Coffee-table books can feed a passion
NEW YORK (AP) — Know a book lover with a coffee table and a passion? Then you're good to go on a gift. Coffee-table books aren't usually high on the self-purchase priority list but they can make great holiday gifts if chosen carefully. Some suggestions: FASHION & STYLE — Russell Westbrook, because why not?
That’s the catchphrase of the NBA superstar who is one stylish guy and has put together a great book offering a glimpse into his world, celebrating trendsetters he admires along the way. Peep the baby photo of Westbrook, gold chain on point, in Russell Westbrook: Style Drivers.
One of the most adorable moments: then-first lady Michelle Obama hugging Westbrook after he and his fellow Team USA members took gold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
— The House of Dior is marking 70 years in fashion with Dior: The House of Dior, Seventy Years of Haute Couture.
The companion to an exhibition in Australia, the book starts at the beginning, in 1947, and includes an inside look at the Christian Dior. Eras are broken down by creative directors, including Yves Saint Laurent from 1957 to 1960 on through to the first woman to head the house, Maria Grazia Chiuri, named last year.
— Speaking of anniversaries, Harper’s Bazaar is marking 150 years and the book Harper’s Bazaar 150 Years: The Greatest Moments captures stars in modelling, fashion design and photography who helped shape the magazine over the decades.
The book offers some cultural context, such as editor Glenda Bailey’s letter that ran soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What, she mused, are we to feel for fashion right now? Her answer is the notion that the “exuberance that is fashion has its own role to play -- even in (especially in) the worst of times.” PHOTOGRAPHY & ART — Rihanna bathed in red, Havana light. A pregnant Melania Trump in a golden bikini. Neil Patrick Harris with a large snake’s tail down his pants. Welcome to Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 20052016, the third volume in a series by the famed photographer. The book includes 150 photographs of artists, performers, writers, athletes, politicians and scientists.
— Based on an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power explores the years between 1963 and 1983 through the eyes of mostly black artists.
The meaning of black identity, debates over “black art” in pamphlets and magazines, work by Faith Ringgold and Romare Bearden, and essays detailing the lives and roles of numerous others are included. ETCETERA — Obama: An Intimate Portrait is seen through the lens of Pete Souza, former U.S. president Barack Obama's chief official White House photographer.
— 200 Women Who Will Change the Way You See the World, is a collection of the famous and unknown, celebrated and marginalized, from activists and actors to authors and everyday women.