The Book of Skulls

Skulls are one of the most overused symbols of around today. Once seen as sacred religious and spiritual symbols,  they stumbled into pop culture's mainstream and have long since been an icon for anarchy.

From Dia De Los Muertos sugar skulls,The Misfits and The Grateful Dead's logos and the skull emblems adorning the catwalks of Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen to Damien Hirst's infamous "For The Love of God" diamond-laden masterpiece, the contemporary visual culture landscape would be a far less interesting place were it not for the humble skull.

The Book of Skulls by Faye Dowling celebrates the Skull in all it's glory, featuring an array of skull-inspired pieces in the fields of fashion, music, street art and graphic design. Including work by Shepard Fairey, James Joyce, Alastair Mackie, KAWS and Mike Giant, this little book is chock full of all kinds of weird and wonderful works of Skull art.  

The Book of Skulls by Faye Dowling is published by Laurence King and available here.

All images are courtesy of Laurence King Publishing.

 

Graphic Design for Fashion

Okay, so we all know graphic design is a massively significant area in the fashion industry, but it wasn't 'til we sat down and read 'Graphic Design for Fashion' by Jess Hay and Simone Pasztorek that we understood just how immense the impact of graphic design really is in the fashion world.

Split up into four chapters, the book explores a few different aspects of fashion in which graphic design is the most influential: Branding, Invitations, Lookbooks and Packaging. It features work from some of the most amazing graphic design studios worldwide which have collaborated with the likes of Paul Smith, Viktor & Rolf, Yohji Yamamoto, Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony and ACNE to help create the brands as we know them today. 

Graphic Design for Fashion explores the creative processes that go into designing iconic logos for branding, memorable event invites and eye-catching packaging, and the relationship between the graphic design studio and the designers and brands they work with, all presented in a format that is truly worthy of the inspiring content of the book itself. 

From the minimalistic yet striking layouts to the subtley embossed hardcover, Graphic Design for Fashion is one of those books that inspires you before you even open it. And in our opinion, it's a total must have for every fashion/graphics/book geek.


words: Navneet Gill
image courtesy of Laurence King Publishing

Graphic Design for Fashion by Jay Hess and Simone Pasztorek

Buy it on amazon