethnographic study, a photo-essay about fashion and an assembly of superb images.

GRAPHIC
EUR 42.00

This is a treasure trove of design inspiration for professionals, students, or anyone engaged in the visual industries.

Almost all books on design present the finished article. Rarely do we gain an insight into how visual solutions have been reached or the exploration, experimentation, and embryonic ideas behind them.

In this ambitious publication, some one hundred of the world’s leading graphic designers and illustrators open up their private sketchbooks to offer a privileged glimpse into their creative process. The result is a visual tour de force.

Samples range from small, discrete typographical explorations to fully fledged illustration ideas, from a few scrappy scribbles and eccentric handwriting to photographic collages and other wacky forms of visual inspiration.

Concise and informative texts by the world authority on graphic design provide invaluable commentary on the artists’ creative development, their design philosophies, sketchbooking techniques, and visual influences.

B MAG
EUR 10.00

In this issue – FIX UP LOOK SHARP – we talk to the duo behind the idiosyncratic label BLESS. Famed for flirting with the boundaries of product design as much as fashion, Jane Howard styles a portfolio of their key works. We talk to four collectors about their things – Monica Chong of Cutler and Gross talks about her piles of 1940’s costume jewellery, hats and vintage dresses and designer Katie Hillier shows us her Nightmare Before Xmas toys. Head of art at Bartle Bogle Hegarty Mark Reddy talks us through the biggest collection of vintage Hawaiian Ukuleles in the UK at his Somerset cottage and Fraser Moss of You Must Create plays us some weird music.

Stylist Sam Ranger shoots this seasons grunge with a touch of polish with photographer Willem Jaspert, Jason Hughes styles a preview of the latest b Store collaboration for Spring Summer 2011 and Michael Nottingham takes time out of writing his interminable doctoral thesis on eastern European puppet animation cinema to write about the appeal of contemporary art designed to appeal on a childish level – or to the child ‘in us.’

Also in this issue, the inconspicuous Antwerp based designer Stephan Schneider tells us he hates change and talks about his fascination with youth culture and lastly, writer Lewis Chong presents six of the city’s newest and most exciting furniture designers.

b Magazine was launched in September 2009, marking a new move in the evolution of the fêted brand. b is published twice a year by b Store and is distributed by COMAG Specialist. A tome of all things b and beyond, the magazine created by b clothing’s Creative Director Jason Hughes and Editor Dal Chodha exposes the wider b-Store ethos; passion in design, integrity in individuality and a nod to more sartorial affairs and acts as an outlet for the brands appreciation of the arts.

For more titles check THE-V-STORE.COM