TOThey cost them very little and slip into the pocket. Others have precious paperbacks and refined graphics. Sometimes they are the compendes of history and details of connoisseurs. In other cases, they are yellow novels set in the couture world. However, the effect does not change: i Fashion -themed books are the real class touch of the summer 2025.
These are the books to put in the suitcase and show off with ease under the umbrella. Volumes ranging from pioneering titles, capable of revolutionizing the way of thinking (and wearing) clothes, up to the most recent releases. They signed them are philosophers, feminist icons, sociologists, journalists and protagonists of the jet-set: different voices that tell Fashion as a cultural, social and personal phenomenon.
The undisputed cult: Notes on Camp
“It’s nice because it’s horrible”. With this phrase that has become legendary, the writer, philosopher and historical Susan Sontag has defined a revolutionary aesthetic. In particular, in the way of looking at fashion, style and show. In the famous volume Notes on Camp (who also inspired the exhibition and the Met Gala of 2019), breaks the barriers between “high” and “bass”. Opening the way to a new vision of dress: free, ironic and provocative.
The text, simply fundamental, is now considered a milestone of contemporary aesthetic thought loved by stylists, artists and creatives from all over the world. Indispensable for those who want to understand how fashion and culture influence each other. And because the ugly, sometimes, knows how to be wonderfully beautiful. Another illustrious philosopher who was interested in contaminations between fashion and contemporaneity is Roland Barthes. That, in his Fashion system Written between 1957 and 1963, he reflects on the topic from a semiotic point of view and social sciences.
Roland Barthes’ fashion system published by Mimesis. (Photo Courtesy of Press Office)
The secret rooms of Hermès
In the heart of Paris, at the 24th of Faubourg Saint-Honoré, there is a legendary boutique. Here the soul of Hermès pulsates, a maison who has been able to transform the artisan skill into a lifestyle. Here, a secret world is kept made of impeccable details, neoclassical facades, art of mosaics, a hidden hidden garden on the roofs. And above all, the beating heart of the house: the laboratories of the saddlers and leatherrymen.
And just 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré It is the title du this recent book (published a few months ago in French by the iconoclaste and in Italian by Mondadori), which accompanies us in the beating heart of the Maison Hermès. The story began in 1837, with the saddlery laboratory founded by Thierry Hermès. From that world made of leather, precision and exquisite savoir-faire, the myth that has conquered the most loved style icons of all eras is born. And which still embodies elegance, functionality and craftsmanship today. Also through the inimitable color palette, always in punctual advance on trends.
Thanks to an exclusive and absolutely unpublished access, the director and writer Frédéric Laffont guides us between Rooms, archives and ateliers. Restutual, thanks to a research work and interviews that lasted two years, an intimate and powerful fresco of the Maison. Between Rare testimonies and documents never seen beforetelling a family epic that is intertwined with great historical events. However, remaining faithful to one’s essence.