The Glass of Fashion

Cecil Beaton. Illustrated by the author.

Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1954. First edition, second impression (published one month after the first impression). Hardback, octavo; red cloth-bound boards, dust jacket. viii, 343 pages. Portrait frontispiece, 16 hors-texte b&w photographic plates and numerous line drawings in the text. English. 225 x 155mm. 0.8kg. . Very good, in good dust jacket; light wear to jacket, ruffling to forecorners and spine ends, slight loss to head of spine, some tears to head of spine and top edge with creasing, repaired with tape to verso, browning to spine and fore-edges, not price-clipped; light lean to spine.

The Glass of Fashion is 'A personal history of fifty years of changing tastes and the people who have inspired them'. Beaton, with his wit and perfectly turned phrases, ensures that this is no dry history of early twentieth century fashion and design. It is a lively look at the vivid characters who have influenced the style of the time, the designers and the tastemakers, including Schiaparelli, Chanel, Dior, Diaghilev, Lady Diana Cooper, Syrie Maugham, Audrey Hepburn, Diana Vreeland, Christian Berard and many more. The text is accompanied by Beaton's own drawings and photographs.